By Jeffrey Moyo

CHIWESHE-Zanu-PF has set up fresh torture camps in Mashonaland Central Province, which village leaders have said is a ploy by the former ruling party to force them vote it back into power in elections President Robert Mugabe wants held next year.

According to human rights activists, the province which has eight districts suffered the worst cases of murder, torture and displacements in the June 2008 presidential run-off elections.

Statistics from the Human Rights Watch showed that there were 102 murder cases reported in Mashonaland Central Province in 2008.

Villagers in Chiweshe, 75 kilometers north east of Bindura, which is 110 kilometers from Harare northward anonymously narrated their ordeals in separate interviews at the hands of Zanu–PF militias in the area.

A visit to the province by this reporter showed torture bases in Muzarabani, Chiweshe, Nzvimbo growth point, Kasaya Primary School and Chakari in Rushinga, where political gatherings have become common features during evenings.

But Zanu PF Provincial Chairperson Dick Mafios refuted the reports.

"We don't have bases and we don't need them. We are in charge of the province and there is no reason why we should have bases. And in any case is it a sin for party members to have meetings?

"We have enough structures in place and we are busy verifying them as a way of strengthening the party. We want to see if all our members have got the necessary documents for registering as voters to make sure that we defeat the imperialists once and for all. The rumours are just there to tarnish the revolutionary party," said Mafios.

Mashonaland Central Province consists of a population of 998,265 people, according to the 2002 population census, which is about 8,5% of the country’s total population.

MDC activists in Mashonaland Central province confirmed there was a renewed climate of violence in the province, but Zanu PF local leadership were not at liberty to open up on the subject, referring all questions to the party’s national leadership.

Zanu PF National Spokesperson Rugare Gumbo rubbished the reports, claiming these were lies propounded by MDC formations to discredit the liberation war party ahead of anticipated polls next year.

“Zanu PF is a principled party and we will not resort to such means, those are lies peddled by MDC formations to discredit our party ahead of elections next year,” said Gumbo.

Villagers in Chiweshe have expressed mounting fears at Zanu PF’s fresh torture camps.

“We are back in 2008 and torture bases have been revived as Zanu PF gears for rumoured polls next year,” said a local headman in Chiweshe under Chief Negomo anonymously.

Visibly shaken villagers interviewed said the bases are fashioned after the 2008 torture camps, where members of the MDC formations are facing attacks similar to 2008 political violence.

According to a case number RRB 120604, reported at Bindura Central Police station by victims of torture camps in Bindura on 06 April 2012, Zanu PF Provincial chairman for Mashonaland Central Province, Dickson Mafios is behind the renewed terror campaigns in the province.

But Bindura police professed ignorance about the case, and have not made any arrests, claiming it was politics at play.

Zanu PF provincial officials like Mafios, Saviour Kasukuwere and Nicholas Goche refused to comment on the allegations.

Mazowe North has eight wards combed by this reporter, unearthing evidence from villagers about Elias Kudzonga Kanengoni, a member of the Central Intelligence Organisation, and a Major Filbert Kairo Mhandu being at the helm of organised violence in the area, both of whom could however not be reached for comment.

According to villagers in Mazowe, the CIO boss and the army major were deployed by Zanu PF leaders in the area ahead of polls to set the tone for elections.

Reports gathered showed that the duo provided the finances for operations to commit acts of violence in the province amounting to $20 000 per each torture base, according to insiders within the Zanu PF local leadership speaking on condition of anonymity, with claims that greater part of the funds came from the controversial Marange diamonds fields.

Kanengoni was allocated a farm in the province in 2002 during commercial farm seizures by suspected war veterans, a farm which provides him with the funds used to finance the operations, according to local community leaders speaking on condition of anonymity.

“The funds which come from the farm are handed to the coordinators who include Dick Mafios, ZANU-PF Mashonaland Central chairperson, and Givemore Sango, Mazowe North chairperson, who then formulate strategies and engage informers and base commanders. It is at this level where activities such as all night pungwes and toyi-toying are organized and it is during these activities that victims are identified and subjected to terror, fear and intimidation,” said a local Zanu PF committee member on condition of anonymity.

In Mazowe North, torture bases are sited at shopping centers, but although the cases of violence in the province have been reported to the police, perpetrators who were ferried from Mt Darwin South and North, Mvurwi, Shamva and Bindura and evidently reportedly sponsored by Saviour Kasukuwere have remained free.

Reports gathered showed that the names of most of the perpetrators are not known, but some of them are youth officers, for example: Gift Mapondera ID No: 15-078865-V-15, with EC Number 2758009Y; Account No. 010542135011 –Agribank Mvurwi, according to information obtained from Bindura police.

Nzvimbo growth point, disguised as a night club is 400 meters away from homesteads, covers the whole constituency of Mvurwi, where prominent Zanu-PF officials like Dick Mafiosi, Filbert Mhandu and Elias Kanengoni often visit, with chief strategists at this base coming from Mt Darwin.

Bare Sango torture base in Mazowe, disguised as a hardware shop and general dealer is also 400 meters away from homesteads, with a Givemore Sango commanding the base always available.

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