Mugabe Opponent Forced To Seek Safety In London

Independent (UK) ^ | 1-21-2003 | Basildon Peta

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Mugabe opponent forced to seek safety in London

By Basildon Peta, Southern Africa Correspondent
21 January 2003

A leading Zimbabwean opposition MP has sought sanctuary in London after three of his colleagues were tortured by police in Harare last week.

The Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) said Tafadzwa Musekiwa, MP for the impoverished Harare district of Zengeza, would not be returning home until the volatile political atmosphere in Zimbabwe had calmed down. He would risk torture if he returned, a party spokesman, Paul Nyathi, said.

Job Sikhala, an MP from a neighbouring constituency, told a court in Harare last week that he was beaten and subjected to electric shocks after his arrest on allegations of involvement in the burning of a bus owned by a state transport company in Harare on 13 January. The MDC says two fellow opposition activists and their lawyer arrested with him were also tortured.

Charles Selemane, a lawyer, said a medical examination showed the men had been given shocks with electrodes clipped to their genitals, between their toes and in their mouths. Severe bruising showed police beat them with canes on the soles of their feet.

The men told the court they were suspended by their hands and feet for long periods, and that police urinated on them and forced them to roll in urine.

Mr Sikhala and the other three were accused of inciting violence, which they deny.

Mr Nyathi said Mr Musekiwa had been on holiday in London for about a month when reports of the torture of his colleagues reached him and he decided that he should not return to Zimbabwe.

Earler, Mr Musekiwa had told the Zimbabwean Daily News from London that he had discovered his name appeared on a government hit list and his life was in grave danger.

The police have failed to get a conviction against Mr Sikhala and Mr Musekiwa despite arresting them about a dozen times in the past year. Mr Sikhala, 30, and Mr Musekiwa, 28, say they have been arrested more times than any other opposition MP.

Mr Sikhala says he has been a target since he exposed in court details of an alleged homosexual affair between Mr Mugabe's chief spin doctor, the Information Minister Jonathan Moyo, and Alum Mpofu, the man Mr Moyo had appointed to run the state's broadcasting company.

Last April, tear-gas grenades were hurled into Mr Musekiwa's home by unidentified attackers. No arrests were made after that attack.

Mr Sikhala has been repeatedly accused of inciting clashes between rival party supporters, charges he denies.