Accept brainwashing, torture&or lose your job

Midlands province.
Lameck Gijima (not his real name) served for 10 years in the Zimbabwe Republic Police. He deserted from his job as inspector after being forced to undergo re-orientation at the camp.
“When I appeared in a roll of people to be sent to Buchwa, I knew hell had caught up with me after hearing the experiences from others who had been there. Together with 30 other police officers, we were taken on a police truck and driven more than 500km during the night.
“We were dropped at a branch-off point at 3am and told to walk the remaining 10km carrying our luggage and rifles as part of the induction process. We got to the camp at 4am,” he said.
The camp, surrounded by a wild snake infested thicket, is formerly an iron ore mining compound of rundown structures. It was set up in 2002 after intelligence warned of possible mutiny from the armed forces due to growing disgruntlement over Robert Mugabe’s unpopular policies and poor salaries.
The brainwashing exercise targets assistant inspectors to chief inspectors who have an immediate influence on their juniors.
Because of the highly hostile environment in the camp, the trainees are barred from carrying loaded weapons fearing they would react angrily by shooting their trainers.
“Some of the police officers there experience hypertension and are on ARVs. Obviously, they cannot stand these conditions. Unfortunately, the training is compulsory and those who have resisted it have been fired from the police,” said another police officer who has been to the camp.
Five police officers have already died from the strain.
Lameck Gijima (35) tells how he saw a pregnant colleague collapse after being made to perform humiliating acts like rolling on the ground and performing press-ups. She later had a miscarriage.
For two days, Gijima’s group was woken at 4am and forced to climb a steep mountain 5km away. After the strenuous climb, they were made to queue for three slices of plain bread.
“We were taken to lecture rooms with peeling walls, broken roofs and cardboard window panes where the anti-British drivel was forced down our throats. We were lectured on how to defend the country from British ‘poodles’ such as Morgan Tsvangirai,” he says.
In 2003, officials from the Ministry of Health condemned the camp as a health hazard because its water was contaminated with cyanide. But police chiefs have blocked publication of the report, fearing it would attract civil suits against the police.
Food is scarce, and conditions in the camp are so unbearable that top police officers with girlfriends in the police are shielding them from going there.
One such officer is Assistant Commissioner Everisto Pfumvuti, a war veteran and powerful figure in the police, who threatened to ‘deal with’ coordinators of the training if they insisted on sending his wife to the camp.
Police spokesman Chief Superintendent Oliver Mandipaka angrily denies that the camp is an indoctrination camp. He sees torture in the camp as consistent with military training.
“What you see as torture at Buchwa camp is in fact consistent with military training. Yes, the training is compulsory and is meant to reorient police officers to the changing dynamics of policing,” he says.
Some say Mugabe’s plan has worked. Zimbabwe’s police force is now a submissive unit that will take any bashing from its leader. Chances of a revolt are very slim in Zimbabwe. – Bayethe Zitha