4. For the brave women who told
us their stories.
May their bodies heal and their
spirits mend as the world ends
the culture of impunity.
5. Special Thanks to DLA Piper
Primary Pro Bono Counsel
DLA Piper is one of the largest legal services
providers in the world, with 3,500 lawyers in
more than sixty-five offices in Asia, Europe, the
Middle East, and the United States.
DLA Piper houses a unique pro bono program
through its nonprofit affiliate, New Perimeter,
which enables DLA Piper lawyers to work on
legal pro bono projects of vital importance
around the world. DLA Piper serves as primary
pro bono counsel to AIDS-Free World on the
Zimbabwe project and has thus far provided
nine attorneys to travel to southern Africa on four
separate occasions to conduct interviews with
rape survivors, draft affidavits, undertake legal
research and analysis, and provide other legal
advice. The value of DLA Piper attorney time
contributed to this project to date approaches
$1,000,000. DLA Piper lawyers whose
commitment and time have benefited this project
are: Kristen Leanderson Abrams,
Sara Andrews, Richard Bull, Steve Churchwell,
Lewis Conwell, Rachel Gupta, Amanda Jones,
Brenda Meister, and Syma Mirza.
AIDS-Free World also gratefully acknowledges
the leadership of Sheldon Krantz, partner and
director of New Perimeter, and Sara Andrews,
New Perimeter Program Manager and the
leader of the DLA Piper team, whose
commitment to human rights make
DLA Piper’s support of this work possible.
Additionally, the DLA Piper Foundation made a
separate grant to AIDS-Free World to defray
expenses associated with this project.
For more information about DLA Piper’s
international pro bono work, go to
www.newperimeter.com.
4 Electing to Rape: Sexual Terror in Mugabe’s Zimbabwe
6. Electing to Rape: Sexual Terror in Mugabe’s Zimbabwe
Acknowledgements
AIDS-Free World relies on pro bono assistance We gratefully acknowledge our collaboration with the
provided by generous institutions and individuals Research and Advocacy Unit (RAU), a human rights
committed to addressing politically motivated rape in organization based in Zimbabwe. RAU lawyers
Zimbabwe. This project is not possible without the conducted the interviews and drafted affidavits for a
invaluable contribution of those described below (in number of rape survivors, and also provided research
alphabetical order). support.
AIDS-Free World Advisory Board members The Stanford University Law School International
Linda Carrier-Walker, Angélique Kidjo, Julio Montaner, Human Rights and Development Clinic contributed
M.D., and Winstone Zulu provide the ongoing voluntary research and interview assistance under the leadership
support that sustains and inspires all of our work. of former director Barbara Olshansky. Supervised by
Clinical Fellow Kathleen Kelly, Stanford sent law
Baylor College of Medicine offered helpful advice and
students Caeli Higney, Katrina Rouse, and Sonia
technical support at the beginning of the project.
Valdez to southern Africa to assist with note-taking and
Blake, Cassels & Graydon, a law firm with offices in affidavit-drafting for a number of interviews. Law
four countries and one of the largest pro bono students also undertook substantial legal research for
programs in Canada, generously provided three this report.
attorneys, Connie Reeve, Melanie Gaston, and Shashu
Nathan Taback, a Co-director of Insecurity Insight and
Clacken, who traveled to southern Africa on the
an Assistant Professor at University of Toronto’s Dalla
project’s first trip to conduct interviews and draft
Lana School of Public Health who conducts cutting-
affidavits for rape survivors. The firm also contributed to
edge research on armed violence and conflict
expenses associated with that trip.
epidemiology, worked closely with the AIDS-Free World
Nicole Fritz, Executive Director of Southern African legal team to provide critical advice and analysis of
Litigation Centre (SALC), has offered invaluable advice statistical data regarding trends and patterns in the
and support throughout the project. politically motivated rapes in Zimbabwe.
Getty Images graciously provided the photos We are indebted to our team of interpreters, who
contained in this report. dedicated themselves to countless hours of first-rate
interpretation and translation services.
Betty Makoni, a human rights activist, gave essential
information and assistance at the inception of the We extend our heartfelt gratitude to the many
project. individuals and organizations in the southern African
region who cannot be thanked by name as it would
The University of Ottawa, under the leadership of its
compromise their security.
president, Allan Rock, provided important research
assistance through its Law Faculty and an ongoing Last but indispensable, AIDS-Free World sincerely
partnership with AIDS-Free World to address the thanks the following funders (listed in alphabetical
problem of systematic rape in Zimbabwe and order), whose financial support makes this legal project
elsewhere. Dr. François Larocque supervised law possible: AJG Foundation, Jacob and Hilda Blaustein
students Megan Kendall and Juliette Yip in a substantial Foundation, DLA Piper Foundation, Golden Thread
research project on universal jurisdiction in Africa. Charitable Foundation, Don and Ruth James, McMillan
Family Foundation, NoVo Foundation, Foundation to
The University of Pretoria’s Centre for the Study of
Promote Open Society/International Women’s Program
AIDS, under the leadership of Mary Crewe, graciously
of the Open Society Institute, David and Lucile Packard
hosted AIDS-Free World for some of the work associated
Foundation, Sigrid Rausing Trust, and V-Day.
with this project. Thanks also go to Pierre Brouard, Johan
Maritz, Shirley Damons, and Isabel de Bruin Cardoso for
their assistance.
5
7. Electing to Rape: Sexual Terror in Mugabe’s Zimbabwe
Contents
On the Record:
The Words of Robert Mugabe
Rape as Strategy
8
9
5 Fertile Ground for Impunity
Zimbabwe’s domestic remedies are
33
33
Executive Summary 10 unavailable and ineffective
Zimbabwe’s domestic laws are insufficient 34
1 An Organized Rape Campaign 12
6 Prosecuting Crimes
Against Humanity 35
2 Maintaining Power with Violence 15
Mugabe’s brutal decades 15
Command responsibility
Prosecution in other African States
Regional tribunals
36
37
40
The present 16 The International Criminal Court 41
3 Testimony of Survivors
Targeting of MDC women by ZANU-PF
17
18
7 Toward Accountability
Zimbabwe: Meet existing obligations
42
42
Attacks by ZANU-PF mobs 19 under domestic law
Depravity and its aftermath 20 Zimbabwe: Fulfill obligations under regional 43
and international treaties
Humiliation and degradation 21
Regional Groups: Press Zimbabwe to fulfill 45
Escalations of torture and murder of families 22
its legal obligations
Sexual slavery 23
8
Pattern of political language used by rapists 24
Preventing the Next Attack:
Network of torture base camps 24 Recommendations for Action 46
Police support for ZANU-PF crimes 26
Threats of intentional HIV transmission 29
Appendices 49
4
Anatomy of the Project 49
Rape’s Corrosive Effects 30 Methodology 52
Notes 53
Physical trauma 30
Psychological trauma 30
Destruction of families 31
8. On the Record:
The words of
Robert Mugabe
1962 It may be necessary to use methods
other than constitutional ones. 2000 I do not want to be overthrown and I
will try to overthrow those who want
to overthrow me.
