News / National
Zimbabwe's security establishment bigwig dies
08 May 2023 at 19:35hrs | Views
One of Zimbabwe's security establishment bigwigs, who defined an era in his field from Rhodesia to post-colonial Zimbabwe amid a record of brutality and terror, David Daniel "Dan" Stannard, later close to President Emmerson Mnangagwa as State Security minister in the 1980s, died quietly recently in the United Kingdom.
A famous police detective and then later CIO boss - his victims undoubtedly would say infamous - Stannard died on 30 March 2023 at Ely, Cambridgeshire, UK.
He was a resident of Mildenhall Road, Fordham, near Ely, and passed away from ill-health at Soham Lodge, an old age care home, where he was being looked after.
He was 85.
Stannard is survived by six children: Alison, Jaqueline, Catherine, Jennifer, David and Mark.
Dan's wife Pat passed away recently in September 2021.
Stannard was born on 28 November 1937, at Pershwar ((Multan, Bengal, India before the 1947 partition) Pakistan where his father, William, had been serving in the British Army with a Gurkha Regiment that saw action Malaya during World War II.
His mother was Rose Stannard (neé Lawrence).
The Stannard family left India in 1947 after the country gained independence from Britain. They settled in Lichfield, Staffordshire, and later moved to Liverpool.
Stannard was partly schooled in the UK and towards the end of his schooling he attended Welbeck College, Worksop, Nottingham, until 1956. He did a short spell in National service before venturing out to Africa.
The young Stannard travelled to Africa aboard the Arundel Castle, and attested on 17 March 1957 into the British South Africa Police (force number 5668 – Squad 4/1957), where his older brother, Bernard W Peter, was already a serving officer. Following his depot training in Rhodesia, Stannard was posted to Rusape, Manicaland, as a police constable.
That's where his Rhodesia career took shape as he proved his mettle early in the game. He was awarded the Commissioners' Special Commendation for his courageous part in rescuing passengers from a stranded bus in a flooded Macheke River.
From Rusape, he was transferred to the Criminal Investigation Department (CID), Salisbury.
As a young detective, he distinguished himself and became well-known.
Later he got engaged to a Penhalonga lady Patricia Margaret Brown in November 1959 and they married in Umtali (Mutare) on 23 April 1960.
After years working in Mutare, Stannard was promoted to Detective Sergeant in July 1962. He spent a couple of years in the newly-formed Rhodesian Special Branch (SB).
In the SB, he was tasked to deal with the nationalist movement and its political leaders, particularly founding Zanu leader Ndabaninigi Sithole who was active in Manicaland and the Zhanda groups.
After the petrol bombing of the Nyanyadzi Police Station and the murder of Petrus Oberholzer, Stannard was an integral part of the team that investigated those cases.
He also dealt with the Crocodile Gang which Mnangagwa claims he was part of despite strong denials by its founder members.
On 17 June 1963 Leopold Smith, an accountant at Premier Estates, went on a rampage at the estate killing four employees and wounded seven others, including policeman, Sandy Coutts (who was later rewarded for his bravery).
All the resources of the CID and SB were deployed to deal with the criminal at large.
On Smith's arrest, the Provincial Criminal Investigation Officer Manicaland Ian McKay delegated Stannard to handle the case.
By October 1971, Stannard had been promoted to Detective Inspector.
When liberation leaders were released at the end of 1974, Stannard kept them under surveillance.
However, the following year, 1975 after the assassination of Zanu chair Herbert Chitepo, Stannard was instructed not to intercept Robert Mugabe and Edgar Tekere who were known by the Special Branch to be plotting an escape into Mozambique.
Stannard gave them free passage as the Rhodesians wanted them out.
On 31 October 1975, by then a Superintendent (promoted August 1974), Stannard was awarded Police Long Service Medal.
As a CID officer, he had spent much time during the liberation war as a representative on Joint Operations Command (JOC), which Mugabe and Mnangagwa have happily kept as a Rhodesian security establishment relic.
