Villager sues Zanu-PF thug for $10 000 over assault

A ZANU PF supporter has been slapped with a lawsuit by a villager who is demanding payment of $10 000 as compensation for damages for pain and suffering, which he endured after he was assaulted early this month.

The villager, Abel Mauchi, who resides in Matuvi village under Chief Makore in Gutu in Masvingo province, filed the summons on Friday 16 February 2018 demanding $10 000 from Matora Masiiwa, who assaulted him after he refused to surrender his voter registration slip containing his serial number and other data.

In the summons filed by Mauchi's lawyer Collen Maboke of Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights, the villager said he collapsed and was hospitalised at Gutu Rural District Hospital after he sustained some injuries from being assaulted by Masiiwa on Friday 09 February 2018. Mauchi said he met Masiiwa at Mutendeure Shopping Centre in Gutu in Masvingo province while on his way from attending a workshop organised by the Catholic Commission for Justice and Peace held at St Xavier Gono Parish in Jerera, where Masiiwa interrogated Mauchi on why he had not attended a meeting where Musiiwa and Pedzisai Manzunzu were collecting serial numbers of voter registration slips from some villagers.

Mauchi said he was threatened with assault by Musiiwa after he advised him that his request was illegal since no one should disclose their serial numbers and any other information on their voter registration slips to anyone. Thereafter, as Mauchi was leaving for his homestead, he was tracked by Musiiwa, who twisted his left hand and began assaulting him with clenched fist and booted feet. Musiiwa only stopped assaulting Mauchi when he realised that he had collapsed. Mauchi sustained some injuries which include swelling on the left side of his abdomen from the assault.

The villager is demanding that Musiiwa pays him a total of $10 000 of which $9 800 is for damages for contumelia and $200 for special damages together with costs of inconvenience caused upon Mauchi. Musiiwa was scheduled to appear in court on Friday 16 February 2018 after he was arrested and charged with assault as defined in Section 89 (1)(a) of the Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act Chapter 9:23.

Already, the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission has condemned the practice of forcibly demanding voter registration slips or details such as serial numbers from registrants and equated such demands to intimidation, which is contrary to the provisions of the Constitution and the Electoral Act.

By instituting anti-impunity civil proceedings against Musiiwa, ZLHR seeks to deter acts of human rights violations and reduce impunity and increase accountability of both State and non-State actors for human rights violations against human rights defenders.