Torture unit set up to “strike fear” into opposition

al Intelligence Organisation (CIO), Military Police, the Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP) and the government’s youth militia, will be responsible for torturing activists arrested by the police, in a bid to extract information.
The unit is said to be using various torture methods of extracting information from the suspects, ranging from assault with batons to suffocation and applying electricity to prisoners’ genitals.
“Police at various stations in the country arrest demonstrators, other public violence suspects and blacklisted enemies of the state, who are then handed over to the provincial Law and Order section of the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) for dockets to be opened against the suspects,” said a source.
“The ringleaders are then handed transported to Harare, where a screening process is done at Marimba and Mbare police stations. Those found to be innocent are released, while the guilty are handed over to the unit for specialised treatment.”
“The unit was set up in April this year to strike fear into the opposition ahead of mass protests that were being organised by the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC),” said an intelligence source on Monday. “All the members are based in Harare, but plans are at an advanced stage to establish camps in other provinces as well when the elections draw closer,”
Sources further revealed that the Unit, set up on the recommendations of Minister of State Security Didymus Mutasa, is headed by Assistant Commissioner Mabunda, the ZRP’s Officer Commanding Law and Order.
A member of the police’s Law and Order Section in Bulawayo also confirmed that they were creating a list of individuals, most of them civic group leaders and opposition activists, who would be kept under close surveillance.
“We keep a list of individuals’ names that we were given by Assistant Commissioner Mabunda. These include Jenni Williams, Magodonga Mahlangu (both WOZA) Felix Mafa (MDC) and Paul Siwela (ZAPU). Each time there is a demonstration, we are told to go out and arrest these people if they are there because they are said to be state enemies. After arresting them, we are required to write just a brief outline of the state case and hand them over to Harare, where the rest will be done. At times we are just called into our superiors’ offices and given names of people that we should arrest and send to Harare. The arrests are co-ordinated by the Officer Commanding CID Law and Order of each province and the suspects are then sent to Harare,” said the junior police officer.
Didymus Mutasa said he knew nothing about the unit: “Leave me alone. I do not know what you are talking about. Who told you such lies? They are day-dreaming,” he said.
Nelson Chamisa, spokesman for the main MDC camp which is led by Morgan Tsvangirai, said that his party knew of attempts by Mugabe to silence the opposition through violent means, which might include attempts to eliminate its leaders.
“However, we are not going to be intimidated in our bid to bring about a new Zimbabwe,” said Chamisa.