LETTER FROM ZIMBABWE: The Death of Chenjerai Hunzvi
By Cathy Buckle

One year ago 'war veterans' invaded my farm, raped the resources, terrorized and intimidated me and my workers, tortured my store keeper, burnt every inch of the farm and broke me financially and emotionally until finally I left the land.

Out of that experience I wrote a book called African Tears, detailing my horrors and those of hundreds of other black and white Zimbabweans.

Today the leader of those 'war veterans', Chenjerai Hunzvi is dead

I do not rejoice at the death of any human being. I do not rejoice at the death of Chenjerai Hunzvi. I do not rejoice at the thousands of Zimbabweans who have suffered, and continue to suffer to this very day, at the hands of 'war veterans' across the country of my birth. I do not rejoice at murder, torture, rape, intimidation, extortion, burning, beating, looting. I do not rejoice.

Lest we forget, I quote from African Tears:

After the murder of David Stevens and the abduction and torture of 5 farmers by 'war veterans' from a police station in Murehwa, war veterans leader Hunzvi said: "We don't want to be provoked and we don't care what the British are going to say. If they want to fight with with us, we will fight them..."

The day a Zesa security guard, Luckson Kanyurira was killed by 'war veterans' in Kariba and his corpse displayed on a shop veranda, war veterans leader Hunzvi said: "The war veterans know the best methods of disciplining someone and it will be discipline forever. ..."

After Alan Dunn was beaten to death by 'war veterans' with chains and bricks outside his own back door as his wife listened to his final calls for help, war veterans leader Hunzvi said: "There is nothing to say, he is dead. ..."

At the medical surgery of Doctor Chenjerai Hunzvi in Budiriro Harare, a man told of his torture: "...his captors tied a rubber strip tightly around the tip of his penis and kept it bound tightly for the 13 hours that they held him ....two other men were already on the floor naked and bruised ... they beat me with electric cables and wooden poles like table legs. ..."

My storekeeper Jane Jiwu was tortured by 'war veterans' on my own farm: "...from the base of her nostrils to the top of her lip, and running across the full width of her mouth, there was a mush of flesh. It looked like the inside of a rotten peach ... they had picked up a steel rod and shoved it into the hot coals of the cooking fire. When it glowed red with heat, they lifted it to Jane's face, holding it against her mouth. ..."

To international election observers, war veterans leader Hunzvi said: "...We will fight to make sure that Mugabe remains in power by any means necessary. ..."

War veterans leader Chenjerai Hunzvi made no comment on this: "A mob of between 100 and 120 war veterans...surrounded the farmhouse and opened fire on Mr Olds. The farmer, shot in both legs called for help ... none came ... The farmhouse was set on fire ... he was smoked out of the house and shot in the head. ..."

War veterans' leader Chenjerai Hunzvi made no comment on this: The murder of Peter Kareza by war veterans: "...they hit him on the head. Pulped him with big sticks, beating and beating him like people thrashing millet, until he was dead..."

War veterans' leader Chenjerai Hunzvi made no comment on this: Mationa and Onias Mushaya were both murdered by war veterans: "...at midnight...demanding we come out... They broke into our bedroom and dragged him out. They immediately started beating him... they ordered me to carry his body into the house. ... They then said they were going to deal with my eldest son. I could hear Onias' cry for help as I stood helplessly in my own yard ... Onias Mashaya died at midday..."

War veterans' leader Chenjerai Hunzvi made no comments after the murder of Tony Oates: "Oates rose from the bed... he had been shot through the lung and died at approximately 9.30 am..."

I do not rejoice at death. I close with the first few lines of my dedication at the front of African Tears:

"African Tears is dedicated to all Zimbabweans who suffered in the year 2000. To those who were beaten, burnt, tortured, raped, lost their homes, or were caught up in any way in the wave of political violence that has engulfed our land. And, to all those, named and unnamed who died, I dedicate this book. ..."

This letter is dedicated to the lives, the loves and in memory of all who have died in Zimbabwe in the past 16 months.

Cathy

Cathy Buckle is the author of African Tears, available from the following worldwide distributors: South Africa [email protected] USA [email protected] UK and Europe [email protected] Australia [email protected] New Zealand [email protected],