The New Liberia

MANDY ROSSOUW | JOHANNESBURG, SOUTH AFRICA - Jun 21 2008 06:00 THE SMART NEWS SOURCE

Torture and mutilation in Zimbabwe's presidential run-off election campaign are reaching the levels of Liberia's horrific civil war, Mail & Guardian publisher Trevor Ncube said this week after returning from a visit to his home country.

"Limbs are being cut off and victims are given a choice: 'long-sleeved' or 'short-sleeved', meaning you can choose whether to lose your hand or your forearm.

"I think the numbers of people who are killed is understated. I know of at least three people who've been burned alive."

Ncube said the tactics used by "war veterans" and youth militia recalled those used by Zanu-PF during the country's liberation war. The ability to move freely around the country, even the capital city, has become a thing of the past.

"Rural Zimbabwe is inaccessible for anyone not from those areas. If you want to visit anyone there you have to report to the chief or headman," he said.

"My mother wanted to visit her sister in Bikita whose husband had fallen seriously ill. She was advised not to bother. 'You will be killed if you come here,' they told her."

Ncube said that in the rural areas mock elections are held in which people are told to line up behind the headman. As the ZanuPF militia oversees the voting, people are told where to place their cross. They are threatened that those who vote wrongly on June 27 will be dealt with severely.

Ncube said that although Zanu-PF started the violence to intimidate the opposition, the party is now struggling to keep it under control.

"It has got out of hand -- the party doesn't know which button to push any more. But they aren't complaining because all the violence works in their favour."