Tuesday 17 June 2008
Today the team that coordinates our social development projects came to see me in the morning. They operate from our St Augustine’s Church in Hatcliffe Township. We moved their operations to the church about two months ago from the Mupandasekwa house where they had operated since their inception, in the aftermath of Operation Murambatsvina. They are currently occupying the office at the church while a three roomed building is being built for their work at the church.
The projects team expressed to me their fear of going into Hatcliffe this morning. They had received a message informing them that the house next to the Mupandasekwas was burnt last night. The gang responsible for the arson had inquired about the projects team. The new residents at the Mupandasekwa house told the assailants that the projects had since moved to the church.
I told the projects team to wait for Fr. Moyo, my assistant, who was out saying mass at Nazareth House. Fr. Moyo is the manager of the projects. Meanwhile, I told them that we may have to stop operations at the church if the situation remains a threat. Only this Sunday I had a meeting with the area committee for St Augustine’s where we decided to cancel a choir event on the 29th March because of the danger that might befall those participating in the practice sessions in the evenings. I also asked section leaders to stop evening meetings until after the election. Any activity at the church that requires people to come out after dark has been suspended until the situation improves. We will, however, gather for funerals if needs be, but we will have to exercise extreme caution under these circumstances.
When Fr. Moyo returned he proceeded to Hatcliffe with the projects team to assess the situation. I followed shortly afterwards. I went to the house next to the Mupandasekwa house that was burnt. The owner of the house is Mr Chiroto the MDC councillor for the area who was recently voted for in the March elections. There were about ten party supporters who were not wearing any party regalia. There were also four women who must be relatives of the Chirotos. I identified myself as the local Catholic Priest come to see the carnage. I was shown into the house and saw the extensive damage to property that had been caused by the fire. Attempts to douse the fire with water had further damaged whatever had not been burnt. So, the place was totally ruined.
I asked about the Chirotos. I was told that Mr Chiroto had received a victim of political violence earlier in the evening and had rushed him to Parirenyatwa hospital. This man had had his legs and arms broken. He was from Hatcliffe extension, the squatter camp where our projects are constructing houses for the poor. It was while Mr Chiroto was out at the hospital that his house was attacked at about 8:00pm. The attackers arrived in two new grey twin cab trucks unmarked and with no number places. Eyewitnesses say that the men were clad in government-issue fatigues. They abducted Mrs Chiroto and her two year old daughter and took them away after they had set the house alight. Neighbours and party supporters came and tried to save some furniture and put out the fire. It was a difficult task since Hatcliffe Township is often without water supply. The fire brigade did come, but much damage had already occurred. The police also came, but the attackers had since gone.
No one had heard of the whereabouts of either Mr Chiroto or his wife and child. The women who were at the house are from the cooperative area of the township and were very frightened because they had been told that tonight their area will be the target of burnings. The campaign manager for Mr Chiroto’s councillor bid told me he was frightened too, that what had happened to his superior would happen to him. I commiserated with the group at Mr Chiroto’s house and there was nothing more that I could do to help them.
I went over to our church and saw the builders busy, working on the new building. There had been no incident at their site. Unfortunately the night watchman had gone off. I would have wanted to know if there had been any visitors the night before. I talked with the church caretaker, Wellington who reported that they had been no incident at the church. I told him to be on the high alert and to call me if anything happened.
My big worry concerns the huge amount of food that we have stored at the church. Two weeks ago we got a letter from Minister Goche instructing us to stop feeding the poor. I had a meeting with the SVP and social concerns people and we decided that it was safe and cautious to stop food distribution until after the elections. We had just received about two tonnes of mealie meal from CADEC. The people already knew that we have food. My fear is that they may force their way into our store and loot it. The ruling party functionaries, who are well seeded in the congregation, may demand that we release it to them so they can use it in the campaign. I have told my people that in the event that the ruling party approaches us to demand the food we will not resist them.
I left the church and drove around the township talking to people. Most people that I talked to were very frightened. They were feeling very vulnerable, knowing that they can be targeted and attacked anytime. They have seen how others have been arbitrarily singled out for attacks. All it takes is the perception, which needs not be true, that one is an MDC member. They are also frightened because the attacks that they have seen are near fatal to fatal – the breaking of limbs and skulls.
There were many young people dressed in Zanu PF party reagalia milling around the township attaching posters and distributing fliers. The general mood in the township was depressed and sombre. I was shown the camp near the high school, where the party militia is gathered and where the beatings of suspected MDC supporters are being carried out. The evenings are reported to be especially dangerous for anyone seen walking. It was reported that the militia is made up of unemployed young people from Mbare and members of the notorious Mbare criminal gang Chipangano.
When I got home, a woman from the parish called me on the phone from Hatcliffe and told me that she had been trying to get hold of me all morning. She told me that the previous day, Sunday, there had been a meeting at the house next to her. The house owner is also a parishioner whose name has been given to me. At this meeting that other parishioner gave a report of what I had preached in Church, distorting it to make it sound anti-Zanu PF. There was a heated discussion about how I must be disciplined. A pledge was made to pay a group of thugs to beat me up. The woman who called was very disturbed by this and felt that she had to tell me and warn me. I thanked for letting me know.
Later in the evening the area chairperson for our church in Hatcliffe called me to warn me of an attack against me that had been planned for this evening. My case had been the subject of discussuion at the Zanu PF rally on Sunday and it had been agreed that I must be beaten up or killed. The area chairperson was very frightened about this and begged me not to spent the night in the house. The parishioner who had called me earlier during the day had also begged me not to stay in the house at night.
