The Zimbabwean
Saturday, 31 May 2008
“Instead of being a source of hope to the people, the police have become a threat.â€
HARARE
Deadly AK47 rifles have become the weapon of choice for thugs involved in murder, kidnapping and torture throughout Zimbabwe.
Suspiciously, though, the police have not been able to apprehend a single suspect in all the cases involving the illegal use of AK47s or other firearms. A substantial number of the 50 Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) activists murdered after March 29 were kidnapped by men with AK47 rifles.
Over the years, this Gukurahundi style of abduction and disappearance of activists has left the state as the lead suspect.
At Murambinda in April 2000, for example, two alleged killers driving a Zanu (PF) Manicaland Nissan twin-cab truck approached MDC activists Tichaona Chiminya and Talent Mabika. The two killers pointed AK47s and petrol-bombed the MDC group. Mabika and Chiminya died.
Later that year, David Coltart’s chief polling agent, Patrick Nabayana, was abducted by men allegedly carrying AK47 rifles. His body has never been found.
The following year, 10 men with AK47 rifles abducted Bulawayo war veterans leader Cain Nkala. His decomposing body was later found in a shallow grave near Solusi University. MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai blamed Zanu (PF) for Nkala’s death.
A pointer to who the perpetrators of these abductions really are is contained in an Amnesty International (AI) report, dated June 2002, and entitled Toll of Impunity.
The human rights agency says “these violations were primarily committed by members of ‘state sponsored militia’ and also by state security forces – police officers, army officers or agents of the Central Intelligence Organisation (CIO)â€.
The carnage continues. In the early hours of May 14, nine men armed with AK47 rifles abducted MDC Harare Province Secretary for Security Tonderai Ndira. He was found dead a few days later with severed lips and tongue. Tragically. Ndira is just one of more than 45 MDC supporters already reported murdered.