The formation of Zimbabwe's Movement for Democratic Change led by Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai says a new compilation of victims of 2008 post-election violence shows as many as 500 of its members lost their lives during that turbulent period.
The Tsvangirai MDC has established a follow-up team to document all victims unreported at the time, said its welfare coordinator, Brighton Matimba. Previous estimates from the MDC as to how many fatalities were caused by post-election violence put the number around 200.
Most independent accounts of the violence say the vast majority of victims were members or officials of the Tsvangirai MDC formation, and that the violence was mainly carried out by youth militia or war veterans linked to the former ruling ZANU-PF party. But there were indications the military and security forces took part in or supported the violence.
Pishayi Mucharaya, Manicaland spokesman for the MDC formation, told reporter Patience Rusere of VOA's Studio 7 for Zimbabwe that the former opposition party won’t wait for national healing and reconciliation to run its course to document what happened.
