Extrajudicial Killings Prior to the Presidential Runoff
ZANU- PF and its allies were implicated in the killing of at least 60 MDC activists in
June 2008 alone. Thirty-two people were killed after June 27 and two more were
killed after the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding on July 21.19 To the best
of Human Rights Watch’s knowledge at the time of writing, no arrests have been
made nor have the authorities questioned any witnesses in any of the cases
documented in this report.
Archiford Chipiyo – Son of MDC Councilor Philimon Chipiyo, Ward 19, Unit F,
Chitungwiza
Philimon Chipiyo’s son and two friends were killed by a group of alleged ZANU-PF
supporters who attacked his home on June 18. Chipiyo told Human Rights Watch:
At around 10 p.m., about 30 ZANU-PF youths came to my house. They
were singing songs denouncing the MDC and myself as the newly
elected councilor for my ward. I was inside the house with my family
and several relatives and about 10 youths from our party. They [the
ZANU-PF supporters] started shouting abuses saying the MDC will
never rule Zimbabwe and that I am a mere dog for the white man...
When the ZANU-PF youths saw that there were many [MDC] youths and
relatives coming out of my house they retreated and disappeared in
the darkness. At around 11 p.m. more than 200 ZANU-PF supporters
and youths came to the house again singing war songs. This time they
had four trucks without registration number plates and a commuter
bus. Immediately, those on foot scaled the wall of my house and
started throwing stones on the roof. I got my family to get out of the
house and scale the wall at the back to escape the attack. My son
Archiford and two of his friends decided to stay in the house and
defend our property. One of the advancing ZANU-PF youth threw a
petrol bomb inside one of the rooms and set it ablaze. Everything in
the room was destroyed by the fire. They used their truck to ram down
the wall and all the people rushed inside.
19
Human Rights Watch Interview with local NGOs, Harare, July 29, 2008.
9
Human Rights Watch August 2008