Manhunt for coup plotters

hly-placed sources described as ‘an increasingly dangerous situation’.
The Zimbabwean can reveal that Lieutenant Colonel David Matapo of General Headquarters in Harare was the leader of a group of seven army and police officers arraigned before the courts last week and charged with treason after being arrested at an office in central Harare.
It has also been confirmed by top officials that Deputy Commander of the Air Force of Zimbabwe, Air Vice Marshall Elson Moyo, and Major General Engelbert Rugeje from army headquarters have been placed under house arrest.
The sources say Mugabe and his henchmen “have discovered that there is a network of army leaders with advanced plans to remove the regime”. Colonel Ben Ncube is also reportedly being hunted after the CIO alleged that he was involved in the coup plans.
“All army barracks have been put on high alert and the situation is increasingly getting dangerous as the hunt continues,” a senior official said. “State security agents have been getting information through torturing those arrested.” Sources say the coup plans involved very senior army officials, while other indicators point towards the involvement of senior government officials or former leaders of the defence forces. Huge numbers of small weapons, such as rifles, have been said to be missing from army barracks and sources say investigations by state agents show they have been found in the hands of the coup plotters.
The Defence minister, Sydney Sekeramayi, has continued to dismiss the coup plot, saying arrests of soldiers guilty of misconduct were a daily occurrence in the defence forces. In addition to the top officials, this paper is reliably informed that up to 150 middle and junior members have been rounded up, with fears many of them could have been executed.
A combination of disgruntlement over poor salaries as well as the general suffering of the nation as hyperinflation continues to choke Zimbabwe has been attributed to the rising levels of unrest within the defence forces. There have been reports that some senior army officials have given President Robert Mugabe an ultimatum for him to either step down or they take things into their own hands.