Col Chinyan’anya arrived at the farm in his truck, accompanied by a convoy of military vehicles. He had in tow Sergeant Ornell Moyo and two Central Intelligence Organisation (CIO) operatives identified as Chikwanha and Dhliwayo.
With their arms and legs tightly bound, Matangira and Mapondere were driven to a remote place. They were repeatedly beaten with rifle butts and threatened with death.
At one point they were made to lie blindfolded on the floor of an army pickup truck that laid siege to the farm and told it was the end of their life. Recovering at Chitungwiza Hospital, 25kilometres from Harare, Matangira said: “I have a need to burst into tears now and again. We thought we were going to die.”
The violence that led to the brutal assault of Matangira – a moment many Zimbabweans have been expecting since the renewed land grab began last year – began last week on Friday night on Bremma Farm adjacent to the Harare South Golf and Country Club.
Matangira was a known supporter of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change, and his farm was invaded by Col Chinyan’anya three months ago. Matangira and fellow farmers were “roughed up” first by the senior military official, but defiantly refused to be thrown off their property.
Col Chinyan’anya was claiming the farm had been redesignated under the A2 scheme and was no longer a peri-urban property. He was brandishing some vague offer letter from Land Reform minister Didymus Mutasa, who we could not contact for verification.
In other similar cases, military personnel who have faced resistance from resettled black farmers have moved on, but Col Chinyan’anya returned with military reinforcements and firearms, unleashing an orgy of violence last week that left scores of farm workers badly hurt.
The Zimbabwean heard that Col Chinyan’anya kidnapped Matangira and his colleague at gunpoint and drove him away in his own four-wheel-drive car.
“They had a rifle and a handgun,” said another farm worker declining to be named. “They took us out of the military vehicles with constant assurances that we were going to be killed. We were knocked about a bit,” he said. “Then they dragged us out of the car. They abused us. They beat us around. They put me in the truck, but they beat Matangira very badly.”
They later let him go after a thorough beating and assurances that he would no longer oppose the takeover of the farm.
An army spokesman requested written questions about the incident, which has raised eyebrows over the use of army vehicles in evicting resettled black farmers. Â