Why I fled Zimbabwe

Earlier this year a ZANU PF supporter was beaten up in the near
vicinity of my home. As I knew I would be arrested and interrogated for this, although I had nothing to do with it, I decided to run away to South Africa where I had relatives.

I was accompanied by a young girl whose parents had died and was trying to get to South Africa where her brother is resident. We managed to get a truck to Beit Bridge border and then we paid a guide who took us across the river, through the fence and into the farms on the South
African side. In the farms I met a relative of mine who had arranged transport.

Shortly after getting into the vehicle it was stopped and we were arrested by the Police. We were held at Musina Police station, where my relative managed to bribe members of the Army and Police and they agreed to release the young girl I was with. He did not have enough money to pay further bribes to get me released.

I was kept for about a day and then put in an Army truck and driven back to Zimbabwe. I eventually returned home, to Harare but was unable to stay at my home for fear of being arrested, so I was staying with friends.

Some three months later I was arrested close to my home, viciously beaten, forced into the boot of a car and then driven around for about an hour. When the journey ended I was taken into a room where I was tortured by placing my head in a bucket of water until I nearly drowned. I was also beaten severely on the soles of my feet.

During this time I was in great pain and totally confused. Eventually they told me that the torture would stop if I agreed to inform on the activity of the MDC. As I was desperate for the torture to end I agreed to become an informer.

I was finally forced into the boot of a car and dumped on a road where passers found me and assisted me to get to my home. As I had no intention of informing on the MDC I had to leave the country as I was in fear of my life and that of my family. My feet were very swollen so
I went into hiding until they recovered and then headed for the SA border on foot. Finally I managed to get assistance from a lorry driver at the border and hid under the canvass and managed to cross the border without being arrested. This truck took me to Johannesburg where I stay with friends.

Now I am safe but am very worried about my wife and children because of the food situation in Zimbabwe and try and send them as much as I am able, so that they can survive. Some of my relatives enter South Africa to get food which we provide and they take this back to the children.

I want South Africa, SADC and the rest of the world to put as much pressure on the Government of Zimbabwe to ensure that there are free and fair elections. If this happens I have no doubt that the Mugabe Government will be defeated and I will be able to go home and live with my family.

Comment

There can be no free and fair election when people are forced to vote for a specific party, are denied the opportunity to vote or are systematically denied the vital information that would enable them to make an informed political decision.

Furthermore, there can be no free and fair election when people are terrorised, beaten up, abused, tortured or even murdered. The climate of fear created in this way permeates all levels of society, ensuring that the majority is therefore too afraid to vote for a change in government.

In the case of Zimbabwe, where there is no democracy and no respect for human life, one of the few options left is to flee the country. The tragedy is that families are broken up as a result, vital skills are lost and people are denied the right to participate in the affairs of their own country.

The asylum seeker who wrote this blog is a patriot and like his fellow members in the Diaspora, he would like to go home to vote. However, under current conditions it is too dangerous for him to do so and Mugabe is refusing to allow the Diaspora to vote in the countries to which they have fled.

Depriving the Diaspora of their franchise, as is the case with Zimbabwe, is contrary to the approaches of other countries in the SADC region. Botswana and Mozambique, for example, developed strategies that have enabled their citizens to participate in the elections while away from home.

No justifiable reason has been given by the Zimbabwe government for denying the Diaspora the right to vote. However, since the majority is likely to vote for the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), the obvious danger for the ruling party is that they will lose the
election due to the sheer weight of numbers in the Diaspora.

Finally, unless the policy of "one citizen over 18, one vote" is applied there can be no "free and fair election" and therefore no democracy.