MDC Dossier names Zanu PF ‘Murderers’
A confidential dossier prepared by the MDC-T’s security department has implicated senior Zanu PF officials in cases of murder and political violence during last year’s elections amid growing fears of a repeat of the killings.
The officials either participated in the violence themselves or incited their supporters to kill or brutally assault their victims, the dossier seen by The Standard last week, indicates.
The report lists names of over 200 MDC supporters allegedly murdered during last year’s election, which failed to produce a decisive winner between President Robert Mugabe and Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai.
It also lists names of senior Zanu PF officials, army officers, the police, youth militia and members of the dreaded Central Intelligence Organisation (CIO) as the perpetrators of the violence.
The dossier gives names of alleged perpetrators and victims as well as dates and places where the murders or violence occurred.
Ironically, one of those fingered is a minister in the inclusive government who hails from Mashonaland Central.
The other is a former deputy Minister and three are Zanu PF MPs. Soldiers and war veterans are also on the list.
The government of national unity (GNU) was formed in February this year after the signing of the Global Political Agreement (GPA) in September last year.
Senior MDC officials told The Standard last week that the dossier had already been handed over to Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai, whom they accused of trying to put a lid on the controversial report.
“We want the Prime Minister to take up the issue with Mugabe,” said one of the officials. “This is because some of the murder cases were reported to the police and none of the accused persons have ever been questioned.”
Another official said a radical group within the MDC-T wants architects of violence brought to book insisting that the nation cannot be healed when the perpetrators were free to roam around and continue to attack the party’s supporters with impunity.
But analysts said it was unlikely that Mugabe — even if he received the dossier — would push for justice given that the killings seemed to have been sanctioned from the top.
Mugabe has pardoned criminals convicted of torturing or shooting his political rivals before.
The 85-year-old leader pardoned two State security agents convicted of attempted murder after they shot the late businessman Patrick Kombayi who was contesting in a parliamentary poll against the late Vice President Simon Muzenda in 1990.
Tsvangirai’s spokesperson James Maridadi on Friday said the Prime Minister had not seen the dossier.
“We are not aware of it. I don’t think he has seen it yet, if it exists,” said Maridadi.
Analysts fear that the dossier could rupture the fragile inclusive government that has started “a painfully slow” process of national healing and reconciliation.
Some cases, said one MDC-T official, had not been reported because police in certain constituencies stopped recording politically-motivated incidents for fear of reprisals from Zanu PF militia and war veterans.
Last week, the MDC urged victims of political violence around the country to file their cases with the local police.
Hardliners in MDC last week castigated the Organ on National Healing, Reconciliation and Integration chairman John Nkomo as well as fellow members Sekai Holland and Gibson Sibanda for the slow pace of the national healing process.
They queried why it took so long for the officials to visit rural areas to douse the flames of political violence.
They said the organ had done nothing since its formation other than organizing conferences in Harare.
“Addressing meetings on national healing will not end violence. They must go together and meet people in Mudzi, Guruve and Muzarabani who are being torture day and night,” said a senior MDC official.
Addressing a press conference recently, Nkomo promised that the organ would soon take the national healing campaign to the rural areas to call for an end to violence.
The new wave of political violence has mostly affected areas believed to be Zanu PF strongholds.
These include Mashonaland East, Central and West as well as parts of Masvingo and Manicaland.
There are fears of increased violence after reports that Zanu PF has deployed youth militia and war veterans to campaign for the adoption of the Kariba Draft constitution which is at the centre of dispute between Tsvangirai and Mugabe.
Written By: CAIPHAS CHIMHETE Additional Reporting by: The Zimbabwe Standard
Posted by Dave Fish Eagle
on August 12, 2009. Filed under Main Headline.
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