What happens to perpetrators of nine years of rape, torture and murder?
Updated on 23 September 2008
The people of Zimbabwe are hopeful, but already talking about accountability and punishment, writes guest Zimbabwe blogger Helen.
Tatenda, a man from a rural village, described the feeling on the ground less than a week after a power sharing agreement was signed between the main political parties in Zimbabwe.
He said that his friends and neighbours were encouraged and hopeful but were already talking about accountability and punishment.
Supporters of Zanu PF have made their lives hell for the past eight
and half years and must not be allowed to get away with what they've done.
Tatenda is one of 30 men in his village who was identified as being an MDC supporter. His name was put on a list and when food, seed or fertilizer was being distributed, Tatenda got nothing: his punishment for not supporting Zanu PF.
Some of the MDC supporters in the village went into hiding and others just disappeared and haven't been seen since.
After the MDC won the March 29th elections Tatenda and his family were repeatedly taunted and threatened; they lived in constant fear.
"We will take you to our base camp and beat you until you learn to only vote for President Mugabe," Tatenda was told.
When others got food but his family didn't, Tatenda's Zanu PF neighbour would call out: "You can eat wire," and he'd hold up a wire noose - a graphic illustration of the real meaning of his words.
"Long sleeves or short?" was another question put to MDC supporters in Tatenda's village. They soon learnt that it meant amputation, either at wrist or elbow - removing the hand, or the arm, that had voted for the MDC.
Tatenda made it through the barbarity that engulfed Zimbabwe before power sharing was agreed upon. Many of his friends were not so lucky. One had his wrists and ankles tied with barbed wire and was beaten with sticks and pelted with stones.
Many wonder how many other bodies have been dumped in rivers, old mine shafts or just thrown in the bush to be eaten by wild animals.
Another was stripped naked, beaten into unconsciousness and dumped in the bush miles from home. Some of the MDC supporters in the village went into hiding and others just disappeared and haven't been seen since.
No one even knows if they are alive or if maybe they are among the bodies recently recovered from a nearby dam. All of Tatenda's friends talk about the bodies found in the water, some reports say there were eight, others say 17 bodies were found.
Many wonder how many other bodies have been dumped in rivers, old mine shafts or just thrown in the bush to be eaten by wild animals.
Tatenda and his friends all listened to Morgan Tsvangirai's speech after he had signed the power sharing agreement and they were filled with hope but also struck by one sentence:
"Shall we be driven by the feelings we have towards those we blame for the suffering we have endured, or shall we be driven by the hope of a new, better, brighter country," Tsvangirai asked.
It's a question being asked in households everywhere: what to do about the perpetrators of nine years of rape, torture, arson, murder and looting.
Rural villagers know who the perpetrators of the crimes are: one man got a plough as reward for beating opposition supporters; another was given an ox-cart. A woman was given a high pressure knapsack sprayer and another got a cultivator for supplying information about MDC activists in the village.
Victims and persecutors, spies and sell outs are living side by side in
Zimbabwe's rural villages. There are thousands of witnesses to nine years of politically motivated crimes.
Faded, tattered posters of Mr Mugabe with his clenched fist are still attached to trees, buildings and posts six months after the elections: the intimidation is ever present but Tatenda and his friends want to see justice. A daunting task for this new Zimbabwe.