This is not the first time that I have heard of such plans to harm me in the past month. There have been threats every week to the effect that I must be beaten up and killed. My case has been considered as easier to deal with than Fr. Maguire’s, who as a foreign national could only be deported. “Guri we will simply kill, for he is a local,” is what I have often head being said. I have received reports that there are parishioners who habitually go to the CIO every Sunday after mass and give a report of what I would have said in Church. Among these, have been named some long-time parish members, parish leaders, and extraordinary ministers of the Eucharist. I have already received a warning from one deputy minister Chihota, warning me not to preach politics at St Gerard’s.
The net result of all these threats and warnings has been a considerable weight on my shoulders. I often take it lightly as rumours that proliferate at a time of great socio-political instability such as we are living through. I think they are aimed at getting me to overreact, fight or run away. Then my overreaction would be used against me and against the Catholic Church, which I see as being very much the object of attack. So I have endeavoured to give the impression that I am not taking these things too seriously. I have been cautious and desisted from being provocative in my speech and sermons. Yet the threats continue to come in. As I see what is happening to innocent people who are the victims of the ongoing violence, I begin to get frightened.
The horrific scenes of Mr Chiroto’s house made me really scared for my life. It was an attack very close to home and that could easily happen to me. I felt very vulnerable. I stopped at the police station on my way home and asked to see the Officer in Charge. I told him about the attack of the Chirotos and the possibility of our church and the Mupandasekwa House being attacked. I also told him about the threats aimed at me and my fear of being attacked. He promised to send more police details to Hatcliffe. He intimated to me how the police is overwhelmed with arson cases and how it seems that no one is in control of the violent mobs. He told me that the Chiroto child had been found, alive and well, in the Mabelreign area, but both Mr and Mrs Chiroto were still unaccounted for by both the police and their relatives. I went to see the little Chiroto child in the Victim Friendly section of the police station where she was being held. I told the Officer in Charge that he was responsible for ensuring that the public was safe and protected in a time like this.
As evening set my fear became very intense. I celebrated the 5:30pm mass at St Gerard’s and struggled to hide my fear from the small group of faithful who are also living in fear. After mass parishioners shared with me the horror stories of the violence that is happening all over. They told me how bases have been set up in our neighbourhood. In Lewisham there two camps responsible for terrorising the Enterprise Road area. On Sunday parishioners going to Nazareth House on foot were force marched to the camps and beaten. After the mass those parishioners with cars had to drop those without cars at their homes, to evade the marauding militias patrolling the Enterprise Road. I also got a report from Nazareth House that our gardener was intercepted on his way to work and forced to distribute campaign material.
In the evening I made a call to our Redemptorist community house at Tafara. After so many trials I managed to talk to Fr Richard Reid and informed him of what was going on here. I tried to call the Archbishop of Harare, without success all through the day. In the evening I did manage to speak to one of his assistants, Fr Davison Lukio and told him to tell the Archbishop about my experiences and concerns. I called the Jesuit Provincial Fr Fidelis Mukonori who came to see me that same evening. I sat with him and shared with him my concerns and fears. Fr Fidelis has connections with the government and he told me that he was going to bring our security concerns to a meeting with some police commissioners that he was going to attend the following day.
I went to bet quite exhausted from the emotional turmoil of the day. I prayed for safety in the night and hoped for the best.
Wednesday 18 June 2008
Today I did not go into Hatcliffe at all since I had no business there. I talked to Arthur who heads our projects. He told me the horror stories from the townships where all hell seems to have broken loose. Medicine, one of our gardeners, asked me if his wife could stay with him at the workers quarters until after the elections. Medicine’s wife is a member of the MDC and they are afraid that she may be endangered. David, our cook, has moved his sewing machine and all his certificates and birth certificates for his children from his Warren Park home for safe keeping with us here. He is afraid that in the madness these valuable papers may be destroyed. I took Bishop Mutume, who is convalescing with us here, to St Joseph Clinic in Chishawasha just before lunch and enjoyed some calm on the short drive out of Harare. Chishawasha has its own fair share of trouble and a hit list for priests has been drawn up. A local Chishawasha village head man was beaten to death last week for failing to produce a list of opposition supports in his area.
About 4pm I had a visit from two police officers from Borrowdale Police Station. They had been sent over by the Officer in Charge who wanted my contact details. I asked them what he wanted that for. They said a senior officer wanted to talk to me. So I gave them the house and parish landline and one of my cell phone numbers. The two men were fully dressed in Zimbabwe Republic Police uniforms, the winter fatigues, but looked unusually less confident and out of place, for the usually self-sure ZRP officers. They didn’t even know their way back to the police station from here. I suspected that they could be part of the mob that we hear to have been given police uniforms for the purposes of intimidating members of the opposition. An hour after the police had left; I received a call from the Officer in Charge at Borrowdale Police Station. At least that assured me that my visitors were from the police station. We exchanged pleasantries and then he told me his superiors wanted to see me tomorrow morning at 8:00am at the Central Police Station in Harare. He said this was following up on the concerns that I had shared with him yesterday. I must go and see a Chief Superintendent Marange.
In the meantime Fr Moyo, my assistant, who spent the whole day in Hatcliffe, told me that Mrs Chiroto’s mutilated body was found. She was killed and abandoned on a roadside.
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