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Zimbabwe: Women, Children Bear the Brunt of Violence
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Zimbabwe Standard (Harare)
31 May 2008
Posted to the web 2 June 2008
There are more than 90 under-five children packed tightly in the building. There are signs a good number have diarrhoea.
Some cry constantly but their mothers appear clueless what to do about the bawling. They have nothing with which to pacify them.
This is not a children's home or an infants' school. Welcome to the MDC's "safehouse" in Harare.
More than 500 victims of the so-called Operation Mavhoterapapi (who did you vote for?) are housed two floors of the building. They share four toilets, two for women and two for men.
Six handwash basins for men and women on both floors are now bathtubs.
Women's and humanitarian organisations believe this is a tip of an iceberg on how women and children have borne the brunt of the political violence, mostly in rural areas.
Hundreds, mostly women and children, are homeless. Although no figures were immediately available last week, The Standard was told that since Zanu PF launched its campaign of retribution after its electoral defeat and ahead of the presidential election run-off, many women have been widowed, and children orphaned.
MDC spokesperson Nelson Chamisa said there were "so many areas" where women and children were worst affected.
"Politics should not be a loss of life but about building it. What women and girls are going through because of (Robert) Mugabe is not right. We have already appealed to the United Nations and international charity organisations to intervene in this humanitarian crisis," he said.
Although the party had received help from non-governmental organisations, which cannot be named for security reasons, more still needed to be done to complement their efforts, he said.
According to the Zimbabwe Peace Project (ZPP), an NGO that documents incidents of political violence, hundreds of male MDC supporters in rural areas have fled their homes to seek sanctuary in urban areas, leaving their families behind.
To force them to return, Zanu PF militia have abducted the women and children, the group said.
"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 ZPP chairperson Alouis Chaumba.
Before the elections, the organisations encouraged women to take part in politics, as candidates and voters. There were adverts proclaiming "women can do it".
But after the elections, the organisations are conspicuously absent.
But a number of them said they were helping with shelter and food but would not "come out" for fear of reprisals.
"We have helped a lot of women and children but we cannot reveal our organisation as we all know what Zanu PF is capable of doing once they know us," said one activist.
Another said they were helping the victims, although more aid was needed.
"As a women's organisation we are doing our best, but if you expose us you would have done an injustice to the people we are helping because we will be forced to close down," she said.
She claimed they were providing shelter and food in areas she could not identify for "security reasons". But she too said more help was required.
Netsai Mushonga, director of Women's Coalition of Zimbabwe said women were worst affected as they would be at home when the militias arrived, their husbands having gone into hiding.
"We were visiting some of the survivors from Chiweshe and we found out that the majority were women. These women were brutally beaten up. They were told to remove their skirts and were beaten on their buttocks by sticks soaked in herbicides," she said.
The government has blamed the post-election violence on the MDC. But human rights groups say Zanu PF has been responsible for the lion's share of the violence.
A senior member of the party's Women's League, Flora Buka, asked to comment, could only say: "I will call you later". She later switched off her phone.
Recently, Mugabe said he was "really touched" by the violence.
"We are not animals but humans. If you burn down someone's house you want to destroy their life," Mugabe was quoted as saying. "We want to warn the MDC they should stop immediately this barbaric campaign of burning and destroying people's homes."
Grace Mugabe has donated groceries; asbestos sheets, cash and clothes to families affected by alleged MDC-perpetrated post election violence in Mashonaland Central.
Curiously, Zanu PF has not publicly buried any of its victims of MDC violence, whereas the MDC has done so, with Tsvangirai himself delivering a graveside eulogy in Harare, shortly after returning to the country after nearly two month-long absence.
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In April the police raided Harvest House and arrested more than 300 sanctuary seekers, including pregnant women and children.
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