War veterans’ leader Christopher Mutsvangwa said the former Central Intelligence Organization (CIO) director, Happyton Bonyongwe and the Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP) Commissioner General, Augustine Chihuri
should be held accountable for human rights violations they committed when they were under the former President Robert Mugabe.
“When we wanted to show this regime that we the fighters of the liberation were the ones who brought Zanu PF and Mugabe to power and that we were not happy, we became victims of violence which hit the conscience of all
Zimbabweans. You all know that two years ago we were tear-gassed and water cannoned by the Zimbabwe regime,” Mutsvangwa told journalists in Harare.
The Zimbabwe National Liberation War Veterans Association (ZNLWVA