Zim Diaspora

By Chief Reporter
WHEN a certain ethnic section of Zimbabwe continue talking about Mugabe's plot to deliberately exclude Matabeleland from socio-economic development - it is not a claim nor hearsay, but a fact, The Zim Diaspora has found out.

People of Matabeleland have long complained about lack of development in their region. In the 1980s President Mugabe unleashed the 5 Brigade to Matabeleland and Midlands areas which left 20 000 Ndebeles dead. Last week, a young Ndebele woman who survived the 5 Brigade massacres, Magodonga Mahlangu faced US President Barrack Obama and told him about the crimes committed by Mugabe's 5 Brigade in Matabeleland. Perhaps Obama needed to be fully briefed that 5 Brigade victims are still being persued to this day. For example ZAPU activist Sikhumbuzo Msipha who now lives in Britain's Leicester remains on the CIO hit list for distributing information about the brutality of the 5th Brigade in which he is a victim.

And this week, Mr Maxmillion Mthewthwa, a former chief Irrigation technician in Zimbabwe's Ministry of Water and Development has come out to say he is an eyewitness in President Mugabe's plot to systematically exclude Matabeleland from any meaningful development. Mr Mthethwa went on to earn himself permanent scars of torture and abuse for attempting to spread government resources to his people, in Matabeleland.

Mr Mthethwa shows his doctor's medical report

This may sound like one of those many tired stories Zimbabweans have heard before, but when one listens to the story of Maxmillion Mthethwa's experiences, it becomes difficult to hold back tears.

The Zim Diaspora tracked Mr Mthethwa down to Birmingham where he now lives after skipping the country following dubious imprisonment, torture and constant abuse. Though now in the comforts of Birmingham, Britain's second largest city Mr Mthethwa remains a very angry man, and he accepts that without doubt.

Mr Mthethwa(in glasses) at a ZAPU meeting in Leicester

After listening to his breathtaking story, one wonders why God has allowed Mr Mugabe to continue causing a lot of suffering and pain to his fellow Zimbabweans with impunity. Mr Mthethwa asks himself this question so many times without answer.

He says, as a devout Christian, he prays everyday for Mugabe to be recalled by his maker at an earliest opportunity to relieve the suffering masses of Zimbabwe.

The former chief technician who now physically appear wretched and unsophisticated  says his proud possession is a file of documents which tells the story of his torture and abuse in Zimbabwe. His file is brimful of medical reports and police detention records. The file also reveals how he was excluded at his workplace because of his ethnicity. In summary, the file reveals gross injustices perpetrated by the Mugabe regime against him.

In a medical letter shown to this journalist dated 25  September 2005, a doctor writes that Mr Mthethwa's injuries are "permanent and could shorten his lifespan".

Another doctor in Harare Parirenyatwa Hospital again wrote that though Mr Mthethwa's injuries will heal, they remain "life-threatening". After some brutal torture by Zimbabwean police on trumped-up charges in the Zimbabwean capital, Harare, Mr Mthethwa was hospitalised for eight weeks and briefly went into comma.

Now, in his physical appearance, Mr Mthethwa may look healthy and as strong as a bull, yet the life has gone out of his dark eyes. Indeed, Mr Mthethwa is a broken man.

When I caught up with him, he was reluctant to speak about his story as he still, clearly show signs of psychological trauma.  I identified myself as a member of the journalism fraternity and explained the purpose of my visit including my mission to highlight those stories that have been taboo to publish in Zimbabwe, and I also told him I represented the voice of the voiceless, then with a half smile, Mr Mthethwa opened up. He began narrating his painful story.

When he starts speaking about his ordeal Mr Mthethwa's anger manifests itself through stammering, he vows never to forgive his tormentors. One needs to listen to Mr Mthethwa in order to understand that, what really is happening in Zimbabwe is really a crime against humanity.

Mr Mthethwa described how he was recalled back into Harare from his fieldwork and then detained at Borrowdale police station by members of the Zimbabwe's police force.

