Annex B
Zimbabwe Community Development Trust—A
Report
FARM WORKERS
The humanitarian assistance to the farm workers
begun with a pilot project in the Rusape area. A visit revealed
starvation on Sharondale farm and we began providing relief on
18 December 2001. 204 people were supplied with rations for a
month including mealie meal, salt, cooking oil, flour, beans and
fish. Vegetable and maize seeds were also handed out. The people
were fed again on 18 January 2002. The local war veterans had
not stolen nor in any way significantly interfered with the work.
A second project in Rusape was to take destitute
displaced farm workers who had been displaced from their farms
and forced to live rough beside the roads in the Nyazura area
of eastern Zimbabwe. We found a farm and arranged to lease a portion
of it. The number of families that would have been sheltered and
given land to was 20 (that is approximately 100 people). The "war
veterans" stopped the project on 12 January 2002 and the
destitute farm workers have remained at Nyazura.
Details of starving workers in the Mhangura
area were collected on Tuesday 15 January 2002. The list of persons
needing food was in excess of 300. The relief exercise which followed
on Thursday 18 was obstructed by war veterans, but next day it
was allowed to proceed. Only 136 people were given mealie for
a month because of interference by these liberators.
Both the ZCDT and the GAPWUZ staff calmly and
well handled the situation so that the food, which was detained
on the 18, was released for distribution on the 21st.
DISTRIBUTION STATISTICS
Areas visited:
Rusape: Farms (two) not operating—76 families,
379 workers (full distribution, three trips)
Mhangura: Farm part occupied—74 families,
371 workers (Mealie meal, two trips)
Makonde: Farms (three)—occupied—128
families, 548 workers (Mealie meal, three trips)
Marondera/Wedza: Farms (eight) occupied/not
operational—awaiting return
Macheke: Farms (eight) occupied/part operational—awaiting
return
Ruwa: three tonnes of mealie meal distributed
by the CFU to various farms not operational.
Bulawayo: 18 tonnes of Mealie meal trucked down
and distributed by the CFU to various farms that are not operational.
Selous: Distribution to various invaded farms
through previous farm owners.
Unfortunately the vehicle carrying relief to
the Mhangura area of Mashonaland West was written off on Tuesday
the 12 February. Distributions will continue through the assistance
of farmers in different districts. The vehicle is fully insured.
With the help of a team of volunteer workers
ZCDT is steadily building up a picture of what is happening on
a national scale to the farm workers. We are and have been able
at the same time to find members of the farming community to distribute
in their own areas. The above analysis of the distributions show
one done down in Bulawayo, Selous and Ruwa by farmers who not
only supplied transport but oversaw the exercise.
THE CRISIS
CENTRE
After working out of the modalities of our working
relationships with others concerned with victim of the violence
we were in a position to open doors. The type of person whom we
help is the type judged to be low risk. A low risk person is one
for whom a short time away from home will allow things to cool
down. He/she could then return. The contract they sign with us
forbids any political involvement whilst in our programme. The
care programme is for two weeks with each survivor. We are finding
that this is enough in some cases but not in others. Where the
survivor needs to stay longer another two-week period is entered
into. Where clothing is needed we help and if they want money
to return home after two weeks then we assist. Some have been
repatriated to Malawi and others to new areas of the country that
they think are safe for them.
The crisis centre began operating from 22 January
2002.
To date close on a hundred people have been
screened and have received assistance[35].
The descriptive term ``low risk'' should not hide the considerable
trauma that these people have gone through. Here are some examples
of people on our programme:
***. On the 12 January 2002 Zanu-PF youths attacked
him for his allegiance to MDC. They stabbed him in the chest three
times and he still has difficulty breathing.
*** is 39 years old. In a Zanu-PF camp he was
tortured for 14 hours and sustained multiple injuries.
Mopani Trust, a counselling agency working with
victims of the violence, has moved into the same premises as ourselves
so that we can be more effective in the care of survivors.
