Ex-finance minister describes abduction
He says military snatched him and two others.
HARARE, ZIMBABWE — Zimbabwe’s former finance minister testified Saturday that armed, masked men in uniform abducted him from his home during the military operation leading to the ouster of President Robert Mugabe and held him for a week in an unidentified location, fueling debate about the legality of the popular, mostly peaceful takeover by the armed forces.
The account by Ignatius Chombo came a day after a High Court judge, a retired general, ruled that the military’s recent actions, which commanders described as a move against “criminals” around Mugabe, were legal. While some critics said it set a dangerous precedent, the decision by Judge George Chiweshe reinforced the military’s assertion that it acted within the law even though it set off events, including impeachment proceedings and street demonstrations against the 93-year-old Mugabe, that ended his 37-year rule.
The joyful inauguration on Friday of President Emmerson Mnangagwa, a former top aide to Mugabe, showed that most Zimbabweans are happy to have a new leader who might take steps to revive the shattered economy and grant them more freedoms. Even so, perceptions that the abrupt political transition was constitutionally sound are important to Zimbabwe’s new leadership, which must prepare for 2018 elections and seeks to attract foreign investment.
However, Chombo and two leaders of the ruling ZANU-PF party’s youth league, Kudzanai Chipanga and Innocent Hamandishe, who said they were abducted by the military before being handed over days later to the police described experiences reminiscent of human rights violations that were a routine occurrence during Mugabe’s rule. The three men have been linked to a party faction loyal to Mugabe’s wife, Grace, whose presidential ambitions triggered the military intervention.
“I was in the custody of armed persons who were dressed in soldiers’ uniforms,” said Chombo, who has been charged with corruption. “I don’t know where I was taken to.”
Several days ago, his captors drove him home, he said. There, two cars with police were parked.
“They said, ‘You are under arrest,’” Chombo said.
Defense lawyer Lovemore Madhuku said Chombo’s constitutional rights had been violated because he was not taken to court within 48 hours of his detention. The police arrest, he said, was designed to provide legal cover for an illegal act.