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Zim's feared security chiefs in SA talks
Basildon Peta, Cape Times
August 07, 2008

http://www.capetimes.co.za/index.php?fSectionId=&fArticleId=vn20080807053326499C355125

Members of Zimbabwe's feared Joint Operations Command - the junta that has effectively been running Zimbabwe - were in Pretoria to meet with President Thabo Mbeki's emissaries to the Zimbabwe dialogue, it has been established.

Led by Emmerson Mnangagwa, the JOC consists of the heads of Zimbabwe's security agencies who have been the biggest stumbling blocks to all efforts to resolve the Zimbabwe crisis because of their own fears over their destinies in any post-Mugabe dispensation.

Sources said the JOC members had met this week with Local Government Minister Sydney Mufamadi and presidential legal adviser Mojanku Gumbi, who are part of Mbeki's mediation team in the Zimbabwe dialogue.

It was not clear why the JOC had made the sudden trip while negotiations were under way.

The Star understands that the JOC members, who are deeply worried about prospects of future prosecutions as they have allegedly been responsible for the state-inspired violence against the opposition, wanted to ensure that their interests are catered for in any agreement reached in the talks.

The JOC is said to have been fiercely opposed to any deal that would demote President Robert Mugabe to a ceremonial role and give executive powers to MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai.

The collapse of the first round of the talks, after Tsvangirai had been offered the less influential post of third vice-president, was directly attributed to the JOC.

But with the economy in free-fall and the need for a realistic compromise deal having become imperative, the JOC had been forced to relent, hence the sudden visit to Pretoria to seek guarantees of its members' future as it looks increasingly likely that Tsvangirai will walk away with an executive post in any agreement to be reached in the talks.

Bomb explosion
Meanwhile, police officers have been made main suspects in a bomb explosion which rocked Harare's main police station last Saturday. The motive of the blast has largely remained a mystery.

Although police have flatly refused to give information on the investigations, The Star understands that at least two officers have been arrested in connection with the bombings and are under interrogation by police and the country's secret service, the Central Intelligence Organisation.

One bomb exploded in the offices housing the Criminal Investigations Department, while two failed to detonate.

A senior police officer close to the investigations told The Star on Wednesday that what has made the whole issue strange is that two officers have already been arrested, although they have not made any headway in the probe.

"It is a bizarre investigation, because suddenly police were ordered to arrest two young officers in a development which has left many in the force baffled," said the senior officer, whose offices are in the same complex which was bombed.

"It appears they just want to arrest the officers and force them into some kind of an unknown confession."

Violence
Meanwhile, the ruling Zanu-PF and opposition Movement for Democratic Change issued a joint statement on Wednesday, calling on their supporters to halt all political violence.

* Five days into their investigation police are keeping mum on how a controversial Zimbabwean politician came into possession of a R1,4-million Mercedes-Benz, allegedly South African state-owned, writes Alex Eliseev.

Asked on Wednesday whether the ownership of the bulletproof vehicle had been established, police spokesperson Captain Julia Claassen was only willing to say: "We're investigating that."

A senior source in the police is adamant the Mercedes-Benz - in the possession of Justine Chiota - is not registered to the VIP protection unit.

But two independent sources ran the car's numberplates and engine numbers through the relevant databases and said they pointed to the specialised VIP fleet.

On Wednesday night, police declined to give any insight into the case of suspected stolen property under investigation by Sandton police.

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