Damning report on torture to be launched Thursday

By Lance Guma
10 March 2010

A damning report outlining how Mugabe’s regime has used torture and imprisonment to manipulate elections and other political processes will be launched at the Book Café in Harare on Thursday. The report entitled ‘Cries from Goromonzi - Inside Zimbabwe’s Torture Chambers’ was commissioned by the Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition and contains 23 harrowing testimonies from individuals tortured between 2000 and 2009.

The group has chosen the 11th March for the launch because it coincides with the third anniversary of the Save Zimbabwe Campaign prayer rally, where police shot dead activist Gift Tandare, in cold blood. Several other political and civil society leaders were picked up at the time, including then opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai, who was brutally assaulted in police custody. The country witnessed a massive escalation of human rights abuses soon after the rally.

‘Cries from Goromonzi’ will examine the ‘pervasive use of torture and imprisonment of citizens in secret detention camps in Zimbabwe to extract information, stifle public dissent and determine political processes and electoral outcomes,’ a statement from the Crisis Coalition said. It will feature testimonies from MDC spokesman Nelson Chamisa who was attacked and brutally beaten on his way to the airport and Tsvangirai’s Chief of Staff, Ian Makone, who was subjected to torture while in detention.

Women who were tortured describe the sexual abuse they suffered, including gang rape and infection with the deadly HIV virus that causes AIDS. Some of the testimonies name the perpetrators of crimes and where they were tortured, such as which rooms were used at the Harare Central Police station. An infamous torture base in Goromonzi was the motivation behind the name of the report.

Several guests have been invited to be part of the report launch, including Prime Minister Tsvangirai, Useni Sibanda (Christian Alliance), Irene Petras (Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights) and Jonah Gokova (Crisis Coalition Chairperson). One of the victims, Rosy Mupfawa, is expected to give her testimony in front of everyone attending.