Turning the CIO into a party militia

It is 11am, Tuesday 3 June, 2025.

A red Honda Fit notorious for political violence in Gutu District screeches to a halt and stops in the middle of the highway cowboy style.

Clad in a blue suit, eyes rolling like a chameleon, the driver jumps out leaving doors open as he advances menacingly towards me. Four other men emerge from the little car and make an oxbow formation as if I had any intentions to run away.

One would be pardoned for thinking that the gang was moving in on a wanted, dangerous armed criminal. I was only a parent clearing grass and shrubs along a road used by kids on their way to school.

Almost at the same time, Zanu-PF Councillor for Ward 35 Gutu and a former Gutu RDC CEO, Benson Kurauone Dandira's white Nissan twin cab pulls to a halt from the opposite direction and parks in the middle of the road in front of the Honda Fit. From it jumps a group of party hangers-on who looked like they were ready to pounce on someone and turn him into mincemeat.

There is a desperate show of invincibility as hapless villagers only armed with sickles and slashers that they were using to clear the road look on.

A green CIO Ford Ranger twin cab had earlier passed through the road in a Zanu-PF convoy to a campaign rally in Gutu East. The unregistered vehicle carried equipment for the rally including speakers.

The question that lingers is; is this the Central Intelligence that we need? Is this the role of the Central Intelligence in a normal functional state? Is this what the once revered, almost mystique Central Intelligence Organisation (CIO) has become; an embedded, rag-tag outfit that openly, brazenly and without a drop of shame moves around with Zanu-PF leaders and hooligans, coercing, threatening and beating up innocent civilians?

A State intelligence whose operatives go around harassing people on behalf of friends, connections and politicians? What does the State benefit from operatives who are characterised by communities as bullies and terror agents? Imagine a country's secret service leaving office to go and arrest villagers cutting grass by the roadside?

This is the situation in Gutu District and the Zimbabwe Human Rights Commission captured something akin to this in a report published last year.

Central Intelligence is by nature and rule secretive but not in Gutu where operatives are visible in bars, townships, at political gatherings, political activities and familiar to everybody. They are some sort of notorious celebrities.

Dr Fulton Mangwaya, the CIO Director General must be ashamed to lead such an unprofessional outfit which takes instructions from all and sundry as long as they are Zanu-PF and they have money and power. The long-term effect of allowing this free spirit to men and women in the CIO is chilling; the consequences are dire and difficult to reverse.

A State intelligence organisation in that form and shape is a loose cannon, dangerous and available to the highest bidder. The bottom line is that it is a militia.

Zimbabwe has walked the road before; 2008 is a gory and dark hour in the history of our country. The violence that people went through makes sacrifices of the liberation struggle and independence pointless.

"What do you think you are doing?" barked the CIO operative who I realised is nicknamed Stavo.

"We are cutting overgrown grass to make the road safe for school kids," I replied trying hard to suppress my swelling anger at the abuse that I was being subjected to.

He grabbed my phone and tried to wrestle it away but I kept my hands tight on it until he gave up. He then snatched away Tendai Jayben's (one of the parents) phone that had US$300 under its cover. The money was stolen, she did not get it when the phone was handed back to her five hours later.

Gutu residents said this precisely is Stavo's character. A village bully!

"You have been arrested," he further said.

I asked him to identify himself otherwise I would not co-operate. He said I was being arrested by Feret, adding that he would explain the meaning of Feret later. I still insisted on an ID until he instructed one Police Officer called O Sibanda to produce his ID. I was told that this Sibanda is notorious for accompanying this gang wherever it goes to harass and violate people.

I later learned from a lawyer that Feret is a system used by the ruling party to abuse real or perceived opponents. Feret which consists of a member each from every State security department; CID, CIO, Army, Prisons and Police is used for arresting "enemies".

However, arresting powers rest with the Police; it's not the duty of secret service. In my case, I was arrested by a CIO agent who led the whole process. So much about law and order in our country!

It was Stavo who questioned me, forced me into his car and took me to Gutu Police Station without any arresting powers. None of the things that he did is legal. Sibanda who instead should have led the process was no actor.

If this is not lawlessness and violation of people's rights then what is?

Stavo forced me to leave my car unlocked and unguarded. He speeded towards the Gutu Police Camp and at one time we all yelled as he almost rammed into an oncoming vehicle.

I sat for five hours at the Police Station guarded by three members of the gang. Dandira had told me that I was being arrested for cutting grass on the roadside without his approval as a councillor.

For all those five hours no one really advised me of the specific crime I had committed. There was no warned and cautioned statement. That is blatant violation of a suspect's rights by men and women who think they are above the law. Initially, they told me that I had cut grass without permission. When they realised that there was no such law, the Officer-in-charge and another senior Cop said I was not a resident of the ward and therefore I was not supposed to cut that grass. But I am a resident of Gutu.

They later tried to link the case to an unlawful political gathering hoping that parents who were slashing grass were bussed from elsewhere. It emerged that all were residents of the area and the case fell flat.

They tried to accuse me of endangering the parents by slashing grass by the roadside but they again abandoned that line.

Realising that there was no crime committed, they then invited EMA to see if the Authority could raise a case against me. After a lengthy meeting, EMA noted that what I did was correct, if at all it is the Government that is on the wrong side of the law by not clearing the road.

Without the involvement of the CIO and with Zanu-PF officials not directing operations of a State organ, a frivolous case like this one would never have been raised, wasting a whole day, fuel and human resources running after the wind.

This is what happens when State security organs become captured and allow themselves to become thuggish. A bigger danger awaits Zimbabwe.

Currently Government is facing millions of dollars' worth of lawsuits for wrongful arrests. A responsible and efficient Government would not allow such a waste of resources but who cares about the economy or the people in our Government?

Security agents involved in wrongful arrests against advice must be sued in their personal capacities.

Meanwhile US$300 disappeared into the hands of a State security agent.