These two districts were involved very early in the liberation war, because of their proximity to
Mozambique, and the long, easily penetrated border. It is not surprising, therefore, that they are districts
with some of the worst records for human rights violations during that war. Much of the recording during
this time was done by the Catholic Commission for Justice and Peace(CCJP), and it is noteworthy that
reports of torture and ill-treatment were coming in as early as March 1973.
The rural people of Mount Darwin were subjected to extreme pressure and deprivation during these
years. In order to control the guerrillas' access to the populace, a policy of forced villagisation was
instituted: termed "keeps" or "protected villages", the population was forced to reside in these villages
by night with a strict dawn-to-dusk curfew imposed. Between 1973 and 1978 almost 750 000 rural
people were forced into keeps throughout Zimbabwe. The life within these villages was extremely hard,
and, in the north-east, malnutrition, starvation, overcrowding, and inadequate sanitation were
commonplace, as the investigations of the CCJP demonstrated. As one person commented:
"They put us behind the wire, they said, to protect us. But they were not protecting us; they were
treating us like animals" (David Chikwanha, Chiweshe).
After the Altena Farm attack, the security forces instituted severe reprisals against the population that
was felt to be supporting the ZANLA forces. Schools, clinics, mills, shops, and beerhalls were closed;
property was confiscated and destroyed; collective fines were imposed for failures to report the
guerrillas; and mass arrests were made, with detentions and interrogations, involving torture, following.
By 1975, the CCJP had compiled comprehensive reports on the activities of the Rhodesian security
forces, including one on the north-east.
The torture and ill-treatment of civilians is amply attested by human rights reports, as well as by many
other commentators. Moore-King, a former Rhodesian soldier, bluntly catalogues the kinds of treatment
meted out by security forces: beatings, suspensions, electrical torture, submarino and suffocations, mock
executions, and real, arbitrary killings. This is well attested by the civilians and guerrillas who
experienced these human rights violations, and should also include those who were the victims of ZANLA
reprisals.