As Mbeki flies out, CIO tortures 22 NCA activists

By Henry Makiwa
23 November 2007

As South African President Thabo Mbeki flew out of Harare, 22 activists from the National Constitutional Assembly were severely tortured by state security agents and ruling party enforcers, at Zanu PF headquarters on Thursday.

The 22 NCA activists had taken part in a demonstration near Mbeki’s motorcade earlier in Harare. Alongside an estimated 400 others they marched and chanted across town, denouncing the compromise agreement between Zanu PF and the MDC, which led to the constitutional amendment that harmonised elections.

Police later arrested 22 of the protesters and released them after they had paid fines at Harare Central Police station. According to one of the victims it was then that a minibus, suspected to be owned by the dreaded CIO, pulled over and they were forced into it. They were then taken to Zanu PF’s Jongwe headquarters.

15 suspected secret service agents and Zanu PF militiamen then submitted them to eight hours of torture. This included being forced to stand on their heads for an hour, being beaten under the feet with metal bars and large wooden planks, cleaning out toilets with bare hands, and being made to roll naked in a mixture of ash and broken glass.

At least ten of the activists have been admitted to Dandaro clinic in Harare. According to Melusi who was one of those who were tortured, the activists’ main “sin” was to attempt to embarrass Mugabe in front of Mbeki.

Melusi said: “The treatment they gave us was shocking, inhumane and horrific. Who would have known that Zanu PF has touture chambers at its offices? I doubt that some of my friends will be able to walk anytime soon because they were badly beaten under the feet. The irony is that we were tortured while Mbeki was in the country to make updates on the progress of the talks between the MDC and the ZANU PF regime. The assaults came hardly hours before Mugabe vehemently denied that violence still exists in Zimbabwe and claimed that it is a figment of the opposition so as to please its western masters.”

More concern has been raised by observers after Mbeki and Mugabe were pictured holding hands at Harare International Airport on Thursday. This has renewed doubts about Mbeki’s impartiality and his suitability for brokering the talks between the ruling party and the opposition.