Chari’s education hopes dashed

opulous high density suburbs of Yeoville in South Africa, after escaping from his captors, he suspects to be members of the dreaded Secret State operatives. Chari is just one of the many brilliant Zimbabweans whose lives were disturbed by the political turmoil playing itself out in Zimbabwe. “I jumped out of a brown moving vehicle after my captors turned into a bush. They had apparently told me that they were going to kill me. I out-sprinted them because they were drunk since they have been drinking beer all the way from Bindura until Mazowe road where I jumped out of the car,” said Chari during an interview. Chari told The Zimbabwean that members of the CIO had beaten his father and mother, Eliah and Vidah Mpaso this week in an effort to force them to reveal where he was hiding.
“I heard from my contacts in Zimbabwe that my family is being visited and tortured everyday, but they are not aware of my whereabouts,” said Chari. Chari said his problems started after he attended a Zimbabwe National Student Union (Zinasu) meeting in Harare where a resolution to carry out mass actions against hiking of fees was reached. He said the student leaders’ initial cardinal sin was to remove president Robert Mugabe’s portrait from the venue of the meeting. “Zinasu leadership believes that Mugabe is not the legitimate leader of Zimbabwe and holding a meeting in a room with his portrait hanging on the wall was against our conscience and we removed and handed it over to the people who were cleaning the premises,” said Chira. Chira said he was shocked when the entire executive was rounded and taken to Rhodesville police station soon after the meeting where the police unsuccessfully tried to charge them with stealing Mugabe’s portrait. “But when the portrait was found in possession of the cleaners they still continued to detain us until our lawyers secured our release in the early hours of the following morning,” said Chirwa. Though young Chirwa is now away from his persecutor, he however remains an angry man. Chirwa is bitter that his colleagues who were arrested on the day he escaped were still in detention and being tortured for allegedly bombing the university premises.
The young leader however said members of the CIO bombed the commerce building, which went up in smoke.
“Tests carried out found that the building was bombed by a real bomber and where would students get explosives of that magnitude? Charges Chira. Chira, a self-confessed zealot of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) is also worried about his education. “I am not regretting anything about my clashes with the regime, but all I now need to pursue my education and finish my degree. My biggest hurdle now is finance,” said Chira. Anyone who is willing to assist Chira with money to continue with his education in South Africa can contact Tawanda Mswazie on +27 (0)763233723.