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Arrest and detention in Zimbabwe - Diary of the events from February 23 - April 12, 2002
Hans Christen

Wednesday 27^th March 2002
Lawyer Sakala telephoned to say that he had managed to secure bail for Bornface and Christopher - $5,000 each for the MIP charge and $10,000 each for the alleged petrol bombing of the house. I brought $30,000 in cash to his offices just before noon and met him at the court at 2pm. He told me that the Prisons truck was about to leave for the prison, taking the 2 Warrants of Liberation for Bornface and Christopher. I drove to the prison, giving a lift to a woman who had come all the way from Bindura to pay her brother’s bail.

En route we picked up a man who flagged us down. He was an off-duty guard who I hadn’t met during my incarceration as he had been on leave. At the prison we waited for the truck to arrive with the warrants. We sat in the car park until well after 5pm when it eventually arrived! I whiled away the time chatting to the guard and the lady from Bindura.

It turned out that the guard had joined the Prison Service in 1974, during the days of the Smith Government. He served at numerous prisons, including Wha Wha, Khami, Kadoma, Chikurubi, Harare Central and now Marondera. He was a guard at Wha Wha when Robert Mugabe and Joshua Nkomo were incarcerated there. He told us stories about the execution of prisoners – gruesome but very interesting. The Prison Service ensures that the condemned prisoner is in perfect health before his execution; if he is unwell he is hospitalised and nurtured to a full recovery. In the words of the guard, this is so that the condemned prisoner can really "enjoy" his execution. He is given a final meal, he is visited by a Church Minister, then he is led to the gallows. Some condemned men shout and scream obscenities, others just sob. It must be awful to officiate at such proceedings. The execution is carried out by a "civilian" – brought in by the Prison Service and paid for each hanging undertaken. Apparently in the 1970’s each hanging attracted an executioner’s fee of $10,000. Interestingly, I was told that the same "White man" who carried out the hangings under the Smith Government is still at work. The guard also told me that one of the reasons is that Blacks are very reluctant to undertake the work of an executioner. The Prisons truck eventually arrived and the lengthy bureaucratic process of releasing Bornface and Christopher started.

The poor woman from Bindura had wasted her time as her brother had another court case pending – no bail had been granted or paid for the other "offence", so she was unable to secure his release. She was devastated.

Thursday 28^th March 2002
We left home at 8am en route to the Magistrate’s Court. As we were leaving, Andrew Mugandiwa telephoned to say that he was having trouble with his car’s alarm, and would we please ask the Public Prosecutor to defer our case till 10am. He readily agreed to this. When Andrew eventually arrived, the Magistrate had just called for an adjournment of 90 minutes. During this time Andrew went to discuss the case with the Prosecutor. After the recess, we were called to the dock and I was stunned when the State’s counsel rose to say that he had discussed the case with his "learned friend" and that he had no objection to us being granted a "refusal of further remand". The very same Magistrate who had refused to grant us bail some weeks previously, said, "Go home and relax until further notice". We were overjoyed.

Friday 12^th April 2002
Wonder Siliya (one of the detainees in cell 7) came to see me this morning. He had just been released from prison after having his case thrown out by the Magistrate. He told me that without my help, he would still be in jail. I had written to his parents (who were unaware that he had been imprisoned) to tell them where he was and that he might need legal assistance. Fortunately for them a distant relative was a retired lawyer, so with his assistance, they managed to get an early trial date at which Wonder was unconditionally released. Wonder told me that Tonderai Karimupfumbi had been granted bail of $3000, so Jenny and I resolved to get him out of prison before the weekend.

Wonder told me some very interesting stories about what had taken place in Marondera Prison since my release. I had asked him whether the "psychiatric patient" was still there. He said, "Yes but the guy is now completely normal". It appears that he had been sent for evaluation to two doctors. The first had been unable to help, but the second, a Black private practitioner in Marondera, had indicated that given certain medication the prisoner’s mental state would improve. Needless to say, the "psychiatric patient" apparently went back to the cells but without his medication.

In a move over and above the call of duty, the Doctor secured permission from the Harare Prison authorities to visit his patient in jail. Upon doing so he was informed by other inmates that the medication was not being dispensed for one reason or another. The Doctor kicked up a fuss and ensured that the drugs were dispensed to his patient. However, in retaliation, Wonder alleged that the Marondera Prison authorities decided to teach all the remand prisoners a lesson. I’m told that it took them almost the entire day to beat every single prisoner, because a few had dared talk to the Doctor. They all received ten strokes with a wooden baton on the sole of each foot.

Wonder also told me that the numbers in each cell had gone up considerably since my release. Apparently a number of "war-vets" have been arrested for offences such as looting. Cell 1 is apparently now the most crowded, with 130 inmates. The "war-vets" are, I’m told, very angry at having been arrested; they feel bitter that having supported President Mugabe, now his law-enforcement agents are arresting them. "Wake up to reality," I thought! After Jenny and I had had our lunch we went to the Clerk of the Court to try to pay Tonderai’s bail. However, without the CRB number we made no progress, so we had to drive to the Prison to ascertain this vital piece of information. From there we went back to the court and paid the bail. Luckily by now I knew most of the prison guards and had formed a good relationship with them. One of the senior prison guards dispatched a junior officer to the prison with me, carrying Tonderai’s Warrant of Liberation. This meant that we would not have to sit at the prison waiting for the Prisons truck to arrive! By 5pm we were back in Marondera with an extremely surprised and grateful Tonderai. He had expected to languish in jail for months. His relatives had not known that he was imprisoned.

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