Mugabe thugs killed and mutilated MDC youth activists

Philemon Chipilyo’s son was one of four men killed trying to defend his house from a Zanu (PF) mob

Jan Raath in Chitungwiza

The mutilated bodies of four young men bore witness yesterday to the latest atrocities of the Mugabe regime in the run-up to next week’s elections.

The victims were murdered while defending the home of a local leader of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), as the campaign of terror against the opposition reached a new pitch.

They represent the most deaths in a single day since Robert Mugabe lost the presidential elections ten weeks ago. Three of the men were MDC youth activists in the sprawling dormitory township of Chitungwiza about 20 miles (30km) south of Harare. The fourth was a passer-by, abducted because he did not know the secret slogans and salutes used by the ruling Zanu (PF) youth organisation to identify supporters. All four had their skulls smashed, and some had their lips and genitals cut off.

The bodies of Archford Chipiyo, 28, the son of Philemon Chipiyo, the district chairman of the MDC in Chitungwiza, Yona Genti and the unidentified young man, were found in tall grass at the side of the main southbound road out of Harare about midday on Wednesday. The body of the fourth, Nyoni Light, was dumped near a shopping centre on the outskirts of Chitungwiza.