BiAS 7 – The Bible and Politics in Africa
based on the implicit understanding of Zimbabwe as under one-party
(ZANU-PF) state under the leadership of Mugabe. Any party that seeks
to electorally win power from Mugabe is criminalized and its supporters
face the consequences of ‘selling out’. President Mugabe in one inci-
dence described opposition parties and their supporters as ‘demon-
possessed sell-outs’.^56 This was clearly shown in the 2008 March elec-
tions that led to Mugabe losing for the first time to Morgan Tsvangirai.
The June 27 run-off between Mugabe and Tsvangirai was characterised
by naked violence. Obvious Vengeyi observed that, in the majority of
cases, opposition supporters were targets of the violence where soldiers,
police officers, ZANU PF militia and activists of the Zimbabwe African
National Union Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF) have been positively identi-
fied as perpetrators almost justifying accusations by the opposition that
the government directly orchestrated the violence.^57 The power of rape
in some cases was used as a tool of strategy to control civilian popula-
tions and maintaining of power. A report based on testimonies was
made on 70 survivors of orchestrated campaign of rape and torture.
Women affiliated with MDC are reported as having been abducted at
night (the assailants shouting ‘come out sell outs’), beaten (with fists,
logs, electric cords or metal rods), gang-raped and being told exactly why
it was happening to them. Some women allegedly forced to watch their
daughters being raped.58 The case in mind is that of Rutendo Munen-
gami (wife of MDC-T legislator for Glen View North Fani Munengami)
who claims to have been raped by one of the soldiers that stormed her
house. Another victim had a thick tree stump forced into her private
parts, tearing off part of it. The motive was to prevent her from giving
birth to sell-outs children.59 It is common to find opposition members
being denied food, farm inputs and medication for their political orienta-
tion deemed criminal. The portrayal of people with different views with
‘sell-out’ labels resonates very well with the character that ZANU-PF
finds in Judas Iscariot. Any allegiance to other parties is portrayed as
(^56) Gillian Gotora, Opposition demon-possessed sell-outs: Mugabe, http://www.newzim
babwe.com/news-5767-Opposition+demon+possessed+Mugabe/news.aspx.
(^57) O Vengeyi, Israelite Prophetic Marks among Zimbabwean men of God: An Evaluation
of the Conduct of selected Zimbabwean Church Leaders in Recent Politics, Exchange
39, 2010, 159-178.
(^58) S Edwards, Mugabe ‘The diabolical masterminds of sexual terror’, http://www.zim
daily.com/news/mu gabe27.7556.html, accessed, 10 December 2009.
(^59) ‘Raped by Mugabe’s Thugs’, The Standard, 13 March 2010.