1976 (in a radio broadcast from Mozambique)
Our votes must go together with our
guns. After all, any vote we shall have, shall have 2000 Those who try to cause disunity
among our people must watch out
been the product of the gun . . . The people’s votes because death will befall them.
and the people’s guns are always inseparable twins.
1982 An eye for an eye and an ear for an ear
may not be adequate in our
2002 You are soldiers of ZANU-PF for the
people . . . When the time comes to
fire the bullet, the ballot, the trajectory of the gun must
circumstances. We might very well demand two ears be true.
for one ear and two eyes for one eye.
1983 We have to deal with this problem quite
ruthlessly. Don’t cry if your relatives get
2003 Let the MDC and its leadership be
warned that those who play with fire
will not only be burnt, but consumed by that fire.
killed in the process . . . We eradicate them. We do
not differentiate who we fight because we can’t tell
who is a dissident and who is not. 2003 (describing the use of violence to
crush opposition) If that is Hitler, then
let me be a Hitler ten-fold. Ten times. That is what we
1985 We will kill those snakes among us, we
will smash them completely.
stand for.
1999 We are still exchanging blows with the
British government . . . Each time I
2006 Some are crying that they were
beaten. Yes you will be thoroughly
beaten. When the police say move you move. If you
pass through London, the gangster regime of Blair don’t move, you invite the police to use force.
“expresses its dismay.”
1999 (in response to a letter written by four
Supreme Court judges seeking
2007 (on the police beating of opposition
party leader Morgan Tsvangirai) I told
the police (to) beat him a lot. He asked for it.
clarification from the president on a torture charge)
The judiciary has no right to give instructions to the
President on any matter as the four judges have
purported to do. In those circumstances, the one and
2007 I will not allow Tsvangirai and his
bosses to taste this seat. Never, ever!
only honourable course open to [the judges] is quitting
the Bench. 2008 I will never, never, never, never
surrender. Zimbabwe is mine.
8 Electing to Rape: Sexual Terror in Mugabe’s Zimbabwe
9. Electing to Rape: Sexual Terror in Mugabe’s Zimbabwe
Rape as Strategy
Tyrants with pathological cravings for power have whatever a husband’s reaction, fear of life-altering
organized campaigns of rape since ancient times, consequences such as HIV infection and pregnancy
from Troy to Nanking and Sierra Leone to Cyprus, loom large for women, as do lingering physical and
from East Pakistan to the Democratic Republic of psychological trauma. Married or single, victims
the Congo and beyond. And yet, everyone ever dread that family, community, life itself will never be
convicted of orchestrating mass rape could be the same.
crowded into a single holding cell. Since 1998, the
When entire communities are targeted for rape,
international community has agreed that rape when
societal collapse ensues. Women cease to
committed as part of a widespread or systematic
function, afraid to leave home, terrorized in equal
attack against a civilian population can be
measure by threats of rape and of its long-term,
prosecuted as a crime against humanity. But that
destructive aftermath.
charge has rarely been made.
Ironically, among the few men who have stopped to
Reasons abound. Most leaders and societies have
analyze the unique, destabilizing power of rape are
not taken the time to understand rape, and so they
those who use it as a strategy, especially during
erroneously place it along a continuum that begins
armed conflict and political upheaval, to control
with normal sexual arousal. Few recognize it as a
civilian populations and maintain power. They know
separate, violent act of terror and control, as
it’s easy to conscript impoverished men and boys
unrelated to consensual sex as force-feeding poison
raised in sexist societies to “take charge” of women
is to sharing a meal.
in exchange for small pay. They know that
No country in the world has made it a priority to deploying rape brigades is cheap and expeditious:
prevent or punish rape. Because rape has some no heavy weaponry, training, or maneuvers. They
characteristics of consensual sex, most courts know that targeting women breaks the backbones,
require proof—difficult to produce without the will, and the cohesion of communities, leaving
witnesses—that victims were unwilling. Few rapes them vulnerable. Most crucial, they know that the
get reported, and convictions are rare. world is blind to women—that diplomats,
journalists, peacekeepers, and aid workers remain
Fear, shame, and an overwhelming sense of futility
largely oblivious as campaigns of sexual terror
keep women silent. Once, rape was considered theft
unfold around them, and that even eyewitnesses to
of a man’s property, and modern variations persist.
systematic gang rape will mistake it for
In societies where a man can demand that his wife
spontaneous opportunistic sex.
provide sex, bear children, house-keep, feed, and
care for his extended family, victims of rape are Robert Mugabe is among the world’s diabolical
often accused by their husbands of surrendering to masterminds of sexual terror. He understands
another man’s control. Banishment is common, gender; he understands rape. He understands
robbing the victim of her livelihood and identity. But impunity. It is time he understood justice.
9
10. Executive
Summary
In the weeks immediately after the June 2008 The women’s disturbing accounts, told to the
presidential elections in Zimbabwe, AIDS-Free World AIDS-Free World legal team over the course of
received an urgent call from a Harare-based more than 300 hours of interviews and detailed in
organization. The human rights activists were this report, demonstrate that the rape campaign
overwhelmed with reports from women associated waged by ZANU-PF in Zimbabwe was both
with the opposition party, Movement for Democratic widespread and systematic. Every victim supported
Change (MDC), who had been raped by members of the MDC, and in every attack the perpetrators were
President Robert Mugabe’s ruling party, ZANU-PF, in clearly identifiable as ZANU-PF youth militia and
a vicious campaign to intimidate voters and emerge war veterans. Striking patterns recurred throughout
victorious in the presidential election. In response, the testimonies of the seventy survivors and two
AIDS-Free World undertook a series of investigative witnesses and cannot be coincidental.
trips to the region with teams of lawyers to interview
survivors of this violence.
The next elections in
What emerged from the testimony was a brutal, Zimbabwe are just around the
orchestrated campaign of rape and torture corner, and ZANU-PF
perpetrated by Mugabe’s ZANU-PF youth militia, is already gearing up for
agents of Zimbabwe’s Central Intelligence
Organization (CIO), and people who identify
its next campaign of
themselves as veterans of the liberation war sexual terror.
(known as war veterans) affiliated with ZANU-PF.
The exceptionally violent rapes, as described by Accountability for these crimes is critical and
women from every province of Zimbabwe, were serves several purposes: it punishes the
often nearly fatal. Survivors’ terror was prolonged perpetrators; it provides justice for the victims; it
by fears that their attackers were among the 15% pierces the veil of impunity that protects
of adults infected with HIV in Zimbabwe. Zimbabwe’s highest officials and enables them to
maintain their abusive regime at the cost of
women’s lives and health; and it deters future rapes.
10 Electing to Rape: Sexual Terror in Mugabe’s Zimbabwe
11. Executive Summary
Yet several possibilities do exist for legal
DATA FROM 70 VICTIMS’ SWORN AFFIDAVITS
accountability in the region, and are summarized in
this report. The principles of command
Scale of the rapes reported
responsibility and universal jurisdiction, the powers
to AIDS-Free World
of regional tribunals, and the attention of
380
international courts and commissions are all
potential avenues for justice that have yet to be
pursued. Several bodies could and should also take
action against Zimbabwe to restore justice and
241 prevent future crimes against humanity.
