Soldiers assault state radio DJ for wearing camouflage

By Lance Guma
13 November 2008

Tafadzwa Sikwila, a DJ employed by ZBC’s Power FM Radio, sustained serious head injuries after being brutally assaulted by four Zimbabwe National Army soldiers in Gweru on 25th October. According to reports which only surfaced this week the soldiers accused him of wearing replica military camouflage trousers, without permission (under Zimbabwe’s obscure defence Act, civilians are prohibited from wearing camouflage). After assaulting Sikwila they threw him into an army truck that drove towards Zvishavane. The popular disc jockey, known as DJ Squila, sustained the head injuries after the soldiers then threw him off the moving vehicle.

A good samaritan passing by picked up Sikwila and rushed him to Gweru Central Hospital. He was treated for internal head bleeding and other injuries. Police have confirmed the incident. In a stinging attack the Media Institute for Southern Africa (MISA) criticized the law and the abduction of Sikwila. ‘Where such prohibitions are existent, as is the case in Zimbabwe, they do not stipulate that a citizen found in violation of these must be tortured or abducted.’.

Meanwhile the failure of the SADC summit to bridge the divide between the MDC and ZANU PF is fuelling tensions across the country. Opposition activists accuse ZANU PF of turning to its ‘default language of violence’ and say they are now being attacked randomly. With the Mugabe regime already trying to draw comparisons between Tsvangirai and the late Angolan rebel leader Jonas Savimbi, signs are ominous that a fully fledged crackdown is being planned against the opposition. Worrying for the MDC is the fact that 12 activists arrested in Banket at the end of October are still missing, 2 weeks later. Police have ignored a High Court order issued Tuesday demanding that the abducted people be brought to court.
The MDC issued a statement saying, ‘the continued violence against MDC members is testimony that the leopard has not changed its spots. The regime has begun a systematic crackdown on the largest party in the country as it tries in vain to solidify trumped-up charges of banditry and terrorism against MDC supporters.’

This week also saw police brutally putting down countrywide NCA protests and the arrest of over 100 activists. On Thursday the NCA reported that one of the female activists detained and, ‘who was three months pregnant, miscarried after a particularly brutal attack by officers at Mutare Central Police Station. Many NCA members remain in police custody, while others have been released on bail or after being forced to pay fines.’ The crackdown coincided with a Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights report saying state sponsored violence is on the increase. The rights body said more than 1,300 cases of political violence were recorded in September alone, an increase of 39 percent from August.