Police brutality - the word goes out.
Another leaked memo reveals that those brave souls who oppose the Mugabe
regime are targeted by those who should defend them - our police.
Anyone who thought that all the news about a new party, a new
presidentialchallenger, and a Zanu-PF split might mean a lessening of
the official terror on the streets and in the homes of our country is
doomed to be disappointed. If anything, things are clearly about to get
worse.
I learned this when, in what is becoming an every-day occurrence, a
contact within the state machine, who has become disillusioned with the
Mugabe method of running a country, showed me a confidential memo. I
read it with growing dread. The leaders of opposition groups in Zimbabwe
must brace themselves for a difficult time ahead.
The memo comes from within the police Law and Order Section - an ironic
title for a unit that excels in brutality and violence. It is numbered
LM05/2008, and is an internal communication signal, written by Senior
Assistant Commissioner L.D. Muchemwa, Officer Commanding the Bulawayo
district, and addressed to Police Commissioner Augustine on January 3
this year. This is what it said:
It's basic message is that surveillance efforts are being stepped up
against Bulawayo-based members of the Opposition Movement For Democratic
Change (MDC) and leaders of other civic organisations.
Under the heading 'Update On Election Preparations' Muchemwa writes:
"This province has identified the following hostile individuals and
stepped up surveillance missions on them, as directed by your office...
Our Law and Order and PISI (Police Internal Security Intelligence)
details have been deployed to monitor and re****t on the activities of
these. Their residential places are also subject to daily routine
checks, so as to gather as much information as possible on their plans
and people who pay them."
The names on the list that follows are, of course, the usual suspects.
That includes, to begin with, most members of the MDC, including three
members of parliament, Fletcher Dulini-Ncube, Thokozani Khupe and Felix
Mafa. Also on the list are the co-leaders of Women of Zimbabwe Arise,
Jenni Williams and Magodonga Mahlangu, and of course, former Archbishop
Pius Ncube.
Only one name on the list is there in his individual capacity, rather
than being aligned with the protest movements. He is the courageous
Zenzele Ndebele, who, as I've previously re****ted, produced the stunning
do***entary Gukurahundi - A Time Of Madness, the story of Mugabe's
massacre of 20,000 civilians in Matabeleland in the Eighties. Zenzele is
currently in hiding, and long may he remain in safety.
Finally, the memo reads: "This office takes security matters seriously
and these (the names on the list) will be dealt with accordingly, where
it is believed that they have committed a crime."
A cold little sentence, but it carries a huge threat. I say to everyone
named on this appalling list: Please - be careful out there.
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