The Sunday Mail misleads the nation

WHILE The Sunday Mail opportunistically used President Thabo Mbeki’s infamous comments that there was no crisis in Zimbabwe indicators on the ground were pointing to the contrary.

While the weekly was portraying a positive picture about events in Zimbabwe there was an upsurge of politically motivated violence targeted at MDC -Tsvangirai supporters. Supporters of the MDC-T announced 10 of their supporters had been murdered in the process.

The violence, which has swept throughout the country, has been widely blamed on the army, other security agents, war veterans and Zanu PF youths.

Thousands of MDC-T supporters have been displaced after their houses were set on fire. Others fled the violence that has left hundreds seriously injured.
Offices of the MDC-T have been literally turned into refugee processing centres with thousands of displaced people camping there. (See above picture of MDC-T supporters camped at the party's offices in Mutare after their houses were burnt in Mutasa South)

Senior army officers, war veterans and Zanu PF activists have set up bases in most parts of the countryside in MDC-T strongholds and are conducting “political re-orientation programmes for the masses”.

More than 5 500 Zimbabweans are reported to have crossed into Mozambique, possibly fleeing from the violence.
Mozambican government officials confirmed there is an unprecedented influx of Zimbabweans crossing into the neighboring country.

"There is a massive exodus of Zimbabweans getting inside Mozambique," Boste Marizane, told journalists in Manica Town, about 25 km east of Mutare. Marizane is an immigration officer based at the Machipanda Border Post.

"What is happening is that these days there are lots of people crossing to Mozambique who don't return" Marizane said.

He said a day after the polls 348 Zimbabwean crossed into Mozambique but only 40 returned home. The trend was continuing daily, Marizane said.

Police in this shanty town say in a bid to deter a wave of refuge claims the Mozambican government was not giving asylum status to anyone because Zimbabwe “is not at war”.

Police spokesperson in Manica Pedro Jemusse said, "There is a surge of Zimbabweans coming in and we are monitoring the situation."