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Legal Monitor - Issue 161
Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR)
September 17, 2012

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Taking on Chipangano

The mention of the name Chipangano is usually enough to induce fear.

A shadowy terror group reportedly linked to ZANU PF, Chipangano has been linked to a spate of violent activities in Harare and is so menacing that it has been extorting cash from public transport operators and assaulted two soldiers from the elite commando unit when confronted over their behaviour.

But human rights lawyers are not getting intimidated. In fact, they are taking the group head on to challenge an "evil" alliance between police and Chipangano.

The action followed a growing pattern of police handing over people they would have "arrested" on political reasons to Chipangano for torture, a practice which enraged lawyers are calling the "outsourcing of torture".

Human rights lawyers last Tuesday mounted a constitutional challenge against the police practice of outsourcing torture by surrendering suspects whom they would have arrested to Chipangano.

Last month, police arrested two Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) youths Petros Makaza and Golden Nhika accusing them of stealing a soldier's beret and mobile phone after a beer hall brawl in Epworth and surrendered them to a ZANU PF office in Harare's volatile Mbare suburb, where they were assaulted and severely tortured.

In executing the torture, the Chipangano gang assaulted the Epworth residents with iron bars all over their bodies, under the soles of their feet. The residents were periodically attacked with clenched fists and booted feet. The torture was so reckless, indiscriminate and sadistic to the point that Makaza and Nhika lost consciousness and bled profusely. As a result of the torture, Makaza sustained serious injuries which included ruptured tendons, bruises and lacerations while Nhika sustained severe burns on his buttocks and still finds it hard to sit for long periods of time.

After the assault, the MDC youths, who are out of custody on $30 bail each were later taken to Mbare Police Station and Epworth Police Station from where they were brought to Harare Magistrates Court on a charge of committing robbery.

Disgusted by the blatant selective application of the law, human rights lawyer Tawanda Zhuwarara of Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights on Tuesday 11 September 2012, filed an application for referral of the matter to the Supreme Court before Magistrate Jackie Munyonga. Zhuwarara wants the Supreme Court to determine whether it is constitutionally permissible for the State to prosecute the duo, where there has been a violation of their rights as enshrined in the Constitution.

In the application, Zhuwarara argued that the extensive torture at the hands of members of the vigilante group occurred with the acquiescence of the police who transported Makaza and Nhika from Epworth to Mbare, where they surrendered them to members of Chipangano.

According to Zhuwarara, Makaza and Nhika's fundamental right to protection from inhuman treatment as enshrined in Section 15 of the Constitution was contravened when the police surrendered the MDC youths, who were in their custody to Chipangano, who in turn tortured them in order to solicit a false confession. In addition, the police did not make any arrests, enquiries or investigations into the Epworth residents' injuries confirming that torture occurred with the consent and knowledge of the police.

Zhuwarara charged that the MDC youths' fundamental right to a fair trial as enshrined in Section 18 of the Constitution is likely to be infringed if the State is allowed to proceed to prosecute them. He contended that after the torture of the Epworth residents there can be no legitimate prosecution that can be conducted without further violating their rights.

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