Zimbabwe’s regional neighbors, especially the
southern African countries to which so many rape
survivors have fled, must take responsibility for
70
providing protection and assistance to the victims.
If survivors cannot be assured of their security,
they will not be able to recover and they will not be
able to come forward and testify about the crimes
total victims total total acts they have endured.
perpetrators of rape
The next elections in Zimbabwe are just
around the corner, and ZANU-PF is already
Within Zimbabwe, both the police and the legal gearing up for its next campaign of sexual
infrastructure are so seriously compromised as to terror. This report asserts that Mugabe and his
make justice for systematic rape inside the country henchmen can and must be brought to justice.
impossible at this time. Furthermore, existing Continued impunity will be a green light for
Zimbabwe law does not allow for the prosecution the next rape campaign, and the women of
of rape as an international crime, perpetrated in a Zimbabwe—and the southern African
systematic fashion. region—will pay the price.
11
12. An Organized
Rape Campaign
In the weeks immediately following the June 2008 Over the course of six trips to the region,
presidential elections in Zimbabwe, AIDS-Free AIDS-Free World lawyers interviewed dozens of
World received an urgent call from a Harare-based survivors of rape and two witnesses, resulting in
organization working on behalf of women and seventy sworn affidavits from rape survivors
girls. They believed that hundreds and possibly describing brutal beatings, abduction, gang rape,
thousands of women had been raped by members and torture. Every one of these seventy women
of President Robert Mugabe’s ZANU-PF party as targeted for rape was either a member of the
a strategy to influence the election, and sought help opposition party Movement for Democratic
from AIDS-Free World in documenting these Change (MDC), or was closely related to a
crimes. member of the MDC. Victims ranged in age from
five-year-old girls to elderly grandmothers.
A preliminary investigation revealed awareness Multiple ZANU-PF perpetrators, in many
among human rights groups that sexual violence instances five or more men, committed the rapes
had occurred, but turned up no other organization, together. Many women were forced to watch their
local or international, that had moved beyond husbands, children, and parents killed or tortured
awareness of the crimes to address the politically before they were raped. Nine of the women
motivated sexual violence through legal channels. believe they were infected with HIV/AIDS as a
Organizations within Zimbabwe were severely result of the rapes, and an additional seventeen
restricted by security concerns, few had women also tested HIV-positive in the months
contemplated or initiated advocacy campaigns, and following the rapes, raising the possibility that
there was little media coverage inside Zimbabwe of their rapists infected them.1 Ten women reported
potentially widespread rape. that they became pregnant by their rapists. All
have been severely traumatized. The victims
AIDS-Free World undertook a series of investigative described a violent campaign of rape and torture
trips to the region to interview survivors with teams perpetrated by ZANU-PF youth militia, agents of
of lawyers, once with three attorneys from Blake, Zimbabwe’s Central Intelligence Organization
Cassels and Graydon and on four occasions with a (CIO), and people who identify themselves as
total of nine DLA Piper lawyers. What emerged was veterans of the liberation war (known locally as
a concerted campaign of politically motivated rape war veterans, or “war vets”) and are now affiliated
against opposition supporters. with ZANU-PF.
12 Electing to Rape: Sexual Terror in Mugabe’s Zimbabwe
13. An Organized Rape Campaign
1
2
The rapes documented by AIDS-Free World began
Terror compounded: rape and HIV in 2007 but increased dramatically in 2008, with a
surge in frequency—64%—occurring between the
Unprotected sex carries a risk under any March presidential election and the June runoff.
conditions in Zimbabwe, a country with one of The systematic rape accompanying the 2008
the world’s highest rates of HIV. One in six urban elections is generally understood to be a
adults and over a quarter of Zimbabwean men continuation of violence started during the 2000
and women living outside of cities carry the virus Parliamentary elections,2 when the MDC presented
that causes AIDS, making any exchange of ZANU-PF with its first serious challenge, and
bodily fluids or blood a potentially dangerous continued in 2002 when Morgan Tsvangirai first
one. ran for president. The stories told by female
survivors of the 2008 campaign of rape are
Even when intercourse is consensual, the vagina alarmingly similar to reports from earlier in the
is naturally susceptible to infection. When sex is decade. The same language is used time and again:
violently coerced or forced, the resulting cuts and MDC supporters are “sell-outs,” and they are
abrasions compound the danger of infection and “Tsvangirai’s whores” accused of “giving the
greatly increase the likelihood of HIV country back to the whites.”3 Documentation by
transmission if the aggressor is HIV-positive. human rights groups has shown that the majority
Girls are at exceptionally high risk of contracting of perpetrators of these abuses are part of the
HIV through rape because their genital tracts are apparatus of President Robert Mugabe’s
not yet fully developed, and are therefore even government.4 Why, then, has the world allowed it
more vulnerable to tears and lesions that allow to happen again?
the virus to enter the body. Less well understood
than the threat that rape poses for victims who AIDS-Free World’s investigation of the rape
are HIV-negative is the risk to women and girls surrounding the 2008 elections in Zimbabwe reveals
who are HIV-positive. Re-infection strengthens two stark facts: it was a widespread, systematic
the virus’s grip and further compromises the campaign against MDC female members and
health of people who are already living with HIV. supporters calculated to intimidate, humiliate, and
Anyone raped by an HIV-positive attacker faces punish them—and by extension, their families—for
a heightened risk of infection if blood is their political affiliation; and the patterns and
exchanged. similarities that emerge from survivors’ stories show
that history in Zimbabwe is repeating itself. Once
For the women of Zimbabwe, then, the dread again, the impunity for systematic rape that has
of rape and its long-term consequences is characterized Zimbabwe’s history under Robert
multiplied many times over by the specter Mugabe’s leadership5 is making it possible for the
of HIV. police not to investigate, for the prosecutors not to
prosecute, and for Zimbabwe’s neighbors to
pretend these crimes against humanity are the
internal affairs of a sovereign state. It is also
exacerbating an HIV/AIDS crisis in a country
13
14. Displacement
Number of Zimbabweans
who have fled across two
borders, in proportion to
those countries’ populations
Estimates from October 2009 least twelve refugees.6 An estimated 250,000
Zimbabweans have fled to Botswana, causing, in
250,000
the words of the Foreign Minister, a “drain on
[our] resources.”7 Additionally, forced migration has
ZIMBABWE
been shown to exacerbate the sub-continent’s
AIDS pandemic. Undocumented refugees from
1.8 million Zimbabwe may become infected by opportunistic
rape or by engaging in survival sex at the borders.8
Fear of deportation may cause them to shun
BOTSWANA
medical services, to the extent those are available,
and ignore treatable illnesses, such as sexually
3 million
transmitted diseases, increasing their vulnerability
to HIV.9 Given Zimbabwe’s high adult HIV
prevalence rate—over 15%—neighboring countries
that are themselves overwhelmed by their own
SOUTH
AFRICA 48.8 million
HIV prevalence rates may have already gained
hundreds of thousands of additional cases of
HIV/AIDS.10
Crimes against humanity in the form of
widespread, systematic rape were perpetrated
where more than 15% of adults have HIV, since during the 2008 elections and, if unaddressed, will
rape helps to spread that farther and faster. serve to further embed the culture of impunity for
rape and other human rights abuses in Zimbabwe.
