Death threats roil Zimbabwe

Three months ago, Coltart received another death threat. On Feb. 5, he received a faxed warning of a Military Intelligence Corps death plot against various named MDC members and white farmers. Marked with the official stamp of the corps, the list was leaked by a colonel within the Army, who wrote a cover letter warning: "It's up to you to take measure [sic] to vacant [sic] those people immediately ... the action is so barbaric."

The MDC believes that there is protection in publicizing such information, but is wary of falling victim to setups. Last month, the party appears to have been deliberately tricked by the Central Intelligence Organization (CIO), Mugabe's notorious secret police, with a false story about a woman having been beheaded by ZANU-PF activists.

Four journalists from the independent media were arrested after the claims of George Nyadzayo – a man purporting to be the woman's husband – turned out to be false. It has subsequently been established by Zimbabwe's independent newspaper, the Daily News, that Mr. Nyadzayo had links to the CIO officer-in-charge at the Makoni post in the town of Chitungwiza.

Although the MDC reported that Nyadzayo had swinded them out of approximately $410 – money it handed over to support him and his family – police have refused to arrest him. The four journalists, however, face potential jail sentences for the "publication of falsehoods."

Coltart says he does not believe the assassination alert to be anything less than genuine. Since last Wednesday, he has encountered four incidents of being followed – in one case, being trailed by what appeared to be a CIO vehicle.

Bennett, a farmer and businessman, has endured trouble since he was voted into office two years ago. Chimanimani was formerly one of ZANU-PF's strongest constituencies. "It embarrassed them, so they have turned their big guns on us ever since," he says. "Now the violence against our supporters is 10 times worse than before the presidential election in March.

"Straight after the election, the CIO came and trashed our office, broke the windows and ripped the phone out," continues Bennett. "The Army came and made the staff lie on the ground, making them do push-ups and beating them on the buttocks. They told them: 'If you stay, you will be killed.' "

Two weeks ago, 19 of the MDC's constituency workers in Chimanimani were arrested after a local CIO official claimed his home had been attacked with a petrol bomb. They were held in police cells, where they say buckets of urine were thrown over them and a cold hose turned on them at intervals throughout the night.

"When our lawyers went to see them, they were chased away at gunpoint," says Bennett. "The Army were at the police station. They said: 'This is a military situation and we'll shoot if you don't go away.' "

He adds: "On my farm now, I am looking after refugees whose homes have been totally trashed because they are MDC supporters. Their homes have been burned, their property has been destroyed ... right down to every last pot and pan.

"What can you do against a government like this? Now I get a warning saying the government wants me dead. I think if they could do it, they would do it...."

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