Mwale, a state security agent who has Robert Mugabe’s protection, is said to have been part of the security entourage during the tour last Thursday, which saw Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai and other government officials visit the diamond firms mining the area.
Although the tour was also witnessed by several reporters from both the private and state media, Mwale’s appearance as part of the tour has not yet been reported on.
But SW Radio Africa was informed this week that he did make up part of the security delegation during Tsvangirai’s tour.
Some observers have said this inclusion of Mwale in the security detail was intended as an insult to the MDC-T, because he is responsible for the deaths of activists from Tsvangirai’s party.
Mwale was implicated almost 12 years ago in the brutal murder of MDC activists Talent Mabika and Tichaona Chiminya. But he continues to enjoy high level protection from the Mugabe regime, including avoiding arrest on murder charges, despite at least three different directives.
In the run up to parliamentary elections in 2000 Chiminya, and fellow activist Mabika who worked as campaign aides to Tsvangirai, were brutally murdered when Mwale, Kainos ‘Kitsiyatota’ Zimunya, and two others petrol bombed their vehicle during an ambush in Buhera.
Witnesses to the attack have told SW Radio Africa that Zimunya and Mwale threw petrol into the car and set it alight. Mabika and Chiminya were seen fleeing the car and running away “burning like balls of flames.”
In 2004 the regime charged Mwale’s co-accused, Webster Gwama, Bernard Makuwe and Morris Kainos (alias Kitsiyatota). The three were indicted on two counts of murder. Tsvangirai at the time expressed reservations over what he saw as a “token prosecution” since gang leader Mwale was being left out. He said the move was calculated to “confer future impunity by facilitating acquittals rather than ensure justice".
In 2006 police were reportedly too scared to enforce a written order from the Attorney General’s office to arrest Mwale. That same year High Court Judge James Devitte ordered Mwale to be brought to trial for the murders. But instead of being brought to justice, he was instead promoted within the Central Intelligence Organization (CIO).
In 2009 the then co-Home Affairs Minister from the MDC-T, Giles Mutsekwa, announced that: “We have directed that all people with criminal cases should be arrested, Joseph Mwale included.” But SW Radio Africa understands that the docket relating to the Mwale case has vanished.
Meanwhile journalists who joined the Chiadzwa tour have denied receiving a US$300 dollar ‘allowance’ pay out from the Zimbabwe Mining and Development Corporation (ZMDC) which organised the event last week. SW Radio Africa was told this week that private and state media reporters all signed for and received the cash payout. But sources in the journalist community have denied that this happened. – SW Radio Africa News
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