Political Violence Forces Dozens Of People To Flee Mupandawana
The Citizens’ Coalition for Change (CCC) has accused ZANU PF activists in Gutu of unleashing violence targetting perceived opposition members at Mupandawana Growth Point and its environs.
CCC Gutu district elections officer Lloyd Mupfudze told The Mirror that the violence is creating a humanitarian crisis by the day with more than 30 families running away from homes and workplaces.
Mupfudze appealed to well-wishers for food and shelter for the victims of the violence adding that the situation was deteriorating. He said:
There is a crisis. Families that have run away from their homes don’t have shelter and food. Others have lost sources of income after being pushed out of their workplaces.
These victims and their children need to eat and a place to sleep but we have no means to help.
Many people are sleeping in the bush for fear of being attacked at night. The majority of the victims are residents of Mpandawana while others stay on the outskirts of the growth point.
Many people have moved together with their children out of the district to Harare and other places.
It is well-organized and funded violence in the district and the Police is not arresting anyone to the extent that some people are assaulted at Police stations and in front of senior officers.
The godfathers of the violence are known and they openly brag about it. Gangs of hired thugs move in groups in broad daylight armed with banned weapons like catapults, knobkerries, stones and machetes.
They choose their victims randomly and they abduct, assault men and women in public.
Meanwhile, the Officer Commanding Masvingo East, Superintendent Taurai Mambure, was reportedly forced to call for an urgent all-parties meeting on Wednesday to discuss the issue of violence.
Mambure reportedly barred The Mirror from the meeting and refused to give a statement after more than 4 hours of deliberations.
Alleged victims of political violence
Four Makumbe brothers Tom, Kudakwashe, Nhamo and Jervas were reportedly severely assaulted, thrown into sewage and had their phones crushed.
The brothers have a welding company at Mpandawana Growth Point but they closed the shop and disappeared.
CCC councillor, Bernard Chimwango’s wife, Blessing Chiriga was assaulted this week at the main bus rank.
She and her children have left the district for fear of further attacks, while Chimwango is also no longer staying at his house which is at Mpandawana, reported the mirror.
Who is behind the attacks?
According to The Mirror, the ringleader in the attack has been identified as Josephat Sarukore who is the ZANU PF District chair.
Sarukore’s brothers Tawanda and Samson have also been fingered while Joseph Mudziwepasi, a son of a businessman at the growth point has openly confirmed his role in the violence.
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