Opinion / Columnist
Zimbabwe Army killings survivor speaks out
12 Aug 2019 at 06:49hrs | Views
As the nation is still in the month of August, citizens recount the dark cloud that enveloped the nation on 1 August 2018 when the national Reaction Force led by Retired General Senyatwe stormed the streets of Harare and gunned down post-election protestors.
The army stepped in after the then Minister of Home Affairs Obert Moses Mpofu called for re-enforcement saying the protestors had overpowered the police.
In an unsolicited interview, one of the survivors Martha Simango approached this publication to reminisce the fateful day:
I was in town Harare during that day at my work place. I saw all the demonstrations that started peacefully to the time the army came into town and started firing indiscriminately at innocent civilians using live ammunition.
With my work colleagues, we saw some of the people who were shot i.e a man shot at corner Jason Moyo/Cameron street.
He was lying down in a pull of blood. A Good Samaritan came with his vehicle and with the assistance of other people carried him to the hospital. The man was bleeding because he was shot on the side.
When we turned to Corner NelsonMandela/Leopold Takawira we saw another person shot dead.
Then at Copacabana we saw people being beaten by the army and police and another person was lying down lifeless.
The Army was doing all this.
Gun shots were being fired in all directions. Everyone coming from work wanted to get out of town as quickly as possible as the town was now a war zone.
As we tried to leave town my cousin and I were caught in the crossfire and she was shot in the back and died in spot.
I was also beaten and suffered sprained ankle. What pains me most is nothing was done to the soldiers who shot innocent civilians and people continue to live in constant fear of coming out in the open to say what transpired as they fear being kidnapped or disappearance.
Government also blames MDC for the violence and the killings but the Army was responsible for the killings and my cousin died through a gunshot wound that was fired by a soldier not a civilian.
The army stepped in after the then Minister of Home Affairs Obert Moses Mpofu called for re-enforcement saying the protestors had overpowered the police.
In an unsolicited interview, one of the survivors Martha Simango approached this publication to reminisce the fateful day:
I was in town Harare during that day at my work place. I saw all the demonstrations that started peacefully to the time the army came into town and started firing indiscriminately at innocent civilians using live ammunition.
With my work colleagues, we saw some of the people who were shot i.e a man shot at corner Jason Moyo/Cameron street.
He was lying down in a pull of blood. A Good Samaritan came with his vehicle and with the assistance of other people carried him to the hospital. The man was bleeding because he was shot on the side.
When we turned to Corner NelsonMandela/Leopold Takawira we saw another person shot dead.
Then at Copacabana we saw people being beaten by the army and police and another person was lying down lifeless.
The Army was doing all this.
Gun shots were being fired in all directions. Everyone coming from work wanted to get out of town as quickly as possible as the town was now a war zone.
As we tried to leave town my cousin and I were caught in the crossfire and she was shot in the back and died in spot.
I was also beaten and suffered sprained ankle. What pains me most is nothing was done to the soldiers who shot innocent civilians and people continue to live in constant fear of coming out in the open to say what transpired as they fear being kidnapped or disappearance.
Government also blames MDC for the violence and the killings but the Army was responsible for the killings and my cousin died through a gunshot wound that was fired by a soldier not a civilian.
Source - Martha Simango
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