Mugabe and Mnangagwa have retained Rhodesian apparatus of repression and use it to this day.
One of Stannard's main tasks during the late 1970s was to investigate senior commanders of Rhodesia's deadly military unit, the Selous Scouts, for elephant poaching and ivory trafficking in the Lowveld.
After an illustrious career, full of awards, drama and brutality, Stannard retired from police as Chief Superintendent on 30 August 1981.
Before his retirement, he had been seconded to the Special Branch as Provincial Special Branch Officer, Salisbury, in the footsteps of the departing Gordon Waugh.
Stannard later took a transfer to the CIO where he was appointed Deputy Director Internal.
He served with Mike Reeves who was Director Internal under the leadership of Ken Flower, CIO's founding Director-General.
On the departure of Reeves, Stannard took over as Director Internal of CIO, Branch I, which included police Special Branch, dealing with internal intelligence gathering.
Ironically, Stannard is credited with foiling an assassination attempt on Mugabe, soon to become Prime Minister of the new Zimbabwe, by a South African fifth column in 1980.
For that, he was awarded with the Gold Cross of Zimbabwe.
The CIO went through a political restructuring, absorbing police Special Branch, a move done by Mnangagwa, Zimbabwe's first security minister under Mugabe.
This was done to consolidate Zanu party influence within the intelligence community, but more specifically to deal with Zapu and its leader Joshua Nkomo, whom Mugabe feared as his greatest threat in his new reign.
As CIO Director Internal in the '80, Stannard then became very close to Mnangagwa and did his dirty works.
As CIO's internal intelligence chief, Stannard became deeply involved in Mugabe's political repression wave, including in Gukurahundi, as Zanu pushed for a one-party state, sowing the seeds of Zimbabwe's failure down the line.
Under Mnangagwa's wings, he directed many CIO operations that killed thousands of people during Gukurahundi, now widely acknowledged as genocide or crimes against humanity.
Stannard also worked closely with the North Korean-trained Fifth Brigade commander Perrence Shiri.
After a long career characterised by distinction, brutality and bloodshed, Stannard retired from the CIO in 1994 and took up a new role as a lobbyist, security consultant and cricket follower.
A famous police detective and then later CIO boss - his victims undoubtedly would say infamous - Stannard died on 30 March 2023 at Ely, Cambridgeshire, UK.
He was a resident of Mildenhall Road, Fordham, near Ely, and passed away from ill-health at Soham Lodge, an old age care home, where he was being looked after.
He was 85.
Stannard is survived by six children: Alison, Jaqueline, Catherine, Jennifer, David and Mark.
Dan's wife Pat passed away recently in September 2021.
Stannard was born on 28 November 1937, at Pershwar ((Multan, Bengal, India before the 1947 partition) Pakistan where his father, William, had been serving in the British Army with a Gurkha Regiment that saw action Malaya during World War II.
His mother was Rose Stannard (neé Lawrence).
The Stannard family left India in 1947 after the country gained independence from Britain. They settled in Lichfield, Staffordshire, and later moved to Liverpool.
Stannard was partly schooled in the UK and towards the end of his schooling he attended Welbeck College, Worksop, Nottingham, until 1956. He did a short spell in National service before venturing out to Africa.
The young Stannard travelled to Africa aboard the Arundel Castle, and attested on 17 March 1957 into the British South Africa Police (force number 5668 – Squad 4/1957), where his older brother, Bernard W Peter, was already a serving officer. Following his depot training in Rhodesia, Stannard was posted to Rusape, Manicaland, as a police constable.
That's where his Rhodesia career took shape as he proved his mettle early in the game. He was awarded the Commissioners' Special Commendation for his courageous part in rescuing passengers from a stranded bus in a flooded Macheke River.
From Rusape, he was transferred to the Criminal Investigation Department (CID), Salisbury.
As a young detective, he distinguished himself and became well-known.
