WARNING: This is Version 1 of my old archive, so Photos will NOT work and many links will NOT work. But you can find articles by searching on the Titles. There is a lot of information in this archive. Use the SEARCH BAR at the top right. Prior to December 2012; I was a pro-Christian type of Conservative. I was unaware of the mass of Jewish lies in history, especially the lies regarding WW2 and Hitler. So in here you will find pro-Jewish and pro-Israel material. I was definitely WRONG about the Boeremag and Janusz Walus. They were for real.
Original Post Date: 2001-08-27 Posted By: Jan
From the News Archives of: WWW.AfricanCrisis.Org
Date & Time Posted: 8/27/2001 4:27:34 PM
Death and Torture of Zimbabwean dissidents last month
Harare. August 27, 2001
Eleven people were killed, 61 disappeared and 288 were tortured in Zimbabwe
last month. Few were white
By CHRIS MCGREAL
John Kamonela was beaten to death last month in broad daylight, largely
unnoticed by anyone but his neighbours. He is neither white nor a farmer, but
is far more representative of the terror unleashed by President Robert Mugabe
in Zimbabwe.
Last month alone more black opponents of Mugabes rule were killed in
politically motivated violence than white farmers since the land grab began
early last year.
Kamonela was murdered in the deprived Harare suburb of Epworth by the
government militia because of his opposition sympathies. Another Epworth
resident was burned alive a few days earlier when a petrol bomb was thrown
into his home.
The Amani Trust in Harare, which monitors human rights abuses in Zimbabwe,
recorded 11 political murders, 61 disappearances, 104 cases of unlawful
detention by the authorities and 288 incidents of torture last month. Nine
white farmers have been killed since April last year.
While a surge of international protest usually accompanies attacks on whites,
putting some restraint on the governments actions, the campaign against
ordinary black Zimbabweans is relentless.
These figures are only part of the picture, the ones we can confirm with
certainty, says Anthony Reeler of the Amani Trust. The state has very few
inhibitions about using violence. We hear lots of reports of people dying,
but the people are very unhelpful at giving us those statistics. There have
been many more deaths in the post-election period than before.
Up to 40 people were murdered in political violence during the run-up to the
June 2000 parliamentary election, which the opposition Movement for
Democratic Change (MDC) came close to winning. Since then the Amani Trust
estimates that twice that number have been killed.
Torture, including beatings, electric shocks and even mock drownings, is
widespread, committed by the police, the self-styled war veterans or by
militants of the ruling Zanu-PF party. Some farm workers on occupied land
have been burned out of their homes, which have then been looted. Many have
been forced to attend political rallies where they were expected to identify
MDC supporters among them. Opposition sympathisers were then beaten, or
worse, as a warning to others.
Teachers and health workers in rural areas have been targeted by the militias
because of their presumed sympathy with the opposition. Dozens of opposition
MPs have been arrested or assaulted.
Some of the disappeared turn up a few weeks later, tortured, severely
maltreated, says Reeler. They say they have been held at Zanu-PF bases or
occupied farms. The torture is purely intimidatory, not to extract
information. Its to terrorise people, to stop them being politically active.
Often its done publicly to send a lesson to others.
Such abuse has been made possible by the rapid transformation of state
institutions, such as the police and judiciary, from largely autonomous
bodies to tools of the ruling party. The police, purged of those suspected of
disloyalty to the regime, are in effect another Zanu-PF militia.
War veterans, in many rural areas, have taken control of police stations in
villages. The force is then used to harass and detain opposition supporters,
while ruling party activists get away with intimidation, assault and even
murder. The actions of the army and Central Intelligence Organisation, the
Zimbabwean secret police that is solely accountable to Mugabe, are little
different.
Nor can people look to the courts. Many magistrates are sympathetic to
Zanu-PF or too intimidated to rule against the government.
The Human Rights Forum in Harare, a coalition of 10 groups including the
Amani Trust, Amnesty International and the Catholic Commission for Justice
and Peace, published a damning report last week. The rule of law has been
replaced by rule by thugs. Armed militias roam the countryside assaulting
people whose sole (152)crime is to support the opposition party. The victims
receive little or no protection from the law enforcement agencies; worse,
members of these agencies sometimes participate in the assaults, it says.
To retain power in the face of increasing opposition, Mugabe has been
prepared to subvert the democratic process, the independence of the
judiciary, the freedom of the press, and the professional neutrality of the
police and the army. He has deliberately stirred up violence, race hatred and
political intolerance, and he has brought economic destitution to his
country. The government, which ignores the courts at will, uses the law as
another weapon. The MDC leader, Morgan Tsvangirai, faces subversion charges
for warning Mugabe that if he attempts to hang on to power by force he might
be removed by force.
Yet the Mugabe government repeatedly issues public death threats against its
foes. In June the foreign minister, Stan Mudenge, told trainee teachers: As
civil servants, you have to be loyal to the government of the day. You can
even be killed for supporting the opposition, and no one would guarantee your
safety.
Mugabes opponents expect the violence to get worse. A state of emergency is
expected in the coming months, either as an excuse to call off next years
presidential election or to provide cover to rig the ballot.
— The Mail&Guardian, August 27, 2001.