Didymus Noel Edwin Mutasa - Zanu PF MP Headlands Consituency

Didmus Mutasa is the member of parliament for the Headlands constituency in Manicaland Province. He is currently the minister of state in the President's Office responsible for presidential affairs. Mutasa cast a very long shadow of terror across the entire population of Zimbabwe, opposition party activists, members of the civic society, journalists and members of the clergy all have horrific accounts of nasty incidents of violence involving Didymus Mutasa. In 2005 Didymus Mutasa described Anglican Archbishop Desmond Tutu as "a puppet of the west, a vassal of imperialism and a lost soul. "It appears Mutasa was echoing the speech of his master President Robert Mugabe who had just called Archbishop desmond Tutu," an evil little Bishop." When Archbishop Pius Ncube protested that people where starving in areas around Bulawayo and the government was neglecting them. Didymus Mutasa called him ," a heathan man who lies through his teeth, who needs his head examined for he his a liar. "  Terence Ranger , Emeritus Professor of history at Oxford has described Didymus Mutasa as, " a ruthless and acquisitive politician who is notorious for using violence against his political opponents. Didymus Mutasa's character will never cease to amaze those who worked with him in the early 1970s and who described him as a near saint, they have watched their devout Christian fellow transform into a bloody thirsty hound who makes a pact with the devil.

In 2002 Didymus Mutasa mentioned that he would not care a hoot if six million people would die in Zimbabwe due to severe food shortages at the time which were compounded with the Aids pandemic. He publicly noted that the country would be better off with just members of his party Zanu PF and would not mind loosing what he called extra people, ostensibly referring to the millions facing death through starvation and disease. Clare Short noted that," Mutasa's statement was unforgivable and that no one should ever forgive him".

Even members of his own party have not been spared the wrath of his violent and ruthless ill temper. In 2005 Mutasa was reported to have abducted a Zanu PF war veteran xxx and pounded him to near death. This unfortunate soul had dared challenge Mutasa's nomination during Zanu PF primary elections in Rusape. 

Didymus Mutasa has been portrayed by his victims as the most powerful person in Zimbabwe , Mugabe's blue eyed boy who is absolutely above the law. In 2004 he kicked the then MP for Chimanimani Roy Bennett in Parliament, this was after Bennett had failed to contain his anger  after his patience had been stretched to breaking point when Patrick Chinamasa had churned out a charade of venomous attacks on MP Bennett  describing his ancestry as a band of thieves and murderers. Roy shoved Chinamasa to the floor, and was subsequently committed to jail where he languished in filthy and inhuman conditions for 15 months. Didymus Mutasa walked Scott free no-one dared point a finger at him despite publicly boasting about his kicking antics displayed on Roy Bennett in Parliament.  Didymus Mutasa was not disciplined for his actions but was immediately promoted to Minister of State Security and Land affairs .  

Armed with his new dual insurmountable powers Mutasa launched the infamous Operation Murambatsvina (clean up) in May 2005. This exercise manifested immeasurable levels of brutality of the Zanu PF party and government . More than 700 000 poor families were displaced, through a wanton destruction of houses and purportedly illegal structures some of which had been constructed before 1980. Men, women and children now in extreme poverty, their lives having been turned inside out within the spur of the moment. They had been robbed off their sources of income and what they called home . These poor souls piled up in makeshift camps along all the major roads of Zimbabwe. A somber atmosphere settled on the nation, seething masses of desperate humanity with glaring signs of hopelessness written on their faces could be noticed everywhere with their world's possessions balanced precariously on women's  heads or in bundles under their children's arms.

This was the little they had managed to save from flames , when troops of soldiers and the police had mowed their houses down and  burning the rubble in the process.  All this was because Didymus Mutasa and President Mugabe had been angered by the poor people who had apparently changed allegiance from Zanu PF to the MDC and therefore had to be punished.  In the run up to the presidential run off elections in June 2008 , Didymus Mutasa unleashed an unprecedented orgy of terror and torture of MDC supporters in Headlands, the whole of  Rusape and its environs. Residents of Rusape urban reported that Didymus Mutasa took over some properties and used them to house hordes of armed youths/ operatives he used to terrorize MDC supporters in Headlands and Makoni constituencies. Below are accounts of some of the horrible incidents in which Mutasa was directly involved or sponsored.