Later he got engaged to a Penhalonga lady Patricia Margaret Brown in November 1959 and they married in Umtali (Mutare) on 23 April 1960.
After years working in Mutare, Stannard was promoted to Detective Sergeant in July 1962. He spent a couple of years in the newly-formed Rhodesian Special Branch (SB).
In the SB, he was tasked to deal with the nationalist movement and its political leaders, particularly founding Zanu leader Ndabaninigi Sithole who was active in Manicaland and the Zhanda groups.
After the petrol bombing of the Nyanyadzi Police Station and the murder of Petrus Oberholzer, Stannard was an integral part of the team that investigated those cases.
He also dealt with the Crocodile Gang which Mnangagwa claims he was part of despite strong denials by its founder members.
On 17 June 1963 Leopold Smith, an accountant at Premier Estates, went on a rampage at the estate killing four employees and wounded seven others, including policeman, Sandy Coutts (who was later rewarded for his bravery).
All the resources of the CID and SB were deployed to deal with the criminal at large.
On Smith's arrest, the Provincial Criminal Investigation Officer Manicaland Ian McKay delegated Stannard to handle the case.
When liberation leaders were released at the end of 1974, Stannard kept them under surveillance.
However, the following year, 1975 after the assassination of Zanu chair Herbert Chitepo, Stannard was instructed not to intercept Robert Mugabe and Edgar Tekere who were known by the Special Branch to be plotting an escape into Mozambique.
Stannard gave them free passage as the Rhodesians wanted them out.
On 31 October 1975, by then a Superintendent (promoted August 1974), Stannard was awarded Police Long Service Medal.
As a CID officer, he had spent much time during the liberation war as a representative on Joint Operations Command (JOC), which Mugabe and Mnangagwa have happily kept as a Rhodesian security establishment relic.
Mugabe and Mnangagwa have retained Rhodesian apparatus of repression and use it to this day.
One of Stannard's main tasks during the late 1970s was to investigate senior commanders of Rhodesia's deadly military unit, the Selous Scouts, for elephant poaching and ivory trafficking in the Lowveld.
After an illustrious career, full of awards, drama and brutality, Stannard retired from police as Chief Superintendent on 30 August 1981.
Before his retirement, he had been seconded to the Special Branch as Provincial Special Branch Officer, Salisbury, in the footsteps of the departing Gordon Waugh.
Stannard later took a transfer to the CIO where he was appointed Deputy Director Internal.
He served with Mike Reeves who was Director Internal under the leadership of Ken Flower, CIO's founding Director-General.
On the departure of Reeves, Stannard took over as Director Internal of CIO, Branch I, which included police Special Branch, dealing with internal intelligence gathering.
Ironically, Stannard is credited with foiling an assassination attempt on Mugabe, soon to become Prime Minister of the new Zimbabwe, by a South African fifth column in 1980.
For that, he was awarded with the Gold Cross of Zimbabwe.
The CIO went through a political restructuring, absorbing police Special Branch, a move done by Mnangagwa, Zimbabwe's first security minister under Mugabe.
This was done to consolidate Zanu party influence within the intelligence community, but more specifically to deal with Zapu and its leader Joshua Nkomo, whom Mugabe feared as his greatest threat in his new reign.
As CIO Director Internal in the '80, Stannard then became very close to Mnangagwa and did his dirty works.
As CIO's internal intelligence chief, Stannard became deeply involved in Mugabe's political repression wave, including in Gukurahundi, as Zanu pushed for a one-party state, sowing the seeds of Zimbabwe's failure down the line.
Under Mnangagwa's wings, he directed many CIO operations that killed thousands of people during Gukurahundi, now widely acknowledged as genocide or crimes against humanity.
Stannard also worked closely with the North Korean-trained Fifth Brigade commander Perrence Shiri.
After a long career characterised by distinction, brutality and bloodshed, Stannard retired from the CIO in 1994 and took up a new role as a lobbyist, security consultant and cricket follower.
Source - newshawks
