MDC Mayor’s Wife Found Dead & ZESN Observer Murdered
The dead body of the wife of MDC Councilor Emmanuel Chiroto, who was elected Harare Mayor on Sunday, is reported to have been found at a nearby farm on Tuesday. 27 year-old Abigail Chiroto had been abducted, along with her 4 year-old son, by a gang of armed ZANU PF thugs that came looking for her husband on Monday. Chiroto was not home so they petrol bombed his property before taking his family. The child was dumped at Marlborough police station later that day, and the husband is now in hiding.
Chiroto was the chief election agent for Trudy Stevenson, who was an MDC parliamentary candidate in 2005. Stevenson said the security guards at the house ran away when 2 twin cabs showed up without license plates. “This is the death squad, and they were armed,” she added. The outspoken MDC official said Chiroto’s wife was still blindfolded when her body was found. She had tried to grab her child and run but was too slow and got caught.
A report in The Telegraph newspaper on Tuesday quotes the Harare Mayor as saying: “I knew when I heard that a woman’s body had been found that it was her.”
Meanwhile, another murder was reported by the Zimbabwe Election Support Network (ZESN). The group said they are outraged and saddened by the ‘brutal, calculated and cold blooded’ murder of Elliot Machipisa, a ZESN observer in Karuru, Hurungwe. Machipisa and his family were attacked in the morning on Tuesday. According to ZESN, the attack left his wife in critical condition and hospitalised at Karuru Clinic. There had been sustained threats of violence targeting all individuals living in the area who acted as observers for ZESN in the March 29th elections. A military style base was set up on the same day at Karuru Township and is being manned by ZANU PF militia, commanded by war veterans.
Despite the presence of observers and a United Nations envoy in Zimbabwe, the ruling party’s campaign of violence, abductions and intimidation has not ended. We are receiving reports from all around the country about ZANU PF youth militia who are abducting suspected MDC supporters and officials, and bringing them to designated bases where they are beaten severely before being released.
John Ngorima, a 74 year-old farm caretaker and manager in Chiredzi, was reportedly abducted on Tuesday afternoon by a group of about 9 people who drove away with him in a white Mitsubishi pickup. Witnesses alleged that the car was driven by Lieutenant Edson Ndhlovu. Ngorima was driven over 20 kilometres from his home and was severely beaten by the group, who accused him of voting for the MDC. But it turns out that Ngorima had been unable to vote on March 29 because his name had been removed from the voters’ role. He walked home in the dark with severe injuries. Police were informed but no arrests have been made.
We received a report from Bikita, East of Masvingo that on June 9th the youth militia attacked the councilor for ward 10, Wilson Mabhoko, and his legs and ears were cut off. Chiredzi farmer Gerry Whitehead said Mabhoko is being treated at Silveira Hospital. Once again, the police have done nothing about the incident.
Takalani Matibe, the MDC MP for Chegutu West, on Wednesday reported that dynamite was thrown into his house and he was threatened with death.
The strategy of abducting the relatives or close associates of intended targets is now being used by state agents in an attempt to forcibly obtain information about their whereabouts. The wives of at least 2 MDC MPs were burned to death in the last month and many family members have been abducted. More than 60 Zimbabweans have lost their lives in the post-election violence perpetrated by thugs under the direction of the Mugabe regime. It is believed that Mugabe wants to postpone the run-off poll against MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai, using the violence as the excuse.
(Source)
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