10 villagers who had gathered for a meeting at a shopping centre. Again, villagers were also forced to flee from their homes. The Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum (the Human Rights Forum) has indicated in later reports that Zanu(PF) youth were the major perpetrators of gross human rights violations xii. “War Veteran” Militias “War veteran” militias participated in the perpetration of violence, and were greatly feared due to the violent farm invasions and the ongoing violence after the farms were occupied. These militias promoted themselves in the constituencies as those who had fought in the liberation war for independence, and were not going to “hand over the country back to white people.” However, members of these militias were often in their twenties or younger, which would have made it impossible for them to be involved in the liberation war, since at the time the war was being fought, these men were under 10 years old at that time, or not born. However, their rhetoric had an effect on the electorate. Citizens throughout the country were afraid of these militias, especially since the war veteran leaders invoked violence and their invasion of farms had not received any condemnation from the government. Their apparent impunity from prosecution allowed them to perpetrate violence on citizens, farm workers, and MDC supporters. Citizens were threatened that if they did not support Zanu (PF), then they would be labeled as ‘sell-outs’. This phrase has a particularly insidious connotation in the context of the liberation struggle. Those who were considered ‘sell-outs’ were killed because of perceived collaboration with the Rhodesian Army. People who supported or spoke of the MDC were labelled ‘sell-outs’. Red clothing was identified with ‘sell-outs’, because MDC membership cards were red and these red cards were pictured on MDC t-shirts. Pishai Muchauraya, MDC Constituency Coordinator for Makoni East, testified in the Makoni East petition that…attendance at meetings was reduced and it became harder to hold them at all. This situation was replicated in the communal lands, resettlement areas, and commercial farms. In communal farm areas, people were accused of ‘selling out’. (The population of the communal farms constituted one-third of the membership of MDC in Makoni East.) A witness describes an attack by “war veterans” during testimony in the Chiredzi South election petition: S. Mbiza, the MDC campaign manager for Patrick Tsumele, and colleagues Patrick Tsumele, Ishmael Takuwa, James Hlungwe and two others were assaulted at Chilonga Business Centre on 8 June 2000. The men had remained in their car while Mbiza went into a store to buy food. Upon leaving the shops Mbiza found the car doors open and war veterans (including Mbiza’s cousin, Benjamin) destroying the MDC pamphlets that were being distributed around the shops. The war veterans ordered Mbiza and his colleagues to remove their MDC t-shirts or risk getting the car torched. Tsumele ordered everyone to remove his or her t-shirts in order to save the vehicle. After approaching his cousin in an attempt to diffuse the situation, Mbiza was attacked. War veterans held him by the neck and choked him as others forcibly removed his t-shirt. As he tried to release the grip around his neck, Mbiza was hit on the back of the head with an empty bottle. He was dragged into a bottle store where his cousin, Benjamin assaulted him with a whip. He was then taken out of the shop and ordered to lie on his stomach in front of everyone. At this time, his colleagues drove away to prevent the war veterans from destroying the vehicle. While lying on the ground, Mbiza was slashed five times with a whip and kicked in the face until a war veteran came to stop the assault. Mbiza was taken back into the shop where he was told that he would be stabbed and killed because his colleagues had returned with weapons. The war veterans told Mbiza that they were to receive firearms soon from Zanu (PF), which they would use to murder him and his children. After being forced to chant a Zanu (PF) slogan, Mbiza was released. AMANI Trust: Organised Violence and Torture in the June 2000 General Election in Zimbabwe