Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Harare (Agenzia Fides) – Human rights activist Jestina Mukoko denounces the abuse and violence she suffered at the hands of Zimbabwean secret service agents. Jestina Mukoko was held in solitary confinement for 19 days to coerce her to admit recruiting youths for military training in Botswana to dislodge President Robert Mugabe from power.
In an affidavit filed with the High Court narrating events that took place after Mukoko was abducted in the early hours of December 3 from her Norton home, the Zimbabwe Peace Project (ZPP) director said her captors wanted to link her to Morgan Tsvangirai, leader of the main opposition party, the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), in on an effort to take over power in the government.
The government claims that the MDC is recruiting youths to undergo military training in Botswana. The accusations, which have been denied both by Tsvangirai and by the government in Botswana, have lead to tensions between the two countries.
The kidnapping of Ms. Mukoko, along with that of other activists and members of the opposition party, has caused alarm in the country and in other foreign nations, especially since no word was given as to their whereabouts or physical state. Cardinal Oscar Rodriguez Maradiaga, Archbishop of Tegucigalpa (Honduras) and President of Caritas Internationalis, launched an appeal for Jestina Mukoko's immediate release and that of the other human rights activists taken hostage in Zimbabwe (see Fides 12/12/2008).
Minister of State for National Security Didymus Mutasa has since admitted in the High Court that Mukoko was in the custody of the Central Intelligence Organization (CIO), the local secret service.
In her affidavit, Mukoko affirms that she was kidnapped by six men and a woman who did not identify themselves, who took her and forced her into a car. She was then taken to an unknown place and subject to interrogations. on the first day of the kidnapping she was interrogated by five men and a woman who wanted to know more about the ZPP, its board members, founding organizations of the project and where it was located. “Soon thereafter the line of questioning changed and I was now being accused of recruiting youths to undergo some form of military training and links with people at Harvest House (MDC headquarters). I denied the allegations,” said Mukoko. They then began to try to make her confess having committed things she did not do. The agents then beat her with a rubber tube on the bottoms of her feet.
Just before Christmas, Ms. Mukoko was taken into police custody and formally accused of trying to recruit people for a military operation. Her process is currently underway.
In the meantime, President Mugabe seems to have the intention to appoint a government without the participation of the opposition, in spite of the accords signed on September 15, which called for the formation of a government of national unity in order to overcome the economic crisis (inflation that is out of control, extremely high unemployment), sanitary crisis (over 1,700 people have died from cholera), and the food crisis (Caritas Internationalis has launched an appeal to provide humanitarian aid for nearly 5 million Zimbabweans – nearly half the population – who would otherwise not survive). (LM) (Agenzia Fides 12/1/2009)
