Human Rights Forum Report: Who was responsible? murder of two MDC officials, but no action has been taken. If murders are not being prosecuted, it is unlikely that any other offences exempted in the Amnesty will be dealt with at all. Amnesties have proven to be a dangerous practice in Zimbabwe and have set an unfortunate precedent. A general amnesty was imposed both after the Liberation War and after the Matebeleland massacres in the 1980‟s. As a result, Zimbabwe's disinclination towards seeking accountability in both these eras has been instructive to the populace in general: crimes will not be prosecuted, criminals are free and are even encouraged to terrorize again, and victims will be denied justice. The latest Amnesty absolved those who committed crimes between 1 January and 31 July 2000 but subsequent allegations of political crimes have since gone unattended to by authorities. It is rare that an individual is arrested for a politically motivated act of violence and virtually unheard of that the incident will ever reach trial. If it does, the perpetrators are usually members of the MDC. Zanu (PF) supporters, war veterans and CIO members seem to operate with unofficial impunity. The legal precedent set by a lack of prosecution and the implementation of the Amnesty has contributed to the current situation where it can be argued that there is no law. Selective prosecution and crimes committed by perpetrators who should already be behind bars are signs of a system that has not just bent, but has been broken for some time. While the sheer number of perpetrators in this report and the harrowing tales of torture which precede them are quite daunting, what is perhaps more horrifying is the knowledge that this is just the tip of the iceberg. Background Political violence escalated in Zimbabwe when President Mugabe and Zanu (PF) turned their attention to reasserting control over the electorate, which was seen as having betrayed the President by voting “no” on the constitutional referendum of February 2000. Because the political life of both the President and Zanu (PF) was on the line, the possibility of failing to gain a parliamentary majority in the upcoming elections did not seem to be an option for Zanu (PF). The President made his intention and strategy clear in a statement in March 2000, at a ceremony for the opening of the water pipeline between the Pungwe River and Mutare. He said, “Those who try to cause disunity among our people must watch out because death will befall them”. (The Daily News, 17 March.) Former South African President, Nelson Mandela has an opposing view. “Government violence can do only one thing, and that is to breed counter-violence,” he said. During the period between February and June 2000, Zanu (PF) was engaged in a systematic campaign of intimidation aimed at crushing support for opposition parties. There were occasions when violence was the result of unplanned clashes between groups of party supporters, but the majority of the violence appeared to be part of a strategy to diminish support for opposition parties. In campaign speeches, Zanu (PF) leaders and candidates seemed to sanction the use of violence and intimidation against political opponents and contributed substantially to the climate of fear that overshadowed the election campaign. Statements from witnesses, testimony in the High Court and various newspaper reports quoted Zanu (PF) candidates threatening MDC supporters with assault or death. Apparently the apples did not fall far from the tree. Some of the politically motivated violence documented included dragging farm workers and villagers from their homes at night and severely beating opposition supporters. Independent reports estimate that there were 40 deaths in the run-up period, most of which were MDC supporters. Men, women and children were tortured and there are several documented cases of rape. The level of such violence drove many people from their homes to other constituencies, robbing them of their right to cast their vote or run for office. The violence was not random, evidenced by similar patterns in violence being perpetrated across the country. 2