•
There have been 22 confirmed deaths since 1st April and there are increasing numbers of
reports of well known activists being abducted.
•
The Joint Operational Command (JOC) composed of representatives from the army, the
police, the CIO and the prison service have been implicated in 56% of the post election
violations, with the perpetrators acting on the assumption of total Immunity. The police are
under instructions not to arrest perpetrators, even when they file cases and victims know their
assailants as they often do.
•
Although there have been shootings, most of the deaths and injuries involve simple beatings
and other forms of torture committed with ordinary objects such as sticks, fan belts, chains,
burning plastic bags, rocks and logs.
•
While no violation reported to us was attributed to the MDC it is nonetheless clear that there
have been cases of defensive responses on the part of the MDC in the wake of the current
violence.
•
In several constituencies in Mashonaland, the winning ZANU PF MPs have been shockingly
implicated as spear-heading the violence. The two most appalling examples of this is the
alleged involvement of Minister of Health David Parirenyatwa in orchestrating and inciting
violence in Murehwa North, and the direct involvement of Major Cairo Mandhu in the public
beatings of at least six people in Mazowe North.
•
An alarming aspect of the violence is the fact that the community members and even family
members are committing these brutal acts against one another.
•
Between the 30th March and 30th April there were more than ten times as many violations as
in the previous month of March, with 618 political violations.
•
By the 16th May doctors in Harare reported that they had treated 1,600 victims since April 1st.
•
During the first two weeks of May the pace of rural civilians fleeing to Harare has clearly
escalated.
•
The majority of violations (46%) have taken place in three Mashonaland provinces. These
provinces have traditionally been the stronghold of the ruling party. However in this election,
there was a swing towards the MDC, which won 12 out of 60 parliamentary seats in these
provinces. The violence in Mashonaland can thus be seen to be both retributive, and as an
attempt to reverse the flow of support to the opposition. In all these areas the violence has
been highly structured and coordinated, with JOC in charge.
•
The strategy to win the run-off has been implemented in Matabeleland North and South, but
without much of the violence evident in Mashonaland.
•
77% of the victims since March 30th have been affiliated to the MDC.
•
The average age of the victims has been 37.5 years.
7