Women targeted with rape and beatings to intimidate Mugabe opponents

Zimbabwe's president Robert Mugabe is accused of extending his efforts to retain power forcibly by targeting women. Among thousands of reported cases of violence, his militias have allegedly raped, beaten and made homeless three MDC supporters in a Harare suburb, while members of the non-violent Women of Zimbabwe Arise! (Woza) movement are in their third week of detention. Of the three raped women now receiving treatment in a Harare clinic, one is too broken by her experience to talk. She lies silently in her bed, her eyes darting nervously around the room, the covers pulled up to her neck. But her two fellow-victims, Liza Mwaramba and Yvonne Chipowera, are eager to tell their story. For Shona women, traditionally submissive, they are remarkably direct and open. They also demonstrate an astonishing physical and emotional resilience by laughing and joking about what they have been through. "They came to my house on June 8," says Liza. "They said I was an MDC supporter. I was wearing my party T-shirt and I was about to go to a rally. They burned down my house and took all my things. I ran away and hid. But the next day they came back to rape me. I knew some of them as local Zanu-PF members. But some others were from another area. "They kicked my breasts, which are still badly swollen. They took me to a graveyard and raped me again. When I was trying to stop them, they took a hot wire and burned my hand. They looted my body like I was dead. They took my ID card and all my money." No card, no vote Yvonne's experience was similar, but her assault was sustained during a long night at a detention center run by Zanu-PF. "They came to my place at 8pm on June 9. I was with my baby. They told me to surrender all my MDC regalia and cards. They wanted my ID card." Stealing identity cards has become standard practice for Zanu-PF militias. Without ID, opposition supporters will be prevented from voting on June 27. "They took me to their base," says Yvonne. "One guy raped me on the way. They poured cold water on me all night, so I was freezing. They beat me over and over again with rods. They beat my genitals, legs, back, buttocks and head. They called me names. They said I was a dog because I supported Tsvangirai." Yvonne's body is covered with deep bruises, which remain painful a week after the attack. But she discovered more hardship after being released: "When I got home I found they had taken everything from my house and they had destroyed it right down to the ground." Epworth, where the three women live, is a poor suburb of Harare. Houses are roughly built of breezeblock and muddy cement. Most lack drainage or electricity. The area is named after the Lincolnshire birthplace of John Wesley, and Methodist missionaries still operate here. It is a natural heartland for the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC). HIV fears Until June, Zanu-PF was content to ignore urban areas–which form only 20% of parliamentary constituencies–believing it could win simply by dominating the rural vote. But it is now clear that Robert Mugabe cannot count on his traditional supporters, who have grown weary of relentless economic decline and hunger. So Zanu-PF is bussing militias into urban areas to terrorize MDC voters and deter them from turning out to vote in the presidential run-off. In Zimbabwe, where at least one-quarter of young men are infected with HIV, the consequences of rape are potentially lethal. The women, who were all confident of their negative status, are waiting for the results of HIV tests. "I am stressed especially about the rape," says Yvonne angrily. "I have contracted an STD from the rape. I wish God would take them all. Mugabe is a pig. I wish he would die." Liza is more fearful than angry: "I am stressed because I have two children. They poisoned my husband and he is in the ground since 2006. Maybe I am HIV positive now because of these guys. Who will look after my children if I get Aids? To be raped is like death." On the other side of Harare, members of Woza have now been held for three weeks in the notorious Chikurubi jail. "We marched on May 28," says Annie Sibanda, a spokeswoman for Woza. "The plan was to march from the UN office to the Zambian embassy. We handed in a petition at the UN office calling for action to end the violence and for a peaceful, free and fair election. "Fourteen of us we were arrested in central Harare. Our members are just ordinary Zimbabwean women–housewives, mothers. The riot police beat our driver a few times and beat one of our members. Two passersby intervened and asked the police to stop beating the woman, but the police just arrested them too." 'Kenya-style violence' The 14 women were charged with holding an illegal demonstration with the intent to promote violence. Sibanda considers this a laughable charge because Woza is rigorously pacifist and proud that it has operated for five years without recourse to violence. But the prosecution repeated the claim that Woza was a violent group as a pretext for denying bail to the women. "They accused Woza of organizing Kenyan-style violence," says Sibanda. "It's disgusting that we've been locked up and not the people who are beating, burning, murdering and raping." Twelve of the women have now been released. But two - Jeni Williams and Magodonga Mahlangu–are still in Chikurubi prison and now face much more serious charges: publishing false statements prejudicial to the state and causing disaffection among the police and defense forces. The latter charge, which carries a maximum 20-year sentence, relates to no more than a statement in a Woza newsletter that "the uniformed forces must realize that there is no peace while violence continues." Sibanda understands that it must appear crazy to demonstrate in Zimbabwe while death squads loyal to Robert Mugabe are active. But she is unrepentant. "Woza was formed in 2003 to show the world that Zimbabweans do not just roll over. We wanted to demonstrate our courage and to show that Zimbabweans are still dignified and outraged by what's happening. "We heard that they wanted to arrest the leadership and hold them, because they knew that Woza was capable of organizing mass protests. We take it as quite an honour that they are threatened by our ability to mobilize people. "But they have not appreciated that Woza is a 60,000-strong national movement that will not be deterred because two people are in prison." Sophie Shaw is a pseudonym.