The post-election retribution cases continued throughout the country with hundreds of families reportedly left homeless as a result of forced evictions. Hundreds of families in Banket, Mashonaland West were left homeless after police allegedly set their houses on fire during the month of October claiming they were illegal settlers. Coupled with the rainy season, families were pushed into a desperate situation as police claimed they were illegally settled on a farm owned by a senior police officer. The main officer was reportedly stationed in Chinhoyi. The families claimed they were resettled at the farm located in Mapinga near Banket just before the July 31 harmonised elections but the situation changed after the elections as they were ordered to vacate the property. In a related incident, a Zanu PF chairperson identified as Albert Nzitsa served 10 families from Mukoko Farm in Mazowe South, Mashonaland Central with eviction orders. The ten families were to vacate there to pave way for the expansion of Batanai Primary School. The victims however said they were being targeted since they were actively involved in supporting the MDC-T during the elections. On 7 October, eight families were left homeless after a “new farmer” evicted them from their lodgings following a protest they staged for non-payment of their wages. Felix Pambukani, who took over Wakefield Farm in Chegutu, Mashonaland West province during the government endorsed land grab exercise, teamed up with his family members, some plot holders in the surrounding farming area and other sympathetic farm workers to conduct the unlawful eviction during a period preceding the harsh summer season without a valid court order in violation of Section 74 of the Constitution of Zimbabwe which provides for freedom from arbitrary eviction. During the eviction, some of the families’ property was destroyed walls and windowpanes were removed from their residences exposing their possessions to the harsh weather. Pambukani and his associates, used truncheons to batter the employees. Four farm workers were hospitalised after sustaining injuries from the assault. The farm workers and their families were forced to camp in the open along the Harare-Chegutu highway with their young children and possessions. Meanwhile, the Zimbabwe Republic Police on 06 October began recording statements from the farm employees after the workers’ lawyer Kennedy Masiye from Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights filed a report at Chegutu Police Station on Saturday 5 October on behalf of the eight families. The police had been reluctant in taking action. The Zanu PF restructuring exercise provided a new source of conflict during the month under review with accusations of rigging and vote buying being recorded in Manicaland, Midlands and Bulawayo provinces. Intra-party violence was recorded in the period leading up to the election day in Manicaland where an aspiring provincial youth chairperson Innocent Madya reportedly assaulted Josphat Muridzo at Buhera business centre accusing him of failing to submit his nomination papers to the election directorate because he belonged to a rival faction. Police reacted violently to a peaceful demonstration by Hwange Colliery Mine Workers’ wives demanding that the company pays their husbands’ salaries. The women argued their children had been expelled from school for non-payment of school fees after their husbands went for over 5 months without pay. Over one hundred women were subjected to violent manhandling resulting in many being injured with four being hospitalized at Hwange Colliery Hospital. Conflicts that erupted during the month of September in Bikita West were subdued following a Constitutional Court ruling that ordered the reinstatement of Munyaradzi Kereke as the MP for Bikita West. The ConCourt ruled in favour of Kereke on 23 October. Zanu PF had earlier on called for the ouster of Kereke on the pretext that he defied the party’s hierarchy by standing against the Zanu PF’s preferred candidate of Elias Musakwa. Food and other forms of aid related violations The Presidential Inputs Scheme was the most abused aid scheme during the month under review by the Zanu PF leadership, war veterans and traditional leaders throughout the country. Under the scheme each household was entitled to 10kg of seed maize, 50kg compound D, 50kg ammonium nitrate and 50kg lime while those in more arid areas would receive 5kg each of sorghum or millet seed in place of maize. 15