outside the house and proceeded to beat him with baton sticks. He was found not fully dressed. They then proceeded to abduct him in his semi naked state and his wife had to run after them with his clothes. 5.1.6. They indicated that after an hour the armed soldiers and police came back and assaulted another man at the homestead. They highlighted that they were looking for a Naison whose whereabouts were unknown to the complainant who was assaulted. They ordered him to lie on the ground outside and slapped him such that his ears were still painful. On the interview day, the security forces also beat him with baton sticks until they realized that he did not have the information that they were looking for. They went into his room where they searched and stole his cellphone. They then proceeded to leave the homestead. Meanwhile after an hour after the Councillor had been abducted, he telephoned his wife to tell her that he had been taken to Harare Central Police. At the time of the visit by the Commission the wife had not yet returned home. When the ZHRC contacted her for an update they were told that the Councillor was no longer in Police custody presumably taken to Court. 5.1.7. It was also revealed through the focus group discussion that the people of Epworth were concerned about the fuel price hike. This had led to a rise of the transport costs which made it almost impossible for those who were working in town to afford to travel to town seeing that the salaries and wages remained stagnant. The high cost of living was also making it difficult for many people to be able to afford to put food on the table let alone pay school fees and afford other basic necessities. They asked the ZHRC to intervene as the majority of the people were suffering. Page 11 of 68