Relatives of the victims of the ‘ShutDownZim’ protestors are reportedly living in fear of state security agents.
Several people who spoke to The Standard revealed that they could not talk openly about the circumstances leading to the deaths of their loved ones.
One such family is the family of 19-year-old Tawanda Bushu, from Mbare. One of Bushu’s relatives who spoke to The Standard had this to say:
I cannot say the family does not want to talk to you, but I hope you understand our circumstances.
Every day there are people coming here to ask about a lot of things and we don’t even know if they are genuine.
We have accepted that Tawanda’s death is a loss that we have to live with.
Such is life, but I think we are not ready to talk to you at the moment. What I can confirm is that Tawanda died.
A reported 17 people were killed during the protests after the government deployed security agencies around the country. Hundreds more were seriously injured while more than 1 000 were arrested, including children.