Robert Mugabe's thugs turn to burning people alive

The terror tactic of burning people alive has been little used by Zanu (PF) in recent years but seems to be being revived. Last Wednesday, in the village of Jerera in Zaka district in the southeast of the country, a group of gunmen described as being in riot police uniform broke into an MDC office and fired on six people. Then they poured petrol over them and set them ablaze. Two died in the fire.

A photograph of one of them, published in a local independent newspaper, was remarkably like the picture of one of the charred victims of the xenophobic violence in Johannesburg two weeks ago. Two others are in Harare hospital with 30 and 40 per cent burns respectively. The remaining two have disappeared.

In 1963, when the black nationalist movement fighting against the white minority Rhodesian Government split, youths on either side of the divide locked people in their houses in urban townships and threw petrol bombs inside. The leader of the youth wing of one faction — the newly formed Zimbabwe African National Union (Zanu), forerunner to Zanu (PF) — was a young school teacher named Robert Mugabe.

“If you look back at the methods of Zanu (PF) since it was formed, the only one who was there from that time is the President,” Willas Madzimure, a Harare MP, said. “Which means he knows exactly how to do it.”

A History of Violence

1963 During the rebellion against white colonial rule Mr Mugabe forms the Zimbabwe African National Union (Zanu) as a breakaway from the Zimbabwe African People’s Union (Zapu) led by Mr Nkomo. The Government declares a state of emergency after firebombing and violence in the poor, black townships

1975 Mr Mugabe returns from exile and restarts guerrilla war, which claimed 36,000 lives and displaced 1.5 million people. Mr Mugabe’s forces used mutilation and burning in their brutal campaign

1979 A peace deal is brokered by the British and the first elections are agreed. Mr Mugabe’s campaign is so violent that he is threatened repeatedly with disqualification
1980 Mr Mugabe wins the election and forms a coalition with Zapu

1982 Mr Mugabe sacks Mr Nkomo and cracks down on his supporters. He is accused of killing 20,000 Zapu supporters

Source: International Crisis Group, Times