US embassy cable - 03HARARE159

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 HARARE 000159 
 
SIPDIS 
 
NSC FOR SENIOR AFRICA DIRECTOR J. FRAZER 
LONDON FOR C. GURNEY 
PARIS FOR C. NEARY 
NAIROBI FOR T. PFLAUMER 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/01/2013 
TAGS: PHUM, PGOV, ASEC, ZI 
SUBJECT: INCREASING GOVERNMENT BRUTALIZATION AND TORTURE OF 
POLITICAL OPPONENTS 
 
REF: A. HARARE 77 
 
     B. HARARE 151 
 
Classified By: Political Officer Audu Besmer for reasons 1.5 b/d 
 
Summary: 
-------- 
1. (C) The Government of Zimbabwe has intensified its 
brutalization of political opponents and is increasing its 
reliance on torture as a means of intimidation.  On January 
16 a court-ordered medical exam revealed that an MDC MP and 
four other MDC members had been tortured while in police 
custody earlier that week.  In response, the prosecutor 
declined to pursue the case against the MDC members, but he 
was threatened by the CIO, and has quietly inquired about 
fleeing to the UK.  This comes amidst a number of other cases 
of beatings and unlawful arrest of high-profile opposition 
figures in the first 3 weeks of the New Year.  Ahead of 
by-elections in Kuwadzana, and the Cricket World Cup, and in 
the midst of crippling food and fuel shortages, the GOZ 
appears determined to demonstrate that it remains firmly in 
control.  End Summary. 
 
MDC MP Tortured 
--------------- 
2. (C) On January 14 riot police arrested Movement for 
Democratic Change (MDC) MP Job Sikhala, Gabriel Shumba, a 
human rights lawyer in the Public Interest Unit of the Legal 
Resources Foundation (LRF) (a local legal rights NGO), and 
three other MDC members at Nyamutamba Hotel in Chitungwiza. 
Suspected CIO agents held and tortured them for three days. 
Charles Mutama, an MDC member who was tortured alongside 
Sikhala, recounted to Poloff being taken alone on the evening 
of January 15 blindfolded from Harare Central Police Station 
to an undisclosed location about 45 minutes away by car.  He 
was taken inside a 20 by 30 foot room where 8 persons 
interrogated him regarding MDC planned demonstrations, beat 
him with planks, strangled him with wire, attached electrodes 
to his fingers, toes, tongue and genitals and subjected him 
to electric shocks lasting about 20 seconds.  The 
interrogation lasted about 6 hours. 
 
3. (C) One interrogator, who was visibly drunk, urinated on 
him before forcing him to lie naked in a puddle of urine with 
a metal bucket over his head as shocks were administered. 
Mutama said he screamed uncontrollably during the shocks, his 
voice changing pitch as the voltage increased.  He said he 
heard Sikhala's voice and screams in a neighboring room. 
When the five reconvened two days later each realized he had 
been subjected to similar torture.  Poloff observed burn 
marks on Mutama's left 4th finger from the electrode which 
was wrapped around it, and cuts around his neck from the 
strangling. 
 
Torture Medically Confirmed 
--------------------------- 
4. (C) Sikhala wept as he recounted his ordeal in a 
magistrate's court on January 15.  By the magistrate's order 
the five were examined by a medical doctor, who certified 
they had been tortured.  The five were nevertheless charged 
under the draconian Public Order and Security Act (POSA) with 
planning to overthrow the government, and released on bail of 
US$20.00 (Z$30,000) each.  Though the five must report to 
police weekly, the prosecution reportedly does not intend to 
pursue the case because of the confirmed torture, and for 
lack of evidence. 
 
Public Prosecutor Seeks Asylum 
------------------------------- 
5. (C) On January 20 the lead prosecutor in the Office of 
Public Prosecutions in the Ministry of Justice, Thabani 
Mpofu, who prosecuted Job Sikhala recently, and several 
prominent cases against MDC members in the past year, 
approached the British High Commission in Harare seeking 
asylum.  According to a British diplomat Mpofu has been 
informed by friends connected to the CIO several times in the 
past year that parties within CIO would like him eliminated 
for his lack of vigor in prosecuting MDC members.  His 
friends had, up until January 20, advised him that they could 
handle the agitated parties.  On that date, just after MDC MP 
Job Sikhala was released, his friends informed him they could 
no longer hold off the parties interested in his elimination. 
 They advised him against going to work or home--he has 
complied.  The British suggested he might consider going to 
South Africa and are making inquiries toward that end. 
 
A Poisoning Pattern 
------------------- 
6. (U) In a public statement, the MDC on January 17 
complained that several of its members, including Job 
Sikhala, who have been detained by police and suspected CIO 
agents in the past several months have been forced to drink 
unspecified liquids resulting in severe sickness in three 
cases, and death in two cases.  The MDC also noted that 
former MDC MP for Kuwadzana, Harare, Learnmore Jongwe, died 
of chloroquine poisoning while in police custody. 
 
