ZANU militia burns down seven houses owned by MDC-T officials

Some 21 villagers from Nyambeya in Cashel Valley have been forced to flee their village after ZANU PF militia carried out an early morning raid on Sunday and burned down seven houses owned by MDC-T officials, SW Radio Africa reported.

Homes belonging to MDC ward chairman Moses Chemwanyisa, ward youth chairman Admire Chizikani and his mother Naomi were torched, as rampaging ZANU PF thugs went on a spree of violence and destruction.

Eyewitnesses told SW Radio Africa from Mutare that the entire village of Nyambeya, which had already been attacked in March, had been set alight and several houses razed to the ground. The village is in a constituency, Chimanimani East, under the control of Samuel Undenge, a ZANU PF legislator.

It is believed the village was targeted again simply because the inhabitants are staunch supporters of the MDC led by Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai. A senior army officer, identified as Colonel Charles Muresherwa, is being accused of having links to the militia gangs terrorising the area.

'Apart from the burning, some female villagers were badly beaten while other homes were ransacked and vandalised. The heavily armed militia destroyed maize fields and looted all villagers materials found, alleging people there were enemies of ZANU PF,' one of the eyewitnesses said.

Another eyewitness added; 'The women were beaten with logs and rifle butts. Some of the assailants are known soldiers based at the nearby army base. The gang marched from house to house in an operation that saw children, men, women and the aged chased into the bush before their houses were set ablaze.'

MDC-T spokesman for Manicaland province, Pishai Muchauraya, confirmed the incident and said the attack took place when most of the male villagers were in Bulawayo for the third national congress that ended on Sunday.

'It was a planned attack because they knew they would face little or no resistance from the women, children and the elderly. This is the same village that was attacked in March this year forcing some of the villagers to flee to neighbouring Mozambique,' Muchauraya said.

Two months ago the MDC-T approached the Joint Monitoring and Implementation Committee (JOMIC) to intervene, after more displaced villagers from Cashel Valley turned up at their head office in Mutare, seeking shelter from violent ZANU PF supporters.

A team from JOMIC visited the area but obviously this has not deterred the rampaging thugs from operating with impunity and at times with police assistance.

'We made a report to Sergeant Hapawori of Cashel Valley police and we were able to provide them with the names of some of the attackers but no arrests have been made two days after we lodged a complaint.

'I just want to remind Chihuri (police Commissioner-General) that we have people from ZANU PF who have destroyed an entire village and your officers are not taking action. This is why we accuse his police force of being too partisan,' Muchauraya said.

Meanwhile war vets leader Jabulani Sibanda is reportedly back in Masvingo province, intimidating and threatening villagers with war if they refuse to cooperate with ZANU PF.

Sibanda, who has never been questioned or arrested despite numerous reports made to the police, has been having meetings with chiefs and village heads in the province. He's been telling them to make sure that their 'subordinates do not repeat what they did in March 2008 if they want to live,' referring to the MDC-T election win in 2008.