At his cell, he was not alone, he saw others dying after torture, including the systematic and organised murder of innocent members of the opposition MDC. He came face-to-face with President Mugabe's brutality.
"When people talk about Mugabe's plot to exclude Matabeleland from any delopmental projects, it is real and it`s no joke," he said.

"They spent the whole day assaulting me, they were three of them at a time and I still remember their names very well. Two of them would sit on top of my body while one will beat me under my feet for about  20 minutes non-stop. They would take turns to do so, I would start off screaming and then reach a stage whereby I could not feel any pain," he said.

"They would take some breaks and then come back again to beat me up. At some stage I prayed loud as they were beating me. I wanted God to intervene because the pain was unbearable. If there is anything that Mugabe's police have specialised on is torture, no nation can pass that except Zimbabwe," said Mr Mthethwa with tears rolling down his cheeks.

Trouble started after the government launched an $80 billion farmers development project which was funded through the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe. Mr Mthethwa a chief technician was tasked to travel around the country, excluding Matabeleland developing the farmers irrigation schemes including rehabilitating the infrastructure which included  pumps, electric motors, pipes and canals.

Mr Mthethwa says he had specific instructions which places to go to, and those places included the entire MaShonaland, but excluded the entire Matabeleland.

"I was given a map, and that map covered the whole MaShonaland but excluded Midlands and Matabeleland. At first, I had assumed probably that was the first phase of the programme and I was hoping that upon completion of Mashonaland I will automatically start in Matabeleland, yet it turned out that Matabeleland and Midlands were never to benefit from the $80 billion government project," he said.

"And, it was by exclusion that I got included myself as a Ndebele in implementing this project because this project came at a time when most of my workmates were either sent outside the country in Africa or overseas for further training. I remember one of my junior was sent to Egypt while others were in Europe. I had been deliberately left out because of my ethnicity so they gave me the responsibility to implement the project which later turned out to be a tribal project as well," he said.

"I spent time implementing the project in Mashonaland and everything was alright up until I took it upon myself to spread this developmental project to the Midlands and Matabeleland. The moment I started in Matabeleland, I received a call from my director (named) in Harare who summoned me back into the head office," he said. In Harare he could not understand why he was recalled back, except threats of doing a job he had not been ordered to do.

It was while Mr Mthethwa was in Harare that he found himself under arrest for no apparent reason. He was subsequently detained at Borrowdale police station.

"I asked them why they were arresting me, instead, they came up with trumped-up charges of stolen pipes yet there was absolutely nothing like that. I was tortured for several days then released but never brought before the magistrates," said Mr Mthethwa.

Mr Mthethwa's world started collapsing at this stage and he accepts that he needed counselling afterwards which he never got. From what he told The Zim Diaspora, Mr Mthethwa's human machine stopped functioning properly as a result of torture.

He accepts that after his release he became suicidal and he had cantankerous flashbacks of torture.

However, the resilient Mthethwa went straight and knocked at the Attorney General's office seeking justice over his abuses.

"I had failed to bring my persecutors into book in many occasions, the next thing I went straight and knocked in the AG's offices and told him my story. The AG then accepted my story and instructed that the three officers should be prosecuted," he said.

"As the investigations were going on, I was then told that the prosecutions of the officers cannot go ahead anymore as President Mugabe had pardoned them. It was shattered," Mr Mthethwa said.

Mr Mthethwa whose wife died in England in March this year after a long battle with breast cancer says he will not forgive his tormentors.

"I could not travel home to bury my wife and this caused a lot of strain in my family as I feared that I could be arrested because I have also become active in ZAPU in the United Kingdom. I am busy recruiting people to join ZAPU in the UK so that we will have the power and supporters to remove Mugabe and his ZANU from power in the next general elections," he said.

Torture is universally prohibited as the 1984 Convention for the Prevention of Torture states that "No exceptional circumstances whatsoever, whether a state of war or a threat of war, internal political instability or any other public emergency, may be invoked as a justification of torture.