SW Radio Africa news - The Independent Voice of Zimbabwe
An armed gang of over 20 ZANU PF youths is reported to have severely assaulted a member of the MDC-T in Makoni South last week, leaving him for dead in a hidden bushy area. Four brothers have been named as leaders in the gang, which attacked Tonderai Nemaungwe because he was an MDC-T member participating in the government’s grain loan scheme. According to Elton Mangoma, the MDC-T candidate for Makoni North, Tonderai was left for dead by the gang after they assaulted him. The gang panicked, thinking he was dead, and reported it to the police. When they returned to the location Tonderai was up and trying to walk to a clinic. “He was transferred to a clinic in Rusape where he got medical attention, but they could not handle his injuries because they were so serious and life threatening. So he was taken to Harare to the Avenues Clinic at my interference,” Mangoma said. He added that no arrests had been made by police despite all the evidence that was available to them, which includes the names of four members of the gang who are believed to be brothers. The report comes as villagers in Manicaland are said to be living in fear following ZANU PF’s disputed win in the July 31st elections. According to Pishai Muchauraya, the former legislator for Rusape and the MDC-T spokesman for Manicaland, MDC-T supporters are being penalized by traditional leaders in rural areas. “They are charging them goats and chickens just because they supported the MDC-T and we are concerned. We know of five who have been penalized so far and paid the goats,” Muchauraya told SW Radio Africa onTuesday. He said all this is in addition to the partisan distribution of food and other agricultural inputs, which only known ZANU PF supporters are receiving in Manicaland. But Muchauraya warned perpetrators that their names are being well-documented by the MDC-T and by human rights groups, giving victims the option to at least pursue legal action in the future.