26 surrender their MDC t-shirt or membership card; in still other cases if the victim could not prove that they were a Zanu (PF) supporter by producing a Zanu (PF) membership card, they were also beaten. Torture as Persecution for Political Affiliation Witnesses in the Buhera North case testified that: • A CIO agent approached a man after he attended an MDC meeting and was beaten. • A woman was beaten by a CIO agent because she was chanting MDC slogans. • Zanu (PF) supporters beat a man who was wearing an MDC t-shirt. • A witness escaped when Zanu (PF) supporters approached an MDC meeting and began to beat people those in attendance. Family members and Children Tortured Family members of MDC supporters were often not spared from violence, apart from being frequent witnesses to torture. Percy Mavheneka testified in the Chiredzi North case that Zanu (PF) supporters, a Mrambi and his friends, attacked him on 15 June 2000. Before he and his wife had fallen asleep that night, he heard that his windows had been struck and broken. After having proceeded to the dining room to investigate, the front door to the house was broken down and Mrambi and other Zanu (PF) members entered. Of two that had burst into the house, one had a beard and was carrying a whip and a knobkerrie and the second was holding a pistol. Mavheneka was assaulted while trying to run into the kitchen while his wife was attacked in the corridor. All his four children, ages two, four, seven and 10 were also attacked. The assailants chanted ‘MDC’ as they beat up the family. Mavheneka managed to get up and escape through the front door, but was struck on the back of his head with a stick and consequently fell back to the ground and was then assaulted by those of his assailants who had remained outside. Again, Mavheneka tried to escape but was tripped, assaulted again and told to hand over all MDC t-shirts. Mavheneka’s hands were held and he was told to lie down, but finally managed to get up when his assailants were distracted, and hide in nearby sugarcane fields. Mavheneka was taken to hospital and admitted for two weeks. His wife made a report to the police that he had gone missing. Torture using the falanga method In one particularly brutal case in Makoni West, witness Farai Dhliwayo told the court of his experience involving torture including falanga performed on him by a prominent Zanu (PF) supporter, Nathaniel ‘Punish’ Mhiripiri. Ferai Dhliwayo, an MDC youth chairman, testified that he was brutally tortured on 28 April. He returned home from an MDC meeting at about 8 p.m. and found Zanu (PF) youth waiting for him. They held his arms and dragged him to a local school. He was stripped of his MDC t-shirt that he was wearing and was beaten. His shoes were removed, and he was taken to a classroom, where he was instructed to sit with his legs stretched out. An assailant produced a gun and began beating him with it. He was told to stand, lift his hands and say MDC slogans. He was beaten on both arms and his back, and he then fell down. Other assailants began stamping and kicking him, while instructing him to stand. He was beaten with a knobkerrie on the soles of his feet, knees, back, and other parts of his body as he sat with his legs stretched out. Punish Mhiripiri (a Zanu (PF) supporter who has been featured as a perpetrator in other witnesses’ testimony) entered the classroom and said, “You were proud of Chiminya. We planned for him and killed him. We are here to kill you, to break your back so you won’t sire any children.” Machonai Bumhura entered, and Mhiripiri began hitting walls with benches and smashing the benches to the ground. The other assailants panicked and ran outside. Mhiripiri fell to the ground and convulsed. He lifted a metal chair and struck Bumhura and Dhliwayo with it several times, and then began punching Bumhura. Some women were brought into the classroom and told to “join the line of people being assaulted.” They were then beaten in turn from the front of AMANI Trust: Organised Violence and Torture in the June 2000 General Election in Zimbabwe