MDC supporters beaten up and evicted from their rural homes

Scores of villagers in the Zvimba district of Mashonaland Central province were reportedly beaten and forced to leave their homes by soldiers and youth militia last weekend, while regional leaders held discussions on the Zimbabwe crisis in South Africa. The victims were believed to be MDC supporters.

Forced evictions and violence involving soldiers has also been reported in Manicaland province, where the MDC-T said meetings are being illegally banned. And the ZANU-PF MP Hubert Nyanhongo, who is also Deputy Minister for Energy, has been using his power to direct the violence in Nyanga North.

According to The Zimbabwean newspaper, soldiers conducted a door-to-door "purge" of MDC supporters in the Zvimba area, which is the rural home of Robert Mugabe. The report said that in the last week alone at least 5 people were severely beaten and "ordered to surrender" at one of the "Taliban camps". Scores have reportedly fled and gone into hiding.

Zvimba villagers told the paper that Mugabe supporters passed through the village carrying a coffin with Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai's name on it.

SW Radio Africa spoke to a villager on Wednesday who confirmed that evictions of suspected MDC supporters have continued. Choosing not to be named for his own safety he also said many farm workers lost their jobs after two white owned farms were invaded by ZANU-PF in the last few weeks.

One of the invaded farms was New Grade, where the owner was about to harvest his crop, and the other farm was known as "pa Bhachi". Our source said the owners were simply told "ivhu nderedu", meaning the land belongs to us.

Displacements of MDC supporters are also reportedly taking place in Manicaland. MDC-T provincial spokesperson, Pishai Muchauraya, said soldiers and ZANU-PF youth are beating and removing their supporters from rural areas in Cashel Valley, Nedziwa, Chimanimani West, Nyanga and Makoni South.

Muchauraya said a military camp has been set up in Makoni South and soldiers are forcing villagers to attend "pungwes", where they are made to sing ZANU-PF songs and chant late into the night.

The outspoken MDC-T official said ZANU-PF MP Hubert Nyanhongo, who is Deputy Minister for Energy, is directly involved in the violence in Nyanga North, where a party member died a month ago after he was assaulted by Nyanhongo.

"This will backfire on ZANU-PF because all the displaced members become foot soldiers for the MDC and we have developed a mechanism to make sure that they come back and vote during the elections", Muchauraya said.

The security sector's involvement in Zimbabwe's political affairs is one of the key issues that the MDC-T insists must be addressed ahead of any elections in the country. But despite much evidence documented by civic groups and the MDC-T, ZANU-PF officials deny using the police and soldiers in their violent campaigns.

Meanwhile, the MDC-T reported that Langton Tandarinda, an activist from Chiduku Village in Buhera West, Manicaland province, died on Sunday from injuries he sustained during torture at a ZANU-PF base in Buhera, in June 2008. In a statement the MDC-T said Tandarinda's kidney burst during the torture and he had been receiving medical treatment since then. Survived by a wife and several children, Tandarinda was due to be buried at Chiduku Village on Wednesday.