Mugabe accused of protecting murder suspect Joseph Mwale
By Tererai Karimakwenda
18 October 2006

The man regarded as the most violent criminal in Zimbabwe, Joseph Mwale, is still free despite his alleged involvement in several violent incidents in Manicaland and his alleged role in the murder of two MDC activists who were campaigning for MDC president Morgan Tsvangirai. Witnesses say Mwale and two other ruling party thugs set Tichaona Chiminya and Talent Mabika on fire after beating them with iron bars during the 2000 elections. The police were accused of watching the incident then pretending to make a wrong turn instead of pursuing Mwale and his gang. Mwale is an intelligence operative in Robert Mugabe’s office and it is widely believed this is why the police will not touch him.

There were recent reports that the Attorney General’s office has
ordered Mwale’s immediate arrest. Asked to confirm the reports Levison Chikafu, a senior officer in the AG’s office said: “I did something like that.” He then rushed into a meeting saying he would talk later. Chikafu is reported to have resigned from his position after he ordered Mwale’s arrest.

The MDC spokesman in Manicaland, Pishai Muchauraya, said he believes Mwale has not been arrested because he is protected by Mugabe. He told us that he saw Mwale at the ZANU-PF headquarters in Nyanga just last week, and has seen him on two other occasions recently. The MDC official believes Mwale himself is not feared by many people who know him, despite his notorious violent tendencies. He said it is Mugabe they fear because Mwale works for the CIO directly from his office.

The arrest order is reported to have been given to the officer commanding Manicaland province Ronald Muderedzwa. It is not clear whether he attempted to act on the arrest order, but Muchauraya said Muderedzwa was transferred out of Manicaland to some remote place in Matabeleland North soon after he received the order.

It has been 6 years since the murder of Chiminya and Mabika, and Mwale has still not been prosecuted. On the programme In The Balance on Wednesday Gugulethu Moyo talks to lawyer Sheila Jarvis who has handled the Mwale case for the MDC from the beginning. She said there will not be a trial until Mwale is apprehended and is brought to court with the other two suspects who were granted bail.