By Tichaona Sibanda
12 November 2009
There is rising tension in the Zimbabwe National Army after a number of senior officers allegedly died from torture whilst in military detention.
The Herald reported on Wednesday that Major Maxwell Samudzi, a 48 year-old deputy officer commanding One Engineers Support Regiment at Pomona barracks was found dead in his detention cell. The paper said Major Samudzi committed suicide, but army insiders contend he was tortured to death.
Major Samudzi was described by colleagues as an excellent soldier and a brilliant darts player. He was one of many senior and junior officers arrested by the military police after 20 AK47 rifles went missing from the army garrison last month.
Another senior officer, a colonel identified as Garira, presumably the officer commanding Pomona barracks, is reportedly very ill and close to death, after also being tortured.
On Thursday SW Radio Africa was told that three more soldiers, detained under allegations of stealing weapons from Pomona, died in the morning from severe torture. Two others were reported to be critical.
Two weeks ago, the weekly Zimbabwean newspaper reported that at least 12 soldiers had died the previous week, after brutal torture following the weapons disappearance.
For obvious reasons it is extremely difficult to verify the deaths and torture cases, but apparently furious army colleagues are leaking the information.
It is believed that Pomona barracks and other barracks surrounding the capital had been put under ‘lockdown’ by the Presidential Guard to contain the crackdown on fellow soldiers. A source told us soldiers were not allowed to leave Pomona barracks for a week, while investigations were underway. Survivors have been speaking of being tortured by foreigners, from Angola and the Congo.
Other soldiers still detained have been named as Sungiso Musa, Darlington Kanyingwe, Nyaruwata Lawyers, Charles Muzondo, Dzingai T Chibutwaka, Stanley Mvindwa, Chamunorwa Chinyere, Cosmore Mangenda, Misheck Kangwa, Callistus Mutero, David Hamandishe and Farai Chitsiko.
Sox Chikohwero, a former war veteran and Airforce of Zimbabwe officer, said if the reports of torture and killings are verified, the army stands accused of committing serious crimes against humanity.
‘Normal procedure in the military is that when a crime is committed investigations should follow. If there is a case to answer, the officer or officers should be arraigned before a court marshal who will decide on the matter. But what we see here in this case is murder of innocent servicemen,’ Chikohwero said.
Human rights advocacy group, Zimbabwe Democracy Now, has called on the United Nations and the international community to intervene on the soldiers’ behalf. They expressed grave concern for the safety of the soldiers and have also called on the country’s government to ensure immediate access by medical and legal practitioners to the detained members of the army.
A retired army colonel who fought with ZANLA forces in Mozambique, told us Robert Mugabe has now lost control and the trust of the army. He said if weapons start missing from army barracks ‘that’s no small matter.’
‘Worse still if senior ranks of major and colonels are implicated then there is a real problem in the army and these are former ZANLA forces,’ the retired army officer said. ZANLA was the armed wing of ZANU PF during the liberation war of the 1970’s. Its former commander, the late General Josiah Tongogara, died in a mysterious car accident, a few days before the end of the war.
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