CIO torture base to re-open?

Inside sources told The Zimbabwean that there was a renewed hype of activity at and around the camp, where unmarked CIO vehicles continue to maintain a presence in the area. Villagers in the vicinity regard strangers with suspicion and press newcomers to identify themselves. Asked to comment, ZRP spokesperson Charity Charamba insisted that “Police do stop all vehicles without number plates. Some are released because they are waiting to secure number plates. Of course some evade roadblocks and if you have such information you can kindly alert us.”

The source said the camp was located at the Zimbabwe Prison Service complex at Goromonzi, instead of the adjacent police station as previously believed. A police sergeant “who was among leaders of the CIO-led killer squad in the past while based in Harare”, was recently deployed to Goromonzi Police Law and Order to prepare for possible abductions before and after the elections, added the source.

Among the victims believed to have been abducted and killed at the torture base in 2008 is the late MDC-T senatorial candidate for Murewa, Shepard Jani. He was taken from his shop at Murewa business centre by armed men in broad daylight, after being shot in the leg. His body was found dumped in the Goromonzi area days later. The body had multiple fractures suggesting he had been subjected to severe torture.

He was believed to have won the senatorial election against the Zanu (PF) candidate Makunde and reportedly silenced for launching an appeal against his adversary.

When asked whether the Goromonzi prison complex was used as an official torture institution against suspected Zanu (PF) rivals, ZPS spokesperson, Superintendent Elizabeth Banda said: “I cannot comment on that, since I only know of the welfare and treatment given to prison inmates brought to the institution through a warrant of committal,” said Banda.

The CIO abduction exercise was code named Operation Nyamunyamu (Operation Grab). A former CIO operative who deserted the secret service organisation in late 2008 and now runs a private business testified how the shadowy unit tortured Zanu (PF) political opponents.

Now he walks with a limp and with the aid of crutches after being tortured following his desertion.

The former operative, who cannot be named, said they would be supplied with names of influential “opposition” members whom they would hunt down and take to various torture camps dotted around the country.

He said he operated in the Seke area in Mashonaland East, the same province as the Goromonzi torture base. “We used unmarked cars, mainly at night, to abduct our targets, blindfold them and take them to our bases where we used various methods of torture. For men, the most prominent one was removing all their clothes and clipping their manhood with car battery jumpers. We would stop when their eyes started turning deep red and rolling backwards; that was a signal they were about to die, but we also killed some of them,” he said.

“That experience still haunts me. One day, I decided enough was enough, and turned to diamond dealing. Together with my colleagues, we would go to Chiadzwa (diamond fields in Manicaland), produce our CIO IDs and get the diamonds which we sold outside the country,” he said. He was caught while dealing in Chiadzwa and tortured, during which his right leg was severely fractured, but managed to run away.