#PROVINCIAL OUTLOOK
MASHONALAND EAST
In November, Mashonaland East
recorded a significant increase in
number of violations as
compared to October. In one of
the major cases, police enforcing
the COVID-19 curfew unleashed
dogs on revellers in Chivhu.
Darlington Manjokota was not so
lucky and he suffered immense
dog bite wounds on his hand and
had to be admitted to Chivhu
General Hospital.
When Manjokota confronted a
police officer by the name Ruziwa
the next morning over the matter,
the officer threatened to throw
Manjokota into the cells now
accusing him of throwing a stone
at the police dog.
The stifling of opposition
activities continued and in Mutoko
and once again there was collusion
between Zanu PF and the
Zimbabwe Republic Police.
At the time Chamisa was due to
visit the area as part of his
countrywide campaign tour, police
reportedly told vendors at Corner
store in Mutoko to stop operations
for three days.
The distribution of the
government’s Pfumvudza inputs
continued to happen in a
politicised manner and MDC
Alliance activists were reportedly
denied the inputs in Murehwa and
Mudzi as they were told to get
their inputs from Nelson Chamisa.
Zanu PF Councillors and Zanu PF
aligned traditional leaders
continued to be the major
perpetrators of rights violations in
most of the rural communities
across Mashonaland East.
MASHONALAND WEST
The highlight of the month in
Mashonaland West was the two
cases of evictions in Hurungwe,
during. 63 families are currently
living at a roadside along the
Harare-Chirundu Highway. The
families were evicted from
Waterloo farm by one Vincent
Chigwedere following a three-year
dispute between the families and
Chigwedere. The evicted families
moved to the farm in 2018 and the
dispute was taken to courts and it
is only in October this year that a
court order was issued for their
eviction. Following the issuing of
the order, armed police moved in
and forcibly remove the families
from the farm. It is reported that
police asked the villagers to burn
their own houses and move out of
the farm within 48 hours. During
this incident police reportedly
used excessive force and left some
of the victims injured. Eight of the
evicted villagers you have since
been arrested and are being
prosecuted for, among other
things resisting arrest, failing to
abide by a court order and
assaulting the police. The ZPP
team could not verify some of the
charges the eight are facing.
The families are in need of
temporary shelter, food and other
basic needs, especially for the
young children who are in there
are dozens. There are no toilets
where they are living and they get
their water from a dam kilometres
away. Some of the families are
sharing a single plastic as
temporary shelter which is not
adequate. There is a high risk of
an outbreak of diseases like
malaria, cholera and typhoid
resulting from the poor living
conditions. Young children also
risk getting malnutrition,
infections or being run over by
vehicles is these people I settled
only a few meters from the busy
highway. A seven year old child
died on the spot after being run
over by a vehicle, a day after the
evictees settled by that roadside.
In Mhondoro Ngezi in Benhura
Village Wad 5, it is alleged that
four unmarked vehicles
surrounded the house of Tedious
Benhura. Five state agents then
pounced on Benhura and accused
him of receiving and distributing
MDC Alliance material. The five
agents reportedly searched
Benhura’s home claiming that he
had received farming tools from
the MDC Alliance President Nelson
Chamisa. The state agents did not
produce a search warrant neither
did they produce their
identification. The five agents
warned Benhura not to work with
MDC activists.
BULAWAYO PROVINCE
Political tensions continue to rise
in the province. Zanu PF
members forced some vendors to
attend the funeral proceedings of
the late national hero Simon
Khaya Moyo, Vendors who chose
to stay behind were told that they
would lose their stands because
they had defied the orders of the
party.
Zanu PF is currently also targeting
vendors so as to boost its
membership and aim to have five
million voters in 2023. It was
reported that ZanuPF members led
by a man only identified as Siziba,
were going around the stands
forcing vendors to buy their
membership cards for US$2. It is
said that vendors were warned
that they risk losing their stands if
they did not buy party cards.