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Sokwanele - Zvakwana is a peoples' movement, embracing supporters of
all pro-democratic political parties, civic organizations and
institutions in Zimbabwe. Sokwanele and Zvakwana both mean 'enough is
enough' in the vernacular.

We blog at This is Zimbabwe as a team of activists working to achieve peaceful change in Zimbabwe. We are delighted to contribute to, and be a part of, the Why Democracy? Project.

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Democracy will bring us justice

posted by Sokwanele at 10h35 GMT on Oct 15

This is a picture of Maxwell Mazambani's buttocks. He was lucky because his colleague, Fibion Mafukidze, was killed. A press release on the attack describes what happened and his condition as follows:

Maxwell Mazambani, the MDC candidate for Ward Five in Gutu North in last year's council elections, is battling for his life at a Harare private hospital following brutal assaults by soldiers and Zanu PF supporters on 25 September 2007.

Mazambani, 32, was abducted from his home by a white Nissan pick-up truck that belongs to the wife of Finance Minister Samuel Mumbengegwi. The six soldiers abducted Mazambani and three others and took them to Eastdale Farm, an airforce base between Gutu and Chivhu.

One of the abductees, Fibion Mafukidze, has since died as a result of the assaults. Mazambani was later dumped in a bush near his rural home. Relatives discovered him dumped in the bush and took him to Gutu police station. He was later taken to Chivhu hospital before he was transferred to Harare on Thursday, 11 October 2007.

Mazambani is on a dialysis machine and cannot speak. He has deep tissue injury on the back. His kidneys are damaged and he has clots on the lungs.

Why Democracy? Because this happens often in Zimbabwe.

The patronage system that keeps Mugabe’s regime together
came out clearly this week when Vice President Joseph Msika helped a
minister’s wife escape the murder charges she was facing. The wife of
Finance Minister Samuel Mumbengegwi was arrested at the end of
September after allegedly leading a group of ten soldiers in fatally
assaulting Fibion Mafukidze, a former farm worker accused of stealing
from their farm in Mupandawana. The Minister and his wife Tecla
Mumbengegwi grabbed the Irvins Farm from Mr Fraser, a white commercial
farmer. This however did not stop Tecla taking the law into her own
hands to deal with someone who allegedly stole from ‘their’ farm (via swradioafrica.com)

Why Democracy? Because we deserve justice.