The Sunday News
Nozibelo Maphosa, Sunday News Reporter
AN MDC activist who recently succumbed to injuries sustained from an alleged political motivated attack at her rural home in Tsholotsho has been laid to rest.
Ms Geelie Moyo, died last week at Pumula mission hospital in Tsholotsho where she was receiving treatment from an attack by unknown assailants who stormed her homestead at Sakhile line in the Matabeleland North located district.
According to villagers and family members at the funeral, that was held at the Moyo homestead they were now leaving in fear of more attacks possibly recurring, with some family members already in hiding after Ms Moyo’s death.
“This began a few backs ago when this very family was attacked with the alleged attackers demanding the whereabouts of Ms Moyo, who was a known active MDC member in the district, during that visit they severely beat up her brother, Mr Gonsi Moyo and his wife, demanding to know the whereabouts of Ms Moyo.
“As village heads we tried our best to intervene and stop these attacks but there was nothing much we could do, these attackers were violent and would have none of it,” said one village head who identified himself as Maphosa.
Family members who spoke on condition of anonymity said what especially pained them was that this was not the first time they had lost a relative due to political involvement.
“In the 1980s we lost a number of our relatives during the Gukurahundi distrubances, now we have lost our mother, sister and aunt, Ms Moyo, it is painful. Some of our relatives are now in hidin because they fear that these attackers might come back and attack them.
“What pains us even further is these people just beat up Geelie, they left her for dead and even burnt down her sleeping hut, it’s not like they wanted any information, they were just beating her for the sake of beating her,” said the family member.