The failure on the part of Zimbabwe’s neighbors, As violations of international human rights law,
and indeed the broader community of nations in these crimes demand accountability, both to
Africa and around the world, to hold Mugabe and achieve justice for their victims and to prevent
ZANU-PF accountable for the decades-long future violations.
campaign of rape, torture, and other violations has
not only had disastrous consequences for the The next elections in Zimbabwe are just around
women of Zimbabwe; it has also produced a threat the corner, and ZANU-PF is already gearing up for
to regional security and stability. An estimated three its next violent campaign. It is time for Mugabe
million Zimbabweans have fled to South Africa, a and his ZANU-PF henchmen to be brought to
country with a total population of 48.8 million. justice. Continued impunity will be a green light
This displacement has helped to tax that country’s for the next rape campaign, and the women of
health and other infrastructures and possibly feed Zimbabwe—and the southern African region—will
xenophobic violence, including the killings of at pay the price.
14 Electing to Rape: Sexual Terror in Mugabe’s Zimbabwe
15. Maintaining Power with Violence
2
Maintaining
Power with
Violence
Mugabe’s brutal decades in Matabeleland and Midlands, two of Zimbabwe’s
provinces.16 The massacre of the Ndebele people
The testimony that AIDS-Free World has gathered and this violent period in Zimbabwe’s history came
to support claims that ZANU-PF supporters to be known by the government operation’s code-
committed sexual crimes against humanity is name, Gukurahundi, a Shona word that means “the
distressing but not completely surprising. The early rain which washes away the chaff before the
history of Zimbabwe is the story of conflict. It is spring rains.”17
also a story that is as notable for what it conceals as
what it reveals. Veiled beneath the documentation References to widespread, systematic rape during
of decades of mass torture, murder, and forced the Gukurahundi are fleeting, but they do exist.18
abduction is a continuous thread of rape and The stories from that time are remarkably similar
sexual brutality against the women of Zimbabwe. to the testimony AIDS-Free World gathered
Since Zimbabwe’s independence in 1980, twenty-five years later from the victims of
widespread rape against women has been a key politically motivated rape in 2008: women accused
feature of the violence utilized by Robert Mugabe of being “sell-outs,” and abducted and detained at
and his supporters to maintain power in that ZANU base camps where youth militias forced
country.11 Reports of human rights violations in them to sing ZANU songs and raped them.19
Zimbabwe over the past three decades pay far less
attention to rape than to other types of human These were not
rights abuses, but still hint at the hidden epidemic
of systematic rape employed by Mugabe and random acts of rape
ZANU-PF.12 The long-term use of rape as a and violence; they
political tool in Zimbabwe has been enabled by the
historical lack of accountability for it.13 were crimes against
humanity.
In 1982, shortly after independence, then-Prime
Minister Mugabe sent the North Korean-trained 5 In 1987, Robert Mugabe and Joseph Nkomo
Brigade14 to quell an uprising by ethnic minority negotiated a unity accord effectively absorbing
Ndebele supporters of Joshua Nkomo, the leader ZAPU into ZANU; the new consolidated party
of Zimbabwe African People’s Union (ZAPU), a was named ZANU-PF. The story continues
group that had split off from Mugabe and around the year 2000, when ZANU-PF youth
ZANU.15 Over the next several years, Mugabe’s militias and people who identify as veterans of the
military operation killed an estimated 20,000 people liberation war (known locally as “war vets”),
15
16. invaded white-owned commercial farms. The “systematic and widespread campaign of terror to
takeovers were an attempt to woo opposition intimidate the electorate into voting for Robert
supporters under the pretext that ZANU-PF alone Mugabe in the runoff election.” 24
was willing to redress historic racial discrimination
in land ownership.20 At the same time, ZANU-PF While international media coverage at this time
waged a campaign of terror against MDC focused heavily on the country’s hyperinflation,
supporters in an effort to influence the outcome of cholera outbreaks, and efforts of outside mediators
the 2000 Parliamentary elections. When the to broker a peace, a number of non-governmental
campaign ended, a Clemency Order dated October organizations (NGOs) did publish accounts of
6, 2000 was issued by the Mugabe government targeted beatings, murder, and destruction carried
granting amnesty for all politically motivated crimes out against the MDC opposition.25 The testimony
committed from January through July of that year. taken by AIDS-Free World from seventy victims
Rape, murder, and fraud were excluded, but documents rape, but also adds to the growing
because the police ignored those crimes as well, it evidence of other abuses committed by the
was a de facto blanket amnesty.21 During the 2002 ZANU-PF. Of the seventy rape survivors
presidential elections, reports of “youth camps” interviewed, four women reported that ZANU-PF
began to emerge where women were detained and men also burned their relatives alive,26 sixteen
raped, sometimes for days and weeks at a time.22 women reported that ZANU-PF militia burned
down their homes,27 three women witnessed
ZANU-PF use burning plastic on the skin of
MDC members as a form of torture, and two
The present women reported that ZANU-PF men amputated
the hands or legs of their husbands and other
The violence associated with the first and second MDC men held at the militia bases.28 One woman
rounds of Zimbabwe’s 2008 presidential election who was able to recount her own ordeal could not
continued the trend of violence that runs relay the extent of what she witnessed, stating, “I
throughout Mugabe’s regime. After MDC saw things done to people at the base that I cannot
opposition candidate Morgan Tsvangirai garnered talk about because it affects me too much.”29
more votes than Mugabe in March, the
government’s election commission declared on Yet despite the human rights reports emerging
May 2, over strong objections, that neither from Zimbabwe, little notice was paid to the
candidate had won an outright majority, and widespread targeting and rape of female MDC
scheduled a runoff election for June 27, 2008. supporters. The testimony gathered by AIDS-Free
During May and June, as part of ZANU-PF’s World reveals that women throughout Zimbabwe
effort to win the runoff election and intimidate the who are affiliated with the MDC were abducted,
opposition, Mugabe reportedly sent his supporters beaten, and gang raped by President Mugabe’s
out to “do whatever [they] want” to MDC ZANU-PF youth militia in similar ways, and they
members.23 Tsvangirai withdrew from the runoff were told exactly why it was happening to them.
five days before the election took place, citing These were not random acts of rape and violence;
concern for the safety of his supporters due to a they were crimes against humanity.
