US embassy cable - 02HARARE2852

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 HARARE 002852 
 
SIPDIS 
 
NSC FOR SENIOR AFRICA DIRECTOR J. FRAZER 
LONDON FOR C. GURNEY 
PARIS FOR C. NEARY 
NAIROBI FOR T. PFLAUMER 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/01/2012 
TAGS: PGOV, PHUM, ASEC, ZI 
SUBJECT: DISCOVERY OF BODIES IN ABANDONED WELL 
 
 
Classified By: Political Officer Audu Besmer for reasons 1.5 b/d 
 
1. (C) Summary:  On December 10 police in Nkayi District (in 
Matabeleland North Province) reportedly retrieved five 
skeletons from an abandoned well near the town of Lukona.  A 
local war veteran, implicated in a previous case of murder by 
torture freely accompanied police when the bodies were 
retrieved.  Fearful residents want to know the fate of their 
loved ones, but police have admitted to finding only one 
body.  End Summary. 
 
2. (SBU) On December 10 police in Nkayi District (in 
Matabeleland North Province) reportedly retrieved five 
skeletons from an abandoned well near the town of Lukona. 
The BBC, which also reported the story, and the Daily News 
reported the site was a defunct "dip tank" (a tank usually 
about six feet deep for dipping cattle in a pesticide bath). 
But according to the government-owned weekly Bulawayo Sunday 
News, and Nkayi MDC MP Abednico Bhebhe who is in touch with 
local residents and a police officer in Nkayi, the site was 
an abandoned well about 100 feet deep. 
 
Body Parts 
---------- 
3. (SBU) (Note: In April 2002, the independent weekly 
Financial Gazette reported that residents of Lenkubini, 
another village in Nkayi District, found a hand floating in a 
dip tank there.  According to Shari Eppl of Amani Trust, a 
local human rights NGO, and Bhebhe, residents reported that 
police guarded the site overnight while two to three 
skeletons were removed.  Later the official police report 
said no bodies were found.  News reporters may be confusing 
the two sites.  End Note.) 
 
Missing Bodies 
-------------- 
4. (C) The Lukona investigation and finding arose when 
villagers noticed that a ZANU-PF youth militia member, known 
only as Mazolo, was missing from the area.  They questioned 
and beat other ZANU-PF youths in the area, who eventually 
confessed to killing their colleague and dumping his body in 
the abandoned well.  The villagers informed Nkayi police, who 
arrested ZANU-PF youth militia member Mandla Ncube. 
According to Bhebhe, who has a contact inside the Nkayi 
police department, Ncube confessed the killing to police and 
revealed that war veterans had killed and dumped bodies of 
MDC members in the well during the March 2002 election 
period.  According to the government-owned Bulawayo Sunday 
News the 'one' skeleton found belongs to Freedom 
Ncube--killed by cattle thieves for threatening to reveal 
them. 
 
The Killer Next Door 
-------------------- 
5. (C) The Daily News reported that a local war veteran 
commonly known as Khiwa accompanied police to the well at 
Lukona on December 10.  According to Bhebhe, Mandla Ncube 
fingered Khiwa as responsible for the deaths of those in the 
well.  According to Bhebhe, two other MDC members abducted on 
February 6, 2002 and tortured for a month at an underground 
military-style bunker in Nguana (Nkayi District), Newman 
Bhebhe and Van Dube, had subsequently reported in signed 
affidavits to police that Khiwa (whose real name is Esa 
Ngwenya) was their lead captor.  The two were abducted along 
with a third MDC member, Tembendi Ndebele, who died during 
the episode at the bunker.  Amani Trust interviewed Van Dube 
and documented the medical evidence of his torture.  The 
three had been sent to Mateme (Nkayi district) to set up an 
MDC rally ahead of the presidential contest.  According to 
Bhebhe, Khiwa is affiliated with the CIO, and investigated 
alleged dissidents for the GOZ during the Matabeleland 
Massacres in the 1980s. 
 
6. (SBU) Bhebhe reported that torture sites were also set up 
in bush areas near Lukona, Bona and Isifisosikazulu (Nkayi 
District) in the run-up to the March 2002 presidential 
challenge. 
 
Comment: 
-------- 
7. (C) Nkayi district witnessed some of the worst violence in 
the country leading up to the March 2002 elections; dozens of 
people are still missing.  Residents were visibly afraid to 
talk to Poloff during a visit there in September 2002, but 
they are also reportedly eager to know if any of the bodies 
found belong to people they know.  Given that police are 
admitting to finding only one body at Lukona, it seems 
unlikely that the identities of the rest of the victims will 
ever be revealed.  It is also disturbing that Khiwa, who 
appears to have been implicated for torturing and killing MDC 
members in other cases, accompanied police to the Lukona 
well, and is able to move about freely.  Police seem to be 
caught between grieving and fearful fellow residents who want 
answers, and ZANU-PF authorities who would rather hide the 
truth.  Ever more concerned with their own safety and putting 
food on the table, it appears unlikely that rural Nkayi 
residents would stand up to ZANU-PF authorities and insist on 
a thorough investigation.  End Comment. 
SULLIVAN