The
murdered MDC activist was buried last Sunday. He was abducted from his
Mabvuku home on the 14th May and his decomposing body was found dumped at a
farm in Goromonzi last week and taken to Parirenyatwa hospital mortuary.
Since the formation of the MDC, the hugely influential activist was arrested
35 times by the regime.
His brother Cosmos told us that state agents had made several visits to the
graveyard insisting that municipal gravediggers pinpoint his grave. The
gravediggers apparently refused to be drawn into this highly charged
political issue and have refused to co-operate.
When Cosmos visited his young brother’s grave on Thursday, intending to put
a marker on it, concerned municipal workers told him of the visits by
security agents. They also advised him not to leave the marker. It’s
believed the regime has an idea of where the grave is, but there are several
graves in the vicinity that are also not marked out, making it impossible to
identify Tonderai’s grave.
The elder Ndira said municipal workers had became suspicious when the
smartly dressed state agents told them they wanted to place a tombstone on
Tonderai’s grave and needed to be shown where it was.
‘In our culture, you wait for a year before you place a tombstone and my
brother has only been buried there for less than a week. I’m reliably
informed they want to dig up his grave and take his body elsewhere to be
dumped because they want to get rid of evidence. In fact I’m told state
agents are furious that the murdered MDC activists are being buried there,’
Cosmos said.
Last week, three other MDC activists who were abducted are killed early this
month on their way to Murehwa were buried at the same cemetery.
A very angry Cosmos said authorities should let his brother and friends rest
in peace, saying the activists were central figures in the pro-democracy
movement in Harare. Cosmos said his brother was highly respected, greatly
loved and admired.
The elder Ndira said security agents kept a close eye on his brother: ‘His
home in Mabvuku was like a remand prison– there was someone watching him
every minute. Now he’s dead but the regime won’t let him rest even in death.
Their oppression extends even in death. He cared profoundly about issues of
social and political justice, and of course was deeply committed to finding
a resolution that would allow all people in Zimbabwe to live in peace with
each other.
SWRadio Africa
Post published in: News