I was driving towards St. Mary’s in Chitungwiza when l noticed four
soldiers in uniform beating up somebody on the side of the road. He
was lying down helpless as they beat him. I slowed down to
investigate but was stopped by one of the soldiers who had a gun. He
then ordered me out of the car at gunpoint. Without warning the
soldiers started beating me with batons, booted feet and a fan belt.
They beat me on the buttocks. Now my buttocks are heavily swollen
and blackened.
Another group of 10 soldiers came and accused me of being an MDC
member and belonging to Tsvangirai. As I was being beaten they were
ransacking the car. I had a letter which Tsvangirai wrote to the
business community in my car and that is when it became worse. They
kept beating me. They beat me for 20-25 minutes. One soldier, who
identified himself as Black Jesus did much of the beatings. They said
“You belong to Tsvangirai and you want to give the country to the
whites.” They said “We will murder you.” They were boasting of being
given a three-day assignment to “bring hell” to the people of
Chitungwiza.
I didn’t report to the police. Today I heard some guys had been beaten
up around C section in Chitungwiza by soldiers. They bragged about
how they can murder, torture and rape. They only let me go when they
stopped another car and started beating the drive that car. I did not
bother to make a police report because l know from experience that no
action is ever taken, in fact l feared the police would end up arresting
me.85
In a clear indication of the systematic and targeted nature of the violence, in the Glen
View high density suburb of Harare, uniformed and armed soldiers moved around
with a list of suspected MDC activists at night. At one house they arrived around 2
a.m. on April 18 and asked for a man who was on their list but was not at home.
85
Human Rights Watch interview with Arthur Taderera, Harare, April 17, 2008.
43
Human Rights Watch 2008
Select target paragraph3
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