January 3, 2008

A Prominent MDC activist xxx who is a poor farmer in the Inyati Resettlement area has incessantly suffered at the hands of Didymus Mutasa. He has been relentlessly persecuted by Mutasa since 1999. His homestead has been burnt a record seven times in the past 10 years. He has been abducted and tortured by people who have been sent by Didymus Mutasa on numerous occasions that it's a wonder to him why he is still alive.

The people who have been assigned by Mutasa to haunt him are Walter Rushambwa, Maxwell Chidzambwa, Punish Mhiripiri, Walter Mhepo (now deceased), Kainos Chidzambwa, Albert Makura, ZRP police  Inspector Muchazorwa and Lovemore Manenji. At one time he was put into a jute bag , bundled into Punish Mhiripiri's truck and dumped in Rusape dam only to be saved by fishermen laying their nets during that night.

On 3 January 2008, xxx was in Harare when he was manhandled by two men who took him to a waiting car where he was confronted by Didymus Mutasa himself. Mutasa told him that they were going to finish off their struggle that day and he ordered his gang to drive off leaving a dumbfounded xxx shell shocked along Samora Machel Avenue. Later that day a man and a woman followed him to Mbare Musika. They boarded the same bus with him to Mutare, where he was arrested on arrival , put into cells and released. The two people who had followed him from Harare were at the police station when he was released. xxx sensing danger managed to outmaneuver them and escaped to Mozambique that same night. He was in Mozambique until August 2008, but his wife was raped by Lovemore Manenji on 23 June 2008 as punishment for hiding her husband.

May 22, 2008

xxx was abducted by Zanu PF militia and taken to Chinyamukamani base where the youths led by Phillip Mushayi assaulted him with logs, iron bars and whips. He died during the assault. Philip Mushayi told all the people who had been force marched to the base that all MDC supporters who were present had to take their lesson, for what had happened to xxx was going to be meted out on them as well, there was no going back and no one was going to arrest the Zanu PF cadres since comrade Didymus Mutasa had granted them express authority to kill all people who supported Tsvangirayi.

June 25, 2008

On the night of 25 June 2008 a gang of armed operatives and Didymus Mutasa's   youths wreaked havoc in Eagles Nest area of Headlands. They were seen driving around in two vehicles one of which was reported to be Didymus Mutasa's Toyota venture. xxx was attacked at his home by this gang, they accused him of leading MDC activities in that area, they viciously assaulted him, and witnesses report that the attack was so ruthless that he died during the assault. His wife xxx paid for her husband's sins when she was also assaulted , she sustained severe injuries all over her body though she was taken into hospital the following morning she passed away on 28 June 2008.

June 25, 2008

On the same fateful evening of June 25, 2008 a gang of local Zanu PF youths accompanied by Mutasa's operatives from Rusape pounced on xxx and his wife at their home in Headlands. The unfortunate couple was guilty of supporting the MDC and urging other people to commit the same crime. The gang used pieces of wood, iron bars and gun butts to assault xxx and wife. The beating was too severe for the ageing couple that they succumbed to the wounds sustained and both passed away during the assault.

June 25, 2008

Residents of the Eagles Nest now regard June 25, 2008 as the day the devil visited them, for many people fell victim to Didymus Mutasa's messengers. A  heartless, blood thirsty gang of Zanu PF youths and CIO operatives from Rusape. Many MDC activists were lashed and slashed. The police refused to attend the desperate calls of the maimed villagers. The militia butchered the defenseless folks until the following morning, when they left, their job done, leaving  behind a trail of blood and lacerated victims. Xxx another MDC activist who was also assaulted by this band of killers died early that morning.

June 27, 2008

xxx another small scale farmer in the headlands area was attacked at his home by a gang of Zanu PF youths and operatives from Rusape. This barbaric gang used barbed wire and a knife to tear and pull xxx's intestines out, he died instantly. His brothers xxxl and xxx touched by what happened to their brother wept in grief and were savagely assaulted sustaining serious injuries, fortunately they survived.

July 30, 2009

On July 30, 2009 in Macheke resettlement areas, a 16 year old boy xxx died after being beaten by Zanu PF supporters who accused him of supporting the MDC. He was killed after he had asked for his outstanding wages from his previous employer a local Zanu PF Chairman Harry Munetsi. The seven people who killed him were arrested by the police but Didymus Mutasa MP ordered their release. Mutasa ordered the villagers in the area to deal with any strangers who would come into the area inquiring about the death.