16 Electing to Rape: Sexual Terror in Mugabe’s Zimbabwe
17. Testimony of Survivors
3
2
Testimony of
Survivors
Rape, sexual slavery, sexual violence,30 gender-based In order to qualify as a “widespread” act, sexual
persecution, and torture can constitute crimes against violence can have been perpetrated either in vast
humanity31 if “committed as part of a widespread or numbers or as a single act with massive impact.
systematic attack directed against any civilian AIDS-Free World has documented in extensive
population, with knowledge of the attack.”32 detail six dozen cases that range across the entire
“Widespread” relates to the scale of the criminal act, country and span every province of Zimbabwe.
whether it comprises numerous incidents or one The women interviewed were collectively raped
powerful event.33 “Systematic” acts, on the other at least 380 times by 241 different ZANU-PF
hand, refer to the level of planning or preparation youth militia and war veterans throughout the
involved, and can be determined by “the country. Each woman, on average, was raped five
improbability of their random occurrence.”34 times, although these numbers may be
Demonstrating a “regular pattern on the basis of a underestimates because many women fell
common policy involving substantial public or
private resources” can prove the systematic nature of
an act, even if the policy hasn’t been “formally”
The testimony taken
adopted by a state.35 by AIDS-Free World
demonstrates that the
The testimony taken by AIDS-Free World
demonstrates that the rape campaign waged by the rape campaign waged by
ZANU-PF in Zimbabwe was both widespread and the ZANU-PF in Zimbabwe
systematic. The patterns recurring throughout the was both widespread
testimonies of the seventy survivors and two
and systematic.
witnesses, each interviewed separately, cannot be
coincidental. The striking similarity of insults and
threats made before and during the violence; the unconscious during the violent rapes and therefore
uniform physical and emotional brutality of the lost count of the number of rapists and rapes at
rapes; the specific types of weapons used and some point. The women interviewed knew at least
beatings on the same parts of the body; the sixty-seven other women personally who were
standardized modes of detention and locations of raped during this time because of their political
the rapes; the sameness of the circumstances and affiliation. The majority of rapes occurred during
concurrent crimes that made up the broader attacks; a five-month period preceding, during, and
and the consistent refusal of police to investigate and immediately following the 2008 elections in
refer these cases for prosecution, taken together, Zimbabwe, during which time massive other
demonstrate a systematic, organized campaign. abuses against civilian MDC supporters have been
17
18. DATA FROM 70 VICTIMS’ SWORN AFFIDAVITS
Victims’ affiliations with the MDC
47 active members Targeting of MDC women by ZANU-PF
volunteered for the party;
attended MDC rallies; Every victim interviewed by AIDS-Free World was
seen wearing MDC t-shirts
in their communities
involved in organizing for or supporting the
Movement for Democratic Change. Eighteen of the
women held positions as officers within the MDC
party; forty-seven of the women described
themselves as “active” members because they
18
volunteered for the party, attended rallies,
MDC officials distributed MDC pamphlets, or wore MDC t-shirts
in their communities. In addition, thirty of the
seventy women had relatives who held official
positions in the party. Twelve women’s husbands
1 wife of MDC official served as chairmen or secretaries for their districts
4 members
voted for the MDC but or wards, and eight women’s fathers were officials in
non-participants in
the party. Others had nephews, siblings, mothers,
other activities
and cousins who held positions in the MDC.
documented, including beatings, murder,
Every victim interviewed
abduction, torture, and forced detention.
by AIDS-Free World was
The 2008 campaign of rape in Zimbabwe rises to involved in organizing for or
the level of crimes against humanity, and should supporting the Movement
be prosecuted as such. The detailed and extensive
testimony taken by AIDS-Free World comes for Democratic Change.
from seventy survivors and two witnesses of
rape, but it is clear that the rapes were In every incident the perpetrators were clearly
perpetrated on a much broader scale. These identifiable as ZANU-PF youth militia or war
seventy women represent many thousands more veterans. Seventeen women from eight different
whose stories, if told, would all share a common provinces reported that the abductors arrived at
narrative: politically motivated attacks, the their homes singing ZANU-PF songs and chanting
orchestrated use of rape as a tool of terror and ZANU-PF slogans; thirty-three women from six
intimidation, and the deliberate effort to harm, different provinces reported that their perpetrators
humiliate, and degrade women within their were wearing ZANU-PF t-shirts at the time of the
communities as a way to subjugate those attacks. Forty of the women were able to name
communities. some or all of their ZANU-PF attackers and the
ZANU-PF officials who were also giving orders
because they recognized them from the community
and knew them to be ZANU-PF members.
18 Electing to Rape: Sexual Terror in Mugabe’s Zimbabwe
19. Testimony of Survivors
3
DATA FROM 70 VICTIMS’ SWORN AFFIDAVITS
2
Evidence of ZANU-PF affiliation as
noted by 70 victims
Mashonaland East, a ZANU-PF commander told
67 one woman that his orders came from the country’s
president himself. She reported, “The ZANU-PF
commander was a short, stout, dark man wearing a
ZANU-PF cap . . . The commander claimed he had
been in Harare and had been instructed by
President Mugabe, ‘If you meet an MDC supporter,
40 do whatever you want to them.’ ”39 At a camp in
Masvingo, ZANU-PF rapists told another woman
33
that they were following orders. She testified,
“I pleaded with them asking why they wanted to
kill me. They said they did not care about my life.
17 They were following the instructions of the base
commander and if he told them to kill me,
they would.”40
Sixty-seven of the women (96%) testified that the
women women women women men made some kind of political statement
reported that knew the reported that reported that indicating that they were ZANU-PF, or that they
perpetrators perpetrators perpetrators perpetrators
made political and knew wore ZANU-PF sang ZANU-PF were targeting the women because of the women’s
statements them to be t-shirts songs/slogans MDC involvement, or both. The men who attacked
ZANU-PF
her described themselves to one woman as
“Mugabe’s children,”41 and other perpetrators told a
Furthermore, women raped in every province different woman that they were going to “kill all
reported that their attackers articulated the political children of the MDC.”42 One group of ZANU-PF
motivation for the rapes, telling the victims that they rapists warned a victim not to ever say bad things
were being attacked because of their MDC about Mugabe because Mugabe was an “angel put
affiliation. In Manicaland, ZANU-PF militia told into power by God.”43
one of the women, “Unless you love ZANU-PF, we
are going to kill you because you don’t listen. That
is what we’re raping you for.”36 In Harare, rapists
told another woman, “You are the one involved
with MDC, doing all the MDC duties, and we will Attacks by ZANU-PF mobs
rape you.”37 Another victim was informed that
because she had refused to convert to ZANU-PF, Sixty of the women, across each of the country’s
the men were “left with no option but rape.”38 ten provinces, reported that they were surrounded
in their homes by a mob of ZANU-PF militia
Thirty women reported that they could identify a members. The youth militia usually arrived at night,
leader amongst the ZANU-PF men who attacked and the size of the mob ranged from four to over
them, recognizable as a leader either because he led 200 men. A young woman from Mashonaland
the rapes, gave orders to other perpetrators, or was Central woke up one night to find her home
addressed by others as a leader. At a base in overrun with armed ZANU-PF men:
19
20. DATA FROM 70 VICTIMS’ SWORN AFFIDAVITS
How women identified leaders
among perpetrators
property. While twenty-nine women were raped
15 immediately, either inside or directly outside of
their homes, a majority of them—forty-one
11 women—were abducted to militia bases or taken
out into the bush to be tortured and raped.