Community Leaders Beaten 
------------------------ 
7. (U) On January 14 ZANU-PF youth militia members detained 
four officials of the Combined Harare Residents Association 
(CHRA)--a USAID grantee--as they were meeting with Harare 
residents.  The four were taken to a nearby room and beaten 
severely with bricks and police style batons for two hours by 
suspected CIO members. 
 
8. (U) On January 15 MDC activist Farai Makiwa was abducted 
from Kuwadzana by ZANU- PF militia and beaten at an office at 
the Kuwadzana 5 shopping center. 
 
MDC Officials Arrested 
---------------------- 
9. (U) As reported in Ref A, MDC Executive Mayor of Harare 
Elias Mudzuri was arrested on January 11 and held for 48 
hours along with 20 other councilors and council officials 
for hosting a public meeting with constituents in Harare. 
Though released, Deputy Mayor Sekesai Makwavara, who suffers 
from high blood pressure, is still recovering from the ordeal 
at home. 
 
10. (U) On January 12, MDC MP Paul Madzore was arrested for 
allegedly assaulting two police officers and was beaten while 
in custody.  On January 20, Paul Madzore's wife, MDC MP and 
Shadow Minister of Labor, Pauline Mpariwa, was arrested at 
her home in Marimba Park in Harare, held at Harare Central 
Prison for reasons that are still unclear, and released 
without charge 48 hours later. 
 
11. (U) On January 2 MDC MP, Abednico Bhebhe, was arrested in 
Bulawayo for putting up posters that read 'Hoot, enough is 
enough'.  Prosecutors originally sought a conviction under 
the Public Order and Security Act (POSA), claiming the 
activity could have endangered public safety by inciting 
violence.  But they eventually dropped the case, reportedly 
for lack of evidence. 
 
12. (U) From January 19 - 21 seven MDC Mashonaland East 
Provincial officials were arrested at their homes.  Among 
them are Jane Chifamba, Provincial Chair for Mashonaland East 
Women's Assembly, Sam Kamudarira, the Provincial Youth Chair, 
and Leon Sunday, a member of the province's executive 
committee. No charges have been filed against any of the 
seven, who were still being held at Marondera Police Station 
Criminal Investigations Department on January 21. 
 
MDC MP Flees 
------------ 
13. (U) On January 20 the independent Daily News reported 
that MDC MP Tafadzwa Musekiwa fled to the UK saying he had 
specific information that he was on a government hit list 
together with Job Sikhala.  Though he has been in the UK for 
about two months, he reportedly intends to return to Zimbabwe 
soon to prevent the GOZ from calling a by-election for his 
constituency, Zengeza in Harare.  Musekiwa and Sikhala have 
been arrested several times since winning office in 2000. 
 
NGOs Condemn Violence 
--------------------- 
14. (U) In public statements on January 20 - 23 the Legal 
Resources Foundation (LRF), Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human 
Rights, the Human Rights NGO Forum, and the Zimbabwe Election 
Support Network (ZESN) separately condemned the recent 
arrests and tortures and criticized police, particularly the 
Law and Order Section, for their involvement.  In separate 
statements, the organizations called on various parties 
including the Ministers of Justice and Home Affairs, the 
Attorney General, the Police Commissioner, the African 
Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights, and Interpol to 
prosecute the perpetrators, and restore public trust in the 
rule of law and the criminal justice system in Zimbabwe. 
 
15. (U) Commentators and MDC officials have suggested that 
these recent arrests and tortures are part of a GOZ attempt 
to quash government critics and any potential anti-Mugabe 
mass demonstrations in the run-up to the Cricket World Cup in 
Harare in February. 
Comment: 
-------- 
16. (C) During the past three years, the Government has 
confined its tactics of physical intimidation / harm 
primarily to little-known figures who have no way of 
defending themselves or of publicizing their victimization. 
The GOZ's stepped-up use of torture against higher-profile 
figures is a new and troubling development which suggests an 
increasing concern about domestic pressure, and dwindling 
concern about international opinion. 
 
17. (C) The GOZ is likely stepping up its campaign of violent 
intimidation now in response to a confluence of 
circumstances: the approaching Kuwadzana by-election (Ref B), 
the approaching Cricket World Cup, and ordinary peoples' 
increasing frustration with food and fuel shortages.  The GOZ 
appears determined to demonstrate that even in the face of 
crippling economic and social hardships, it remains firmly in 
control.  ZANU-PF is also demonstrating the intent to 
maintain its policy of "crushing the MDC" through every means 
available.  End Comment. 
SULLIVAN