COMMENT: Let’s help victims of political violence to rebuild their lives

The lead-up to polling in the next 20 days had been peaceful countrywide as people appeared to heed President Mnangagwa’s call to shun violence.

He always preaches peace.  Zanu-PF, his party, has been not only preaching the same, but also acting it.  Other parties, among them MDC, are denouncing political violence as well.  We, thus, thought we were on our cleanest campaign in years.

However, we were shocked and angered when we heard at the weekend about arson attacks that killed seven people in some parts of the country.  One death is bad enough, but in this instance, we had seven, over one weekend.

This is dastardly indeed, must be condemned and punished. In Shurugwi, Midlands Province, some houses, household property and livestock at six homes valued at about US$45 000 were destroyed after being set on fire on Sunday.  Fortunately, no-one was hurt.

The victims, well-known ruling party members, accuse opposition party activists, which observers say are loyal to the Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC), of committing the crimes.

The Zanu-PF members whose homes were burnt down include Cdes Eva Chitata, Lot Chivese, Walter Mhongarayi, Gertrude Munyoro, Anna Mangena and Marufu Mahara.

All of a sudden, they are now homeless as winter continues to bite, they don’t have food anymore, and with their livestock roasted alive, they are poor.  It is possible that some of them no longer have identify documents to enable them to vote for their party in the election 20 days from today.

“My son is a staunch member of the Zanu- PF Youth League and I believe that’s why his houses were set on fire,” said Cde Joyce Maramba, mother to Cde Chivese.

“We lost beds, uniforms and clothes.  We had done door-to-door campaign for the party that afternoon hence we suspect it’s the opposition party members because these people who were attacked hold key positions in the ruling party.”

The President, unhappy as ever that some among us are doing the opposite of what he encourages, on Monday ordered police to track down the assailants.

We commend police for springing into action leading to the arrest of the suspects, Edwin and Edson Madhuveko.

We unreservedly denounce the attacks and demand justice for the victims.  The Madhuveko brothers, remanded in custody to August 11 after they appeared in court on Tuesday, are only suspects at this stage.  They deserve a fair trial like everyone else.

However, if the courts find them guilty of committing the cowardly acts, they must be severely punished so they don’t do that again and also so that a strong message goes out there that indeed, the Government frowns upon crime and punishes those who commit it.

We particularly want this message to be hammered home considering this very sensitive time we are in.

We urge police to account for the criminals who committed other politically motivated crimes elsewhere last weekend.  They deserve their time in court, and if convicted, deterrent punishments.

While the arrests and convictions will go a long way in consoling those who lost friends and relatives as well as property due to political violence, it is a good idea too if the victims are assisted to get back on their feet.

Our people must heed the President’s call for a free, fair and peaceful election.  Those who don’t must be severely punished.