4
Depravity and its aftermath
women women identified women identified The rapes, as described by victims from every
identified leader leader because leader because
because he led he gave orders to he was addressed province of Zimbabwe, were often nearly fatal.
rape(s) other ZANU-PF by others as a Forty of the women interviewed by AIDS-Free
men leader
World reported that they were beaten with fists,
sticks, logs, electric cords, or metal rods either
Later that night, around 10 p.m., I was at home before or after they were raped. There were seven
with my family and everyone was sleeping reports of specific beatings on the buttocks, so
. . . We heard some noise outside and it was violent as to inflict deep-tissue wounds and make
ZANU-PF supporters singing their songs and sitting and lying down painful or impossible. Two
chanting their slogans. I looked outside the women were beaten severely both on their buttocks
window of the bedroom where I slept with my and the bottoms of their feet, and many were
sisters. I saw light around the yard and realized unable to stand or walk after their rapes. Six
they had set our thatched kitchen on fire. women reported that they had to be transported to
These people started banging on our doors the hospital in wheelbarrows or carts.
saying, “Sell-outs, come out so we can talk.”
They were shouting, “Sell-outs, you will be
killed and beaten.” When I was outside I saw All the men in that room were
ZANU-PF people all over our yard . . . These either raping or waiting to rape
people were carrying all kinds of weapons—
knives, axes, metal rods, sticks, and planks.44
women. They said they wanted to
show MDC supporters that we
An elderly grandmother from Manicaland reported a had no power against them.
similar experience: “Very early in the morning on
June 24, around 3 a.m., members of the ZANU-PF
youth militia in my area came to my yard and started That so many of the rapes were committed by
knocking on the windows. I opened the curtain and multiple perpetrators demonstrates the concerted
saw my whole verandah was filled with youth militia use of gang rape as a strategy to quell political
boys.”45 opposition. Forty-two of the women were gang
raped. Of those, fifteen women were raped by
Upon arrival, the ZANU-PF attacked the women five or more men. In addition to their own rapes,
and their families, violently beating them with fists eleven of the women witnessed or heard multiple
and weapons, stealing food, and destroying ZANU-PF men raping other MDC women either
20 Electing to Rape: Sexual Terror in Mugabe’s Zimbabwe
21. Testimony of Survivors
3
2
at bases or in other locations. A woman from The women interviewed by AIDS-Free World
Harare testified: continue to experience lasting physical injuries
associated with the violence of the gang rapes.
I had been at the base for about two days One twenty-four-year-old woman was raped so
when a group of three men instructed me to violently that her uterus is permanently damaged
enter a room. The room was large, with many and she will not be able to bear children;48 others
other women MDC members and ZANU-PF had to have surgery to repair their vaginas.49
men inside. Then they said that we were going
to sleep together. They forced me to lie on the
ground and stripped off all of my clothes . . . All “As they raped me, they said I must join
three of them were rough when they raped the ZANU-PF and defect from the MDC
me. Around the room there were other men
raping other girls. All the men in that room party. As this was happening, I could
were either raping or waiting to rape women. see and hear other women being
They said they wanted to show MDC raped around me simultaneously.”
supporters that we had no power against
them.46
Another woman was anally raped so violently that
A twenty-nine-year-old woman from Masvingo, who her anus protruded outside her body.50 Ten
was forced to lie on top of her husband while women were already pregnant when they were
multiple ZANU-PF men raped her, also saw other raped and two of these women miscarried as a
MDC women raped by multiple men at a ZANU-PF result of their attacks.51 Ten women reported that
base: they became pregnant as a result of the rapes.
Twenty-three women continue to suffer
The ringleaders then directed the ZANU-PF to debilitating physical symptoms including back and
rape whichever woman they had been body pain, severe headaches, wounds on their
assigned to while her husband laid face down buttocks and the bottoms of their feet that will
underneath her serving as a “pillow.” The not heal, and difficulty walking. One was choked
ringleaders instructed the women to take off so severely by her rapist that she could not eat for
all of their clothes. The six men assigned to me a week afterwards; now she cannot speak above
forced me to lie down where we stood. I did a whisper.
everything they said because I was very scared.
I lay against my husband’s back and all six of
the men who had been assigned to me took
off their pants. One man pushed his penis into Humiliation and degradation
my vagina, another put his penis in my mouth,
another in my ear, and the rest on other parts The perpetrators were explicit about their intent to
of my body. I began to cry in pain. As they humiliate the women. ZANU-PF men told one of
raped me, they said I must join the ZANU-PF the victims, who is nineteen years old, that she was
and defect from the MDC party. As this was going to be raped and that it would destroy her life
happening, I could see and hear other women and make her embarrassed to be around her family.
being raped around me simultaneously.47 She was then raped daily for five days by up to
21
22. eight men at a time.52 Another woman reported Escalations of torture
that her rapists spat on her when they finished and murder of families
raping her.53
ZANU-PF men tortured several women first by
raping them and then by raping their daughters and
“. . . We’re not going to kill you. murdering their husbands, children, parents, and
The punishment we’re going siblings in front of them. Two women were forced
to give you is that we’re going to watch while their daughters were raped by
ZANU-PF youth militia.58 A woman from Harare
to rape your wife.” told AIDS-Free World:
ZANU-PF rapists in three different provinces When the tenth man finished raping me they
called their victims “MDC dogs.”54 One woman said they were going to rape my daughter. I
was stripped naked and paraded around in public.55 cried out but I could not even stand up at this
A twenty-five-year-old woman was taunted and time. After they finished with me, they raped
forced to “dance” for the ZANU-PF men: my daughter when I was there and I couldn’t
do anything to stop them. My daughter was
The other six men were just standing in the five years old. They instructed [my son] to take
same room. They said, “You and your husband off his little sister’s clothes. When he refused
are used to singing songs and having MDC they beat him and he eventually had to take
meetings. We are ZANU and we don’t want to off her clothes. During the rape my daughter
see you MDC people.” The men made me was crying and trying to resist but they kept
“dance” for them in bed and move my body pushing her down. I was confused and in
while they were raping me. I had to do it shock and I had no strength to say or do
because they said, “If you don’t do it, we are anything or even move.59
going to kill you.” They were all there as each
one was raping me—I could hear them. I had In Masvingo, another woman was forced to witness
the cloth on my face the whole time. All seven the rape of her eleven-year-old child: “[My]
of them raped me. They said, “If you report this, daughter was just standing there as the men raped
we will come back and kill you.” After they left, me. When they finished with me, they took my
I thought that I was dying. daughter and four of the men raped her.”60 Two
other women found out later that ZANU-PF men
ZANU-PF youth militia further humiliated women had raped their daughters separately while they
by raping them in front of their small children, were trying to defend themselves.61
their husbands, their parents, and other family
members. The men told one young woman ZANU-PF youth militia murdered family members
explicitly, “We are going to rape you while your of four of the women by burning them alive.
