BULAWAYO – Opposing factions within Mugabe’s dreaded torture machine, the Central Intelligence Organisation (CIO), have been carrying out counter-surveillance on each other.
Sources within the CIO said thousands of junior members of the agency had deserted and there had been a number of mysterious deaths thought to be executions of rival spies.
The Zimbabwean was told this week that the divisions came to light when Director General Happyton Bonyongwe began probing leaks of classified information.
Sources added that Bonyongwe already knew there were divisions within the agency, but feared that revealing this to Mugabe would worsen matters.
“The bosses knew this all along, but it seems that they wanted to hide it from the President because they wanted him to believe that they are in control of the situation. They also did not want him to panic as we go into elections next year, but the truth is that there are very serious divisions within our set-up,” said one of the sources.
Some senior and junior members of the spy agency wanted Mugabe to step down and not stand for re-election next year, as they blamed his policies for the country’s political and economic crises.
They were believed to be holding talks with the country’s former finance Minister, Simba Makoni, and members of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC).
“These members of the top brass want Mugabe out so that new brains can take over the reins. They have since mobilised their most trusted subordinates into exposing the evil plans being used by Mugabe to remain in power, so that they are weakened and his bid to win re-election next year flops,” said a source.
However, there are also members who are said to be happy with the status quo, and are fighting to keep Mugabe in power by exposing and dealing with what they regard as sell-outs.
“Our phones are now bugged…and life has become more difficult in the agency now. The commanders are also divided themselves and have always quarrelled over that,” said a source.
This year alone, more than 3,000 members are said to have deserted their jobs in fear and crossed the border into South Africa or fled to the UK, after learning that they were marked as sell-outs. Â
“There have been more than 300 mysterious deaths of both junior and senior members in the past six months and some of these have been traced to the counter-executions by fellow members,” said a source. “These have happened in both camps, where the members have either been abducted and executed, poisoned or killed in car accidents, after their vehicles would have been tampered with by experts. The committees have also stumbled upon this information and it is bound to affect the President if he is given it, raw as it is.”
State Security Minister Didymus Mutasa, refused to comment. – Bayethe Zitha
Post published in: News