Zimbabwe fugitive finds safety in Britain

Times (UK) vis ZWNews ^ | August 11, 2002 | Daniel McGrory

[Clive]

Zimbabwe fugitive finds safety in Britain Times (UK) Date posted:Sun 11-Aug-2002 Date published:Fri 9-Aug-2002

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A leading opponent of President Mugabe has been given asylum in Britain after he escaped from an execution squad working for the Zimbabwean leader. Ephraim Tapa, who led the Civil Service union and was a member of the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions, was kidnapped with Faith, his pregnant wife, by a gang of so-called war veterans earlier this year. They heard their captors discussing the orders to kill them, and the arguments they had over whether to disguise their deaths as an accident. Even though he managed to flee to Britain in March and was given refugee status six weeks later, his wife is still in hiding in Zimbabwe with their three-week-old daughter. Members of his family have been threatened to betray his whereabouts. "If I go back, I would be dead within hours," he said yesterday. "I feel very fortunate to have escaped. Many don't in Zimbabwe."

Mr Tapa is keen to remind people that it is not just whites in Zimbabwe that are suffering, but the hundreds of thousands of blacks who are losing their jobs on the land as well.

"Over 150,000 black farm workers have already lost everything. Many have lost their lives," he said. "Add their families to this number and you are talking about 750,000 who have no homes, no schools, but the world just stands and watches."

The livelihoods of another 200,000 black farm workers and their families were also threatened as Mr Mugabe completed his land redistribution, which began two years ago.

From his hiding place in Britain, Mr Tapa is campaigning for Western powers to do more to help the 1.75 million black farm workers and their families who were facing expulsion from their homes as the deadline for owners to vacate their farms expired last night.

Mr Tapa argues that Whitehall and its allies could do more to get rid of Mr Mugabe. "Governments talk openly about overthrowing Saddam Hussein. Why not Mugabe?"

He and other opposition figures in exile are urging an international coalition to launch an attempt to end Mr Mugabe's rule. "There is not much more Zimbabweans can do. We need outside help now."

With food supplies already dangerously short in Zimbabwe, the prospects for the thousands of refugees is perilous.

Mr Tapa, 40, and his wife, 25, were campaigning for the main opposition party, the Movement for Democratic Change, in February during the presidential elections, when they were kidnapped. They were driving to a primary school in Mashonaland, about 100 miles from Harare, where his wife worked as a teacher. Near the school the couple were ambushed by a gang wearing the colours of the ruling Zanu PF party and handed over to a group of war veterans, led by John Murwisi, a notorious local figure.

The pair were dragged into a classroom, which was the veterans' local headquarters. Mr Tapa was beaten so severely around the head that he lost consciousness. He remembers how at one point his captors, who were trying to torture him into revealing the names of fellow opposition leaders, began throttling him with a scarf.

The gang bundled their hostages into a lorry and drove them to various forest hideouts where the gunmen chatted about how and where to execute the couple. "They were arguing about how soon our bodies would be found, and whether they should make it look like an accident."

Eventually they were taken to a veterans' camp at Mushimbo, near the Mozambique border, where for much of their four weeks in captivity they were bound and blindfolded. "They were interrogating me about the MDC opposition party, their members and strategies," Mr Tapa said. "I had been beaten so hard on the face I couldn't see."

Mr Tapa said one of their captors took pity on them and agreed to smuggle out a message from the couple begging for help. When a police unit arrived at the camp, Mr Tapa was able to escape, but he knew he could not remain in Zimbabwe.

Three weeks later sympathetic figures inside the regime helped him to leave the country. He will not reveal their identities to protect them from reprisals. "Not everybody in Government supports Mugabe, but they are scared of him."

His wife was too unwell to risk escape with him, so she went into hiding. Three weeks ago she gave birth to their daughter. Mr Tapa does not know when he will see his wife and daughter.

Mr Tapa said the President's security forces have a vested interest in clearing properties as confiscated land is being given to Mugabe cronies. "Once the deadline passes for the farms to be evacuated it will be every man for himself. There will be looting on a scale Zimbabwe has not seen before, and I'm certain there will be killing."

[Clive]

"Over 150,000 black farm workers have already lost everything. Many have lost their lives. Add their families to this number and you are talking about 750,000 who have no homes, no schools, but the world just stands and watches"

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[backhoe]

"If I go back, I would be dead within hours," he said yesterday. "I feel very fortunate to have escaped. Many don't in Zimbabwe."

Kind of says it all, doesn't it?

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[Cincinatus' Wife]

***Mr Tapa is keen to remind people that it is not just whites in Zimbabwe that are suffering, but the hundreds of thousands of blacks who are losing their jobs on the land as well. "Over 150,000 black farm workers have already lost everything. Many have lost their lives," he said. "Add their families to this number and you are talking about 750,000 who have no homes, no schools, but the world just stands and watches." The livelihoods of another 200,000 black farm workers and their families were also threatened as Mr Mugabe completed his land redistribution, which began two years ago. ***

BUMP!