ZIMBABWE: Political violence scars women

JOHANNESBURG, 8 March (IRIN) - While men have been the high profile
targets of Zimbabwean political violence, concern is beginning to
emerge
that women may have been its hidden victims.

Young men have been at the forefront of political activism in the run-up
to this weekend's presidential election. As a consequence, "it is quite
noticeable that in the past six weeks there have been far more injured men
that have made it to our offices", said Francis Lovemore of the Amani
Trust, which specialises in the rehabilitation of torture victims.

"Women are not coming forward, especially where rape is concerned," she
said. Poverty, fear and shame may be behind the reluctance of women from
the rural areas, where much of the violence has taken place, to report
their experiences.

"It is only after [the election] that we will start investigating
further
and we will see how many people have been affected," Lovemore said.

But already there is evidence that rape has been deliberately used as part
of the "torture process" against women, allegedly by pro-government
militia, the Amani Trust said.

One aspect has been the use of public rape against perceived political
opponents. Lovemore said five women had come forward since January to
report that they were forced to have sex in front of witnesses at militia
bases in Muzarabani and Murehwa, north of the capital Harare. They all
contracted sexually transmitted diseases, she added.

There has also been a case of two men who were coerced into sexual acts,
Lovemore noted, as part of the same political terror. The Amani Trust has
helped a total of 300 victims of violence since January.

The opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), which is giving
President Robert Mugabe's ruling ZANU-PF party its strongest challenge
yet, claims that about 100 of its supporters have been killed in the
run-up to the election.

According to Nancy Kachingwe of the NGO network Mwengo, it is not only the
physical impact of Zimbabwe's political violence that has affected
women.
Lack of access for civil society to rural communities across much of
Zimbabwe has hurt empowerment programmes.

"The women's movement has been at a loss to respond to the situation,"
Kachingwe said. "In the past voter education was directed at women. Now,
grassroots fieldworkers can't operate in some constituencies."

Zimbabwe's opposition movement was to an extent kicked off by a woman, Margaret Dongo, who as an independent won a seat in Harare in 1995.
But
the climate of political violence has tended to rob women of a high
profile role in the current campaign.

"The situation continues to relegate us to cheerleaders, spectators and
victims in this entire process," Kachingwe observed.

[ENDS]

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