HURUNGWE West independent candidate Temba Mliswa yesterday claimed that four employees at his Spring Farm in Karoi were hospitalised at a private clinic in Harare after they were brutally assaulted by suspected Zanu PF youths who invaded his farm last week.
BY OBEY MANAYITI/NUNURAI JENA
He identified the victims as Patricia Nduna, Meeting Rice, Advance Choto and Chamunorwa Jongwe, who he alleged were assaulted with logs and electrical wires. Mliswa said the matter was reported at Karoi Police Station, but none of the suspects had been arrested.
“This is the most difficult part of my life when a defenceless person is being attacked and yet there is no enforcement of the law by police,” Mliswa said after visiting the affected workers in hospital.
“This is a complete violation of human rights. These people never faced such brutality under the (late former Rhodesian Prime Minister Ian) Smith regime at all. These are innocent people.
“At one point I thought the spirit of elections must be a welcome development because it epitomises democracy, but here elections epitomise brutality of mankind.
“I would want at this point to quit, but I cannot because people have sacrificed a lot. I am now even more determined to stand. The interest generated by the Hurungwe West by-election clearly exposes those leaders who have kept on lying to the President,” he said. The former Zanu PF Mashonaland West provincial chairman is contesting the election against the ruling party’s Keith Guzah.
Mliswa also claimed that seven of his cattle had gone missing following the invasion of his farm.
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Munyaradzi Oshipeya, whose mother was hospitalised after the attacks, told NewsDay that the assault had traumatised the whole family.
“The assaults are happening in full view of the police, but they choose to ignore. Some of the police say they have instructions not to act,” said Oshipeya. “This is very sad. My 59-year-old mother has been assaulted like this yet she is just a worker who is trying to make an honest living. She doesn’t know anything about politics. This has been happening for days and I fear one day some people will end up dying,” he said.
National police spokesperson Senior Assistant Commissioner Charity Charamba said she had not yet been briefed about the incident.