whole family is watching.”56 Perpetrators told A woman in Masvingo witnessed both of her
another woman’s husband, “. . . We’re not going to parents and her infant son die when the ZANU-PF
kill you. The punishment we’re going to give you is burned down her home.62 In Mashonaland West,
that we’re going to rape your wife.”57 ZANU-PF youth militia raped one woman and
then tied her husband to a chair, locked him inside
22 Electing to Rape: Sexual Terror in Mugabe’s Zimbabwe
23. Testimony of Survivors
3
2
the house, and set the house on fire while she The chairman raped me every evening before
watched. 63 he went to bed and also several times during
the middle of the night . . . As the chairman’s
Twenty-four women from eight different provinces “wife,” I had to prepare his sadza [maize meal],
reported that ZANU-PF men murdered one or kneel in front of him and give it to him. I also
more of their family members, often in front of had to warm his water for bathing.69
them, either before, during, or immediately
following their rapes. Ten women witnessed or At a base camp in Masvingo, MDC women were
heard the ZANU-PF beating their husbands, also forced to become the “wives” of ZANU-PF
fathers, mothers, and siblings to death with metal men. One woman testified:
rods or burning them alive.64
When [the men] returned, [one] announced
Four women found their husbands’ or brothers’ that all MDC women whose husbands had
beaten bodies in fields, rivers, or outside of their failed to provide cattle to show their adoption
homes, days after the ZANU-PF men came to rape of the ZANU-PF party would be assigned six
them.65 ZANU-PF youth militia threw one new ZANU-PF “husbands.” Following [his]
woman’s young son into a wall so hard that he died instructions, the ringleaders divided up the
of a subsequent blood clot in his brain.66 Another men into groups and assigned each MDC
woman came home one day to find her husband woman at least six ZANU-PF men as husbands
beaten to death, her toddler son decapitated, and who were going to rape her. I was assigned six
four men waiting to rape her.67 husbands.70
In Manicaland, one young girl was locked up and
raped every day by different men. She was only
Sexual slavery released to mop up the blood of other MDC
members who had been beaten.71 Five women were
Nine of the women were forcibly confined at bases forced to cook for their captors. A woman from
for two days or longer, and one was held for two Midlands testified:
weeks.68 During their captivity they were raped by
multiple ZANU-PF men, or by ZANU-PF The ZANU-PF men began treating me as the
“husbands” that were assigned to them. At a base maid at the base. They forced me to do
camp in Midlands, women were kept as slaves for whatever chores they wanted done at the
the ZANU-PF men: base, and said that if I refused they would kill
me like they killed my husband. I had to fetch
There was a man who looked like he was in water and firewood for them, cook, and wash
charge of the base. I don’t know what his name their clothes.72
was, but the others called him “chairman.” I was
told he was my “husband”—I was supposed to In Masvingo, another woman reported:
cook for him and sleep with him whenever he
wanted. The other girls at the base had been When they finished raping me they took off my
given “husbands” too . . . I was hopeless, blindfold and told me to stand up and cook
because I knew there was nothing I could do . . . meals for them using my own food. I couldn’t
23
24. even stand but they forced me to. They made The testimony of a woman raped in the province
me cook all the chickens they had taken from of Masvingo in May of 2008 reveals identical
my house to feed them. After I cooked, they language used by ZANU-PF perpetrators:
made me taste the food in case I was trying to
poison them.73 The ZANU-PF youth militia members told me
they heard I was an MDC agent and they were
going to take my brother and me to their
leaders. They insulted us by saying we were
“selling the country.” They said they were
Pattern of political language taking us to the base because we were “sell-
used by rapists outs” and that their leaders wanted to see us
because, in order for us not to sell the country,
The ZANU-PF perpetrators made explicit and very we had to be killed . . . They said we should “go
similar political statements during sixty-seven of do farming in Britain because we were selling
the seventy attacks (96%). The specific political the country.”77
rhetoric employed by the perpetrators was
consistent throughout the country. Women from Repeatedly, in locations throughout the country,
eight different provinces74 reported that their ZANU-PF perpetrators also told their victims
ZANU-PF attackers accused them of being “sell- that they would be punished or “fixed” for
outs” or of “selling out the country” by refusing to attend ZANU-PF meetings and for
membership in the MDC. ZANU-PF perpetrators joining the MDC. Victims in the provinces of
in three provinces made additional comments Mashonaland East, Harare, Manicaland, and
about “selling the country to whites,” with varied Bulawayo were all told they were being “fixed,”
references to the perfidy of George Bush and often while they were being raped. The
Tony Blair.75 perpetrators also made derogatory statements
about MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai. Women in
One woman, abducted to a base camp and gang five different provinces78 said the men insulted
raped in Manicaland in June of 2008, reported the Tsvangirai during the course of the attacks or
following incident: accused them of being “Tsvangirai’s children”79
or “puppets of Tsvangirai.”80
The whole night they were saying things about
MDC—that MDC was a sell-out because we
were selling the country, land and soil to Tony
Blair . . . They made me put my head down to
the ground with my waist in the air. They took Network of torture base camps
soil and put it on my back and told me to say,
“Tony Blair, our soil has come back. Leave us Victims described in detail an infrastructure of
alone and stay in your own country.” Then they ZANU-PF militia bases set up throughout
started singing, “Tony Blair, we want to keep Zimbabwe for the purposes of beating, raping,
our land—we don’t want our land or soil to be torturing, and killing MDC activists. Forty-one
taken over by the white man.”76 women (59%) were abducted from their homes
and forcibly marched, dragged, or driven by
24 Electing to Rape: Sexual Terror in Mugabe’s Zimbabwe
25. Testimony of Survivors
3
DATA FROM 70 VICTIMS’ SWORN AFFIDAVITS
2
Locations of documented Mashonaland West Mashonaland Harare
rapes home (1) Central Mbare 3
As reported to AIDS-Free World other location (1) home (1) Mbare 7
by affiants unnamed base
ZANU-PF base camp (name known) MASHONALAND home (6)
the bush (5)
ZANU-PF base camp (name unknown) CENTRAL
MASHONALAND other location (4)
victim’s home, the bush, WEST
other location Mashonaland East
Chiroroziva
ZAMBIA Gabriel
Midlands
HARARE Igavha
unnamed base
unnamed base
unnamed base
Matabeleland North home (6)
home (3)
home (1) the bush (3)
the bush (2)
the bush (1) other location (1) MASHONALAND
EAST
MATABELELAND MANICALAND
NORTH MIDLANDS
MASVINGO
Bulawayo BULAWAYO
home (1)
Masvingo Manicaland
MATABELELAND Chinembiri Baravara
Matabeleland South SOUTH Kudzanayi Dikoko
home (2) Musvosvote Jani
other location (1) unnamed base Mataranyika
unnamed base unnamed base
unnamed base home (5)
home (3) other location (2)
BOTSWANA the bush (1)
SOUTH MOZAMBIQUE
AFRICA
ZANU-PF militia either to bases or to clearings same base was beaten for two hours with logs
in the bush where ZANU-PF had set up camp. and electric cords and witnessed other MDC
In separate interviews with AIDS-Free World, supporters beaten at the base.83 In the province
victims independently provided the names of of Midlands, one woman was taken to a base in the
