Martin Gurajena*, like many other opposition activists forced to flee Zimbabwe's ongoing political violence, has a difficult choice to make: when will it be safe to go home?
Gurajena, 48, his wife and four children, are among 20 families being sheltered by a church in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe's second city. The militia of Robert Mugabe's ZANU-PF party - young men with a reputation for brutality - had driven them out of Mberengwa, in the central Midlands Province, because they were members of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC).
MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai's decision not to contest the presidential run-off election against Mugabe on 27 June, on the grounds that too many of his supporters had already been killed since the first-round poll on 29 March, was a heavy blow for Gurajena.
"I had prayed and hoped that Tsvangirai would win, and I could return back to my village to rebuild our home that was burnt down by ZANU-PF supporters. But after he pulled out of the elections my heart sank. As it is right now, my livestock are scattered all over, as I did not get a chance to collect the livestock when I escaped - I was warned that I would be killed if I delayed," Gurajena told IRIN.
He was clearly torn by deciding whether to go back or not. He said he felt an emotional responsibility to the people he had left behind, but he was also aware that he was still a target for the militia; even if they had a sudden change of heart, his own chief, whom he described as a staunch ZANU-PF supporter, might not allow him to resettle.
"My whole life is ruined, so what will happen to me and my family? We ran away from ZANU-PF militia and there is no way I can go back there ... the violence taking place across the country is terrifying, and they are still beating people in Mberengwa - I cannot go there."
 The reason the MDC is calling for a government of national healing is to allow a process for people to forgive each other to take place |
Martha Hove, a widow and a mother of four, was a polling agent for the MDC during the 29 March elections. She shut her eyes as she recounted how she had been driven out of Mberengwa by militia, led by "war veterans" who torched her homestead and beat her, the scars of the assault still visible on her face.
"It was by the grace of God that I survived the attack - the war veterans wanted to kill me. I don't think I will return to Mberengwa. I will have to relocate with my family to another district, even in Matabeleland [in the south of the country] if the people accept me." Hove is of the majority Shona ethnic group; Matabeleland, with Bulawayo its capital, is predominantly Ndebele.
"I might forgive, but I will not forget what they did to me. Those that attacked me are well known people to me; they are my neighbours, but they turned into animals when they were beating me," said Hove. Mberengwa has historicaly been a hardcore ZANU area.
Useni Sibanda, the national co-ordinator of Christian Alliance, a grouping of church organisations taking care of people displaced by the violence in a network of safe houses, said the number of victims was still rising.
"Currently we are not even thinking of relocating these people, as we are still receiving more victims of violence. Once the violence subsides, then we can start looking at options of relocating them or allowing them to return to their original villages," he told IRIN.
Sibanda would not say how many people his organisation was sheltering, but said hundreds of families had been displaced and were being accommodated by well-wishers in Bulawayo. He added that if the violence continued the churches would be unable to cope.
According to the MDC, close to 90 party officials and supporters have been killed since March, and thousands made homeless. Party spokesman Nelson Chamisa said a transitional "government of national healing" was urgently needed to allow the country to reunite.
"The reason the MDC is calling for a government of national healing is to allow a process for people to forgive each other to take place. As it is, there is no way these people will live in harmony with the same people that wanted to kill them yesterday," he said.
The MDC was working with civil society organisations on an audit of homes and property lost during the election period, and would then approach the international community for financial aid to help with reintegration, Chamisa said.
Gurajena still thinks of home. "Some of my neighbours were also attacked, and stories are coming through from the village that some were killed. I need to go back so that I know who has died and who is still alive," he said. "Mugabe has won [the presidential run-off], so the war veterans should allow us to go back and rebuild our homes and let us continue with our lives."
* Not his real name
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This article was produced by IRIN News while it was part of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Please send queries on copyright or liability to the UN. For more information: https://shop.un.org/rights-permissions
