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RIGHTS-ZIMBABWE: Women Bear Brunt of Violence

Ephraim Nsingo

HARARE, Jun 28 2008 (IPS) - "We are too familiar with the violence that was meted upon numerous of us from 1890 when the colonialists came into our country right up to the most recent elections. Chief among these forms of violence is sexual violence, and it concomitant implication, HIV infection. Zimbabwean women now have the lowest life expectancy world wide because of HIV & AIDS – 34 years."

This from a statement issued by the Feminist Political Education Project (FePEP) on Apr. 10, when the country was still waiting for inexplicably-delayed results of the Mar. 29 presidential poll. FePEP expressed the view that regardless of who won, neither Tsvangirai nor Mugabe could bring all sides together and move forward in the interests of the whole country.

Priscilla Misihairabwi-Mushonga, a former MDC parliamentarian and one of FePEP's coordinators, told IPS that Tsvangirai’s Jun. 22 withdrawal from the presidential run-off "was the right thing for him to do, albeit too late".

"Our position has been consistent; the current problems in Zimbabwe cannot be resolved through an election," said Misihairabwi-Mushonga. "Our society is divided right through the middle and any government would by nature have to be inclusive if we are to seriously work towards resolving the current impasse. The problems in this country will not go away. We should continue to press for dialogue."

While ZANU-PF hastily prepares to swear 84-year-old Robert Mugabe in as president, Zimbabweans continue to count the cost of the party's brutal fight to remain in power.

"Women have suffered most in this violence," said Netsai Mushonga, the Coordinator of the Women's Coalition of Zimbabwe, an umbrella body of Zimbabwean women's organisations. From what we have gathered so far, we expect the number of rape cases to treble. We are yet to sit down as an organisation to do a detailed analysis of the situation."

According to Alouis Chaumba, the chairperson of the Zimbabwe Peace Project – an NGO that documents incidents of political violence – most male opposition supporters have fled rural areas; leaving women more vulnerable.

"To force the men to return, ZANU PF militia have a tendency of abducting women and children. There are numerous cases of women and children being taken as ransom and forcibly detained in bases until their fathers or husbands return to their villages. Women are being assaulted, tortured, and sexually harassed," said Chaumba.

Martha Marime*, a 29-year-old woman from Chaona Village in Mashonaland Central Province, Chiweshe narrated how she was abducted at the end of May and repeatedly raped by ZANU PF militia for hours.

"I don't think I will ever recover from the pain and embarrassment I went through. I was forced to do things I have never done in my life and it really pains me to think to think of it. They took turns to rape me, and after that they beat me up saying I was a prostitute. I was two months pregnant when they beat me up, and the very day they released me, I had a miscarriage," said Marime.

The leader of a prominent women's organisation, who declined to be named, said most women were being harassed because their husbands, sons or male relatives were suspected to be supporters of the opposition.

"We are still compiling the details, but we have got one recent example where Abigail Chiroto was abducted and gruesomely murdered because her husband is an MDC activist. To make it worse, it looks like they did all this while her four-year-old son was watching. Things are really bad for women, but most of them are not brave enough to come out in the open for fear of retribution," said the official.

Abigail Chiroto, the wife of the newly elected mayor of Harare, Emmanuel Chiroto, was abducted from her home in Hatcliffe, Harare, and later found dead at a farm on the outskirts of the capital. Her son was unharmed.

Female candidates have also been victims of the violence. The losing candidate for Mt Pleasant House of Assembly Constituency, Trudy Stevenson – of the MDC faction led by Arthur Mutambara – has for the past few weeks been living in hiding following repeated attempts by suspected ZANU PF supporters to attack her home.

Said Stevenson: "I am in a safe place, but obviously I am very worried that the place will be attacked any time, in view of this pattern repeated several times with people being abducted, tortured and murdered and the houses petrol-bombed. Most of my colleagues are not safe either."

Theresa Makone, the newly-elected legislator for Harare North and chairperson of the MDC Women's League has been living in hiding for over a month now. Her driver, Beta Chokururama, was murdered by suspected ZANU PF militias on Jun. 13.

Justice Minister Patrick Chinamasa denied that his party is responsible for the reign of terror since the Mar. 29 elections.

"The opposition has been making all of sorts of allegations to draw unnecessary attention, for reasons which we do not know. From information we got from the police, MDC supporters have been perpetrating violence against our people, then steal our campaign material and disguise themselves as members of our party," said Chinamasa, who also chairs ZANU PF's media sub-committee for the elections.

Asked about incidents of rape at ZANU PF bases, Chinamasa said only that his party "does not have any such bases".

Robert Mugabe is expected to join other African heads of state at the African Union Summit now taking place in Egypt, where despite recent criticism from African leaders includng Zambian president Levy Mwanawasa – who as chair of the Southern Africa Development Community stated that the elections in Zimbabwe fell far short of regional standards for fairness – the early signs are that the A.U. will propose a power-sharing agreement for Zimbabwe similar to what was agreed in Kenya.

But how will such an agreement address the grievous injury and injustice that has fallen so heavily on the backs of Zimbabweans, particularly women?

*Not her real name.