Back to Index

This article participates on the following special index pages:

Face-to-face with Mugabe's dungeons
Davison Maruziva, The Standard (Zimbabwe)
May 10, 2008

View article on the Zimbabwe Standard website

I hadn-t met Lovemore Matombo for a serious engaging discussion since the 1980s. Then he was with the union for workers in the postal and telecommunications sector. Since then he has risen to the helm of the country-s most powerful labour movement, the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU). Parallel to this rise, his rhetoric has mellowed and become more measured. We met in the interrogation office at the Law and Order section of the CID at Harare Central police station on Thursday last week. I was being charged in my capacity as editor of The Standard under the provisions of the Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act which deals with publishing or communicating a false statement prejudicial to the State and contempt of court. The two charges arose from publication of an article by MDC leader Professor Arthur Mutambara entitled, A Shameful Betrayal of National Independence. I recalled an incident in January 2001. A government minister called The Daily News, days before it was picketed by so-called war veterans and Zanu PF supporters. This was his warning: "You think we (read the government) are afraid of the MDC? . . . it is you who give currency to their ideas by publishing them . . ." If my assessment is correct, then the strategy behind my arrest is to cow the independent media from reporting on the political violence and internal displacements blamed largely on Zanu PF, its supporters, youth militias and State security agents. This view is confirmed by the arrest last week of Howard Burditt, an accredited Reuters cameraman for possession of a satellite phone.

Matombo and the ZCTU-s secretary-general, Wellington Chibebe, were being charged with inciting workers during their May Day addresses. We shared our cell with five other much younger suspects, who consulted Chibebe and Matombo on the current situation. The presence of the ZCTU leaders appeared to reassure them and was a source of inspiration to the younger suspects, boosting their resistance to the regime. But it is precisely this that could endanger the lives of the ZCTU leaders. Several things struck me: the presence of professional officers, on the one hand and that of decidedly rogue elements in the police force on the other; the treatment of suspects; decay in facilities such as collapsing ceilings; absence of water and lack of equipment as manifested by the continued use of typewriters that would proudly grace an exhibition of the history of writing equipment. Matombo was pointing out to his deputy, Japhet Moyo, and I, the complex within Harare Central police station, where in 1970s he was tortured by one black officer with the Special Branch, precursor of the Central Intelligence Organisation, when in walked one menacing piece of God-s creation in the form of an officer, who interrupted Matombo, offering, unsolicited, a chilling account of what happens at the Law and Order Section. He used the term "break" or "crush" in Shona, as the treatment meted out to suspects brought to the section. He suggested that if one found a "thief in one-s house the thief should be prepared for the consequences".

We were alarmed. Matombo was appalled - especially after the experiences of the labour movement-s leaders in September 2006. I recalled that in the late 1990s the late Kempton Makamure, then at the University of Zimbabwe and other lecturers, spent their time offering lectures on issues of human rights and their observance to officers at the Police Staff College. I wondered whether this particular officer had ever been through such training or was a mere "graduate" of the Border Gezi system. He was to hover around and in and out of the interrogation office, presumably with the intention of "striking fear in our hearts and minds". He provided a sobering study of post-independence law enforcement. I wondered about the Police Service Charter, attempts to modernise the police and whether these measures were doomed to fail. Even though several institutions have benefited from government computers, the police still rely on ancient typewriters. Maybe this is part of a deliberate ploy to ensure the process of recording statements is drawn out, thereby increasing anxiety in the suspects.

Attempts by our legal counsel Arthur Mutsonziwa of Atherstone & Cook, Advocate Deepak Mehta and our Group CEO Raphael Khumalo to secure my release, even into the custody of our lawyers for my court appearance the following day - Friday - were thoroughly frustrated. Eventually they were informed the "decision to detain me overnight had already been made". Upon insistence they were told the instruction was from the Attorney-General-s office. Chibebe, Matombo and I were taken to the holding cells. There, we met some of the finest and most professional of officers. Then to the dungeons. At night we were herded into the cells. We had agreed - Chibebe, Matombo and I - that we would remain together and look after each other. The only form of lighting was in the stairway. The cells were pitch black; there was no water, certainly for the duration of my stay there and the cells were heavily infested with fleas and other creepy-crawlies. We spent the night standing in order to minimise contact with the walls or the "beds". It is probably part of the humiliating punishment for suspects. But there is a health time bomb waiting to explode. However, our worst fears were confirmed when the officers for the morning duty came to open our cells on Friday. Chibebe, Matombo and I were accused of mobilising other suspects into challenging the officers. As a warning, three other suspects were beaten. The use of excessive force was chilling. While I was granted bail on Friday, I fear for Chibebe and Matombo, because one of the four officers threatened them dire consequences.

Please credit www.kubatana.net if you make use of material from this website. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License unless stated otherwise.

TOP