The victim, Batsirai Gondo, is a superintendent with the Zimbabwe Prison Services and former army captain.
According to a document leaked to The Zimbabwean the CIO boss cocked a pistol and pointed it at Gondo and threatened to kill him in Harare’s Samora Machel Avenue on December 1. The two were driving in separate vehicles in the same direction and Mukowera had positioned his vehicle alongside that driven by Gondo.
Part of Gondo’s version of events in the document sent to Chiwenga (a copy of which is in possession of this newspaper) reads: “I was in the inner lane while Mukowera was in the outer one and both of our vehicles were moving when he suddenly pointed the firearm at me and shouted three times that he wanted to blow my head off. I raised both hands as a gesture of surrender while my vehicle was in motion. I shouted back requesting him to spare my life.”
One of the passengers travelling with Gondo was terrified and shattered the windscreen with his head. Ten of Gondo’s relatives were also in the Mazda Pickup truck. Mukowera sped off with Gondo in pursuit. He caught up with Mukowera at the intersection of Samora Machel and Robert Mugabe near Cresta Lodge Hotel where he was stopped by a robot.
Gondo passed Mukowera at the robot and alerted police manning a roadblock at Jaggers Msasa about the incident. Police ordered Mukowera to pull off the road on his arrival at the roadblock.
When police ordered Mukowera to surrender the fire arm he resisted and attempted to escape. He only gave in after a woman police officer standing in front of his car cocked her AK47 rifle as if to shoot. Police later recovered the pistol from him and detained him over night at Mabvuku Police Station.
The following day Gondo was asked to report at Harare Police Central Charge Office and informed that the incident involved a top CIO boss and police were not in a position to prosecute. He was told it would be in his “best interests to talk things over with Mukowera”.
After realising that he would not get justice from the police, Gondo took the issue up with his employer, Zimbabwe Prison Services. But they were also “cowed at the mention of Mukowera’s name”, so he took his fight to Chiwenga at Defence Forces Headquarters.
According to highly placed defence sources: “Chiwenga asked for a report and was disturbed by the event and promised to rein in the wayward CIO Manicaland Province boss.”
In his report Gondo said no one in Zimbabwe should be above the law and vowed that justice would prevail no matter how long it took. He said the firearm was in wrong hands and if the incident had happened at night Mukowera could have shot him dead. He suspected that the pistol could have been used by the CIO Boss to threaten a number people with impunity.
“Patrick Mukowera, Zimbabwe is not a country under Sharia Law which mandates one to be killed without a fair trial. Zimbabwe Highway Code page 3 paragraph 7 states that if one is angered on the road he must not retaliate. My analysis suggests Mukowera is abusing his high office,” said Gondo in his statement.
Gondo said he would fight for compensation from Mukowera of $5,300 for the trauma, shock, loss of memory, humiliation in front of the public, deterioration of ulcer medical condition and damage to his vehicle. Passengers in his vehicle at the time are expected to file law suits against Mukowera for trauma and other damages.
Efforts to get a comment from Mukowera were fruitless. He sent an SMS to The Zimbabwean suggesting that he would call later, but had not honoured his promise by the time of going to print.
The CIO is headed by Happyton Bonyongwe and falls under the office of the President. It is widely accused of being partisan and responsible for gross violation of human rights with impunity.
Post published in: News