FINANCIAL REPORT
Total distribution to date (*below) $1,628,700.00
Total expenditure to date (xbelow) $9,586,000.00
Overheads $4,204,000.00
Utilisation ratio 39 per cent (#)
* This includes all food distribution as well
as money used in the crisis center initiative, given out as rent
or transport.
x This figure includes the purchase of various
fixed assets totaling $5,382,000.00.
Derived by dividing the total distribution to
date by the non-asset expenditure up to date.
Respectfully submitted,
Zimbabwe Community Development Trust
19 February 2002
INTERNALLY DISPLACED PERSONS SURVEY—AMANI
TRUST
PRELIMINARY FINDINGS: EXPERIENCE OF VIOLENCE
NUMBER OF
CASES EXAMINED:
139
Female: 59 (42 per cent)
Male: 80 (58 per cent)
** Farm: 87
Farm: 38
** Farm: 1
** Farm: 3
** Farm: 9
HAVE YOU
PREVIOUSLY EXPERIENCED
TORTURE OR
REPRESSIVE VIOLENCE?:
100 (71 PER CENT)
Was the violence witnessed by adults in the
family: 81 (58 per cent)
Was the violence witnessed by children in the
family: 76 (55 per cent)
Was the violence experienced by other family
members: 74 (53 per cent)
PHYSICAL ASSAULTS
Slapping or kicking or punching: 46
Blows with rifle butts, sticks or whips, irons:
46
Exposure to extreme heat or cold: 11
Hanging or suspension: 11
Prolonged standing or crouching: 25
Submarine immersion, asphyxiation, strangling:
7
Burnings: 3
Electrical shocks: 0
Rape: 4
DEPRIVATION
Deprived of food, comfort or communication:
71
Incommunication, minimal food, overcrowding:
54
Lack of water: 35
Immobolisation, restraint: 37
Lack of sleep: 52
Lack of needed medical: 26
SENSORY OVERSTIMULATION
Constant noises: 62
Screams and voices: 78
Powerful lights: 5
Constant lighting: 3
Special devices: 4 (two of these listed special
devices as being fear of the unkown)
Drugs: 0
PSYCHOLOGICAL TORTURE
AND ILL-TREATMENT
Verbal abuse: 120 (86 per cent)
Threats against person: 115 (83 per cent)
False accusations: 115 (83 per cent)
Abuse with excrement: 38
Sexual abuse (without violence): 23
Menaces against own life and family: 72 (52
per cent)
Simulate execution: 26 (19 per cent)
WITNESSING VIOLENCE,
ILL-TREATMENT
OR TORTURE
Assaults: 107 (76 per cent)
Slapping, kicking or punching: 69
Blows with rifle butts etc: 91
Hanging or suspension: 4
Prolonged standing or crouching: 46
Submarine immersion, asphyxiation: 15
Burnings: 9
Electrical shocks: 1
Rape: 18
Executions: 43 (30 per cent)
Beating: 33
Shooting: 14
Stabbing: 3
Hanging, strangling: 8
Burning: 3
NB: The exact figures for perps are not available
yet. However, in most of the cases I have looked at, it was war
veterans. Most of the cases of sexual abuse seem to involve abuse
against the men in the form of forcing them to commit sexual acts
with the ground. In most of the cases the workers were given 20
minutes to gather what they could and were driven off their land
by tractors. In some cases, the workers were forced by "buy"
their homes in the compounds off the war vets several times if
they wanted to stay on the farm, but were still turned out of
their home. In many cases the workers were forced to attend all
night pungwes, singing, sloganeering and dancing. Upon their return
to their homes in the mornings, personal belongings were stolen
and the houses ransacked. Few of the workers have suicidal thoughts,
most are concerned about blankets for the cold, food, and a large
number about school fees for their children and dependents. When
asked the question about previous violence, most of the replies
indicate from the beginning of this year, but there are incidents
from 2000, one man talks of an incident in Mozambique in the 1970s.
A lot of the workers belong to a political organsation, two so
far indicate that they were active members of Zanu-PF, one of
these workers is most indignant that this should happen to him
as he is Zanu-PF.
The Bail Circle
May 2002.
35 In the week since then, that number has more than
doubled as the violence is still continuing and as we are reaching
out as unobtrusively as we can. Back
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