via Mnangagwa put me in jail, Dabengwa 20/12/2014
ZAPU leader Dumiso Dabengwa has claimed that newly appointed Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa orchestrated his four-year detention in the 1980s despite the fact he had been cleared of alleged treason by the courts.
Dabengwa and the late former Zimbabwe People’s Revolutionary Army (ZIPRA) commander, Lookout Masuku were arrested soon after Independence for allegedly planning a coup d’état against then Prime Minister Robert Mugabe.
The Supreme Court found both Masuku and Dabengwa not guilty but the police detained them for four years under the notorious emergency regulations.
“Mnangagwa was instrumental in putting me into prison,” Dabengwa said while addressing the Bulawayo Press Club on Friday.
“Whenever I meet him I always remind him that it is him who made me to suffer in prison for a crime which I had not committed.”
Dabengwa however, refused to shed light Mnangagwa’s role in the 1980s Gukurahundi campaign saying he was not comfortable discussing the vice president’s past.
Rights groups have estimated that some 20,000 civilians were killed when Mugabe deployed the army to crack-down on dissident activities in Matabeleland and some parts of the Midlands.
Mnangagwa was the Minister of State Security at the time.
COMMENTS
He has always been evil and satanic, that sly fox!
Mr Dabengwa if you are not comfortable to tell us the whole truth then don’t say anything. You’ve already conceded that Mnangagwa is responsible for your incarceration but you now want to protect him on the more important matter of Gukurahundi. I think you are the real sell-out against your people.
We missed you when you left Chikurubi. I was elected spokesman to replace you. The only free and fair election ever to be held in Zimbabwe.