Exiled former MDC parliamentary candidate Noel Muguti has been hospitalised in Johannesburg for the past three weeks.His condition is said to be linked to the life-threatening injuries he sustained while being tortured by Zimbabwean state security agents during President Robert Mugabes campaign of violence last year.
Muguti, who lost the Gokwe-Nembudziya parliamentary seat to incumbent Zanu (PF) MP Flora Bhuka in the March 29 elections, told ****The Zimbabwean**** that his whole body was aching from the beatings he went through.
My life has not been the same since I was tortured for standing on an MDC ticket in that election and I believe that this will never get any better, said Muguti.
Muguti, who lives as a political refugee at the Central Methodist Church after fleeing persecution by Mugabes government in July last year, added that he was not sure of when he would be released from the hospital, as his health was not improving.
In addition to the torture he went through, Muguti also lost his wife, Nashawu Mpofu, to an armed Zanu (PF) gang, strongly believed to have killed her.
Mugutis homestead was also razed by Zanu supporters, many of whom were linked to his wifes abduction. Some are said to be still roaming the villages despite the former politician having reported them to the police.
On May 28 this year, tragedy struck again in the family of Muguti (33), when his two-year-old son, Democracy, and the politicians sister, Belinda (24), died under suspicious circumstances on the same day.
Belinda died of food poisoning in Harares Mbare high-density suburb, while Democracy died in Mugutis rural home. The two are yet to be buried, as Muguti cannot raise the R10,000 needed.
He joins a long list of former MDC activists who have suffered the devastating effects of severe torture under Mugabes rule. One was Gift Nhidza, who recently returned to die in Zimbabwe after his health deteriorated.
Nhidzas spinal cord was damaged in three places and his arms and legs were fractured as a result of the beating.
Activist Itayi Mudzingwa, popularly known as Kitsiyatota, died in exile in South Africa in May.
Post published in: Politics