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Courage to speak in Zimbabwe: Charles Lunga's story
Sokwanele
November 08, 2005

http://www.sokwanele.com/articles/sokwanele/couragetospeak_8nov2005.html

In Zimbabwe today the politicization of the police has proceeded so far as to create, in all but name, two different classes of citizens. The upper class consists of the ZANU PF ruling elite and those who enjoy their patronage and protection. They stand effectively above the law so that the law enforcement agencies will protect their interests as necessary yet without holding them accountable even when they infringe the rights of others in the most gross and obvious way. The vast underclass on the other hand consists of those who are excluded from this favoured circle. If the enforcement of their human rights involves even the slightest inconvenience to the favoured ones, the police are likely to refuse to act, leaving them without legal redress. But even the slightest transgression on their part will likely bring down upon them the full weight of the law. Effectively one law for those enjoying the favour of the dictator, and another for those who do not. Such is the extent to which the once professional police force has allowed itself to be prostituted by a regime so arrogant as to assume it has the right to decide whether, and when, to respect the most basic human rights and freedoms of Zimbabweans.

Take the case of Charles Lunga for example. He lives in Majiji in Matabeleland North, a little village accessible only by a rough track, and situated some 100 kilometres north of Bulawayo. Lunga is a humble man who has never had the benefit of a decent education. Yet, a devout Christian, he knows his own mind and will not allow others to deflect him from a path of honest living. He happens also to be an avid supporter of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) which he sees as being the vehicle for much-needed change in his community. As it happens the MDC enjoys massive support in the area in which Lunga lives, where memories of Gukurahundi atrocities have left deep, and still raw, scars on the community. Unfortunately for Lunga however most of his local, fellow MDC supporters prefer to keep their political allegiance to themselves. They remain silent supporters of the national resistance to Mugabe tyranny, having made the not unreasonable strategic decision to reveal their true allegiance only at election time and in the privacy of the polling booth. The net result has been that Lunga stands out rather conspicuously as an unashamed MDC member, and thereby attracts the unwelcome attentions of an extremely intolerant and habitually violent party - ZANU PF. His relatively high profile as a representative of an alternative model of non-violent political discourse has cost him dearly.

In mid September one of Charles Lunga's huts was torched in a night raid. He and his wife were away at the time attending a funeral, but his eight children, the youngest of whom is just a year old, were in the hut. Providentially they were not asleep at the time. The children made good their escape and even managed to douse the flames before they had consumed the whole structure. On that occasion one of the villagers fell under suspicion for the attack but Lunga did not have the evidence so he decided not to report the incident to the police.

Some five weeks later, on the night of 22 October another attack was made on Lunga's property, this time targeting his main home. There was no one in it at the time, but it did contain all the family's food, clothing and other valuables. Lunga and his family were sleeping in another hut nearby. By the time the alarm was raised the home and all its contents had been reduced to ashes. Lunga lost not only a valuable dwelling but many irreplaceable items, representing a huge loss to his family.

The morning after the second attack there was found among the ashes a hand-written note. Clearly the note had been planted there after the fire had ended or it would have been burnt to ashes along with everything else destroyed in the conflagration. Curiously there was scrawled on the scrap of paper retrieved from the ashes the words, "I Nkesewa Ndlovu, burnt this hut". The young man who identified himself thus was the same as the suspect in the first attack.

Nkesewa was duly summoned before a meeting of kraal heads and elders investigating the second arson attack. He who had drawn attention to himself as if to expiate some of the guilt, immediately pointed the accusing finger at another powerful family in the village. The Khoza family are relative newcomers to the community, yet by virtue of their close links with ZANU PF they enjoy both wealth and power at the village level. Douglas Khoza, the family head, rejoices in he title "Councillor" which few in the village think he deserves. But even fewer dare to challenge his authority. It was therefore, if nothing else, a brave thing for Nkesewa to accuse this powerful family of direct complicity in the crime. (Subsequently in a very noisy altercation in the Khoza family home Nkesewa was overheard to say, "I don't care what you do to me now . I have told the truth")

The village elders decided that Nkesewa should be sent to the police station at Siganda, together with his confession note, at least to answer for his part in the crime. All 13 of the elders who had interrogated the young man signed a statement confirming their findings. Nkesewa was to be accompanied by a small delegation of three of their number together with the complainant, Charles Lunga.

Unfortunately for Lunga and for the cause of justice, his brother, Sotsha Lunga, is a local village head and another local ZANU PF functionary. As such he automatically takes upon himself certain "rights", including in this case the right to accompany the little delegation to the police station. Furthermore on arrival at the ZRP office and before the traditional leaders could set out the case against Nkesewa and the accusation concerning the Khoza family, Sotsha Lunga saw fit to advise the member-in-charge that, in his view, it was a "political" matter involving a "respected" ZANU PF Councillor.

The reaction on the part of the police was as swift as it was sadly predictable. The member-in-charge told the little group they should go home as they were wasting their time. Thereupon he jumped into his ZRP vehicle and drove off at speed. The more junior police officers were just as uncooperative. They refused to hear anything more of the matter, or even to read the confession note or the findings of the village elders. The delegation could get no one to even consider their complaint, let alone open a docket on the case. They returned home angry, frustrated and empty-handed.

And there the matter rests. Law enforcement ZANU PF style. Mr Lunga has had one dwelling seriously damaged and another reduced to ashes, along with all the family valuables. Today his family are left in the cloths they stand up in. They are fortunate to be alive and to have escaped serious injury themselves. Meanwhile the self-confessed perpetrator walks free, while the real culprits to whom all the evidence points as instigators of the crimes, are effectively protected by a shield of political immunity which bars the community leaders from even interrogating them.

It is an outrage of course against every notion of natural justice and a mockery of the rule of law. Yet, tragically, Charles Lunga's experience of a perverted legal system is by no means unique. Indeed similar experiences of legal oppression under a politicized police force, driven by ZANU PF patronage have become commonplace across Zimbabwe. What is unique however, or at least extremely rare, in this case is the courage of the victim in coming forward to report his grievance. Most choose to suffer in silence and prefer anonymity for fear of further reprisal. When he was interviewed Lunga was offered this option. Would he prefer to speak under the safety of a pseudonym, his precise location perhaps being obscured in order to afford him some protection from a corrupt regime that is also vengeful ? "Not a bit of it", was his ready answer. "This is the truth and I am not afraid to tell it."

Charles Lunga, we salute you as a Christian gentleman, a person of integrity and great courage. And we offer this observation, that if there were just a couple of hundred men and women of such steady resolve, ready to confront ZANU PF tyranny with the simple truth, this nation would not now be suffering such a perversion of justice. Indeed we would have rid ourselves of these corrupt, self-serving rulers and their cowardly underlings a long time ago.

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