ZANU-PF base camps in five different mountains near Zhombe where she was repeatedly
provinces.81 gang raped over the course of several days. Her
husband was killed, and she witnessed the torture
At the bases, mobs of ZANU-PF men raped, and murder of other MDC activists.84
beat, and tortured the women and other MDC
activists. One woman who was abducted to the During the election period, living in crowded
Baravara base in the province of Manicaland urban areas provided no protection from
reported, “Each day I was left alone, from where abduction and rape at ZANU-PF bases. In
I heard many people being beaten in the Harare, two women, in separate interviews,
adjoining room.”82 A second woman taken to the reported being taken to the Mbare bases and one
25
26. gave the following testimony: Police support for ZANU-PF crimes
I knew about the Mbare 3 base, in a building International human rights organizations have long
where the ZANU-PF conducted their meetings protested the failings of the Zimbabwe police
. . . When I arrived, I saw three of my friends force,87 and a 2008 human rights organization’s
from the MDC party . . . My friends had been report on the election violence in the country
forced to lie on a bench and were being stated, “The police have not done anything to
beaten on their buttocks with black baton intervene in such situations, as they are clearly
sticks. I do not know the names of the ZANU- aligned to ZANU-PF.”88 In July 2009, Amnesty
PF youths who were beating them, but I International called for an impartial and
recognized them . . . independent police oversight body in the country,
After the ZANU-PF youths finished beating me stating, “We do not trust that police are capable of
[they] took me a short distance by foot to investigating themselves . . . The ZRP [Zimbabwe
another base called Mbare 7. Mbare 7 is an Republic Police] has been instrumental in silencing
office building with big grounds outside that government critics since 2000 and continues to do
are fenced in. I had never heard of it before. so with total impunity.”89
When I got inside, I could hear crying coming
from rooms with closed doors.85
“We told the police we were raped
Another woman who was gang raped at the Mbare by ZANU-PF men. The police said
base, and believes she was infected with HIV from they were not going to interfere
her rapists, describes her initial captivity there: with political issues.”
Over a two-week period, I was taken to the
base in Mbare several times and forced to do Testimony given to AIDS-Free World further
chores for the ZANU-PF members. For a period supports claims that the Zimbabwe police force
lasting as many as four days, I would be forced helped to ensure impunity for the rapes. In every
to cook for them, wash for them, and fetch instance, the Zimbabwe police failed to adequately
water for them. We could not leave—there respond to the crimes. Of the thirty-one women
were people who acted as our bodyguards who attempted to report their rapes to the police,
and would monitor our movement.86 thirteen said that the police either did nothing at all
or explicitly refused to write a report. Another five
reported that the police took a report but did not
investigate the crime in any way. The effect of this
is severe for the victims: without a police report
they are denied treatment at government hospitals;
without a medical report from a government
hospital as proof of rape, a criminal prosecution is
impossible.90 By refusing to document these crimes,
the police eliminated any possibility of criminal
accountability for the ZANU-PF perpetrators in
Zimbabwe courts.
26 Electing to Rape: Sexual Terror in Mugabe’s Zimbabwe
27. Testimony of Survivors
3
2
Authorities told two women that they could report was charged with raping me, burning my house,
their beatings but not their rapes. One woman and killing my cousin, but he denied all the charges.
explained, “In that office the Crime Officer Nothing was really done to him. [The police] said
threatened me never to talk about rape. The Crime they couldn’t get involved because it was a political
Officer told me I was only allowed to report issue.”96 In the second case, only one of the
assault, and by reporting rape I would be going victim’s four rapists was captured; he was held for
against the government.”91 In Manicaland, police three months and released without being charged
arrested one woman after she was raped and held with or tried for an offense. Her other three rapists
her for four nights on fabricated charges.92 Other were never investigated or arrested.97
police officers simply claimed they could not get
involved in “political matters.” A woman from Thirty-two of the women (46%) did not even
Harare told AIDS-Free World, “We told the police attempt to report their rapes to the police. These
we were raped by ZANU-PF men. The police said women, from nine different provinces, all testified
they were not going to interfere with political that it would have been futile and possibly
issues,”93 and in Matabeleland South another dangerous to report anything because ZANU-PF
woman experienced the same problem: “When we controlled the police. A woman from Midlands
tried to report these incidents, the police told us explained, “I did not report the crimes to the
not to participate in politics.”94 police. There was no point in reporting because the
police were also involved in the violence and in
In other cases, police officers told the women that fighting against the MDC.”98 A woman from
they were either unwilling or afraid to record Harare said, “I did not report my abduction or
incidents of ZANU-PF violence: rapes to the police because the police in Zimbabwe
do not do anything. Most of them are pro-ZANU-
I went with eight other camp survivors to the PF.”99 Another, from Mashonaland East, said, “I
police to report that ZANU-PF youth had raped thought about reporting the rapes to the police but
and beaten us at their base camp. When we decided not to . . . I was scared. The police were
told them about what had happened to us, the either ZANU-PF members or would not do
police laughed in our faces. They said that they anything to them.”100 Victims in Matabeleland
had heard that we had been beaten and raped South echoed this: “I did not report this to the
by the ZANU-PF youth, but that they were police because I know the police are controlled by
scared of the people in power and could not ZANU-PF and would not do anything to catch or
be expected to do anything at that moment. punish the men who came to my house.”101 In
They did not draft a report.95 Masvingo, “the police had done nothing to help me
in 2005 and I knew they would not do anything this
Not one of the 241 rapists has been prosecuted or time either.”102 Women repeatedly testified to their
punished for their crimes. Out of the seventy lack of access to justice. One woman said, “I felt
women interviewed by AIDS-Free World, there hopeless; there was nothing I could do to those
were only two cases where a perpetrator was people who raped me.”103 Many of the women
arrested, and in neither case was anyone continued to see their rapists living freely in their
prosecuted. One was held for only one week. “He communities.
27
28. 400 people
HIV prevalence
Percentage of adults aged
in Zimbabwe die of AIDS
15-49 years living with HIV every day
from UNAIDS Epidemiological
Fact Sheet, Zimbabwe, 2008 ZAMBIA
more than 19.7%
18.5% – 19.7%
MASHONALAND
16.8% – 18.4% MASHONALAND CENTRAL
15.2% – 16.7% WEST
fewer than 15.2%
HARARE
MASHONALAND
EAST
MATABELELAND MOZAMBIQUE
NORTH MIDLANDS
MANICALAND
17.0%
15.0% BULAWAYO
MASVINGO
MATABELELAND
SOUTH
BOTSWANA
urban rural
SOUTH AFRICA
adults adults HIV status of 70 victims
interviewed
tested tested HIV-positive
HIV-negative after rape
after rape
12
26
32
unsure of HIV
status at time of
interview
DATA FROM 70 VICTIMS’ SWORN AFFIDAVITS
28 Electing to Rape: Sexual Terror in Mugabe’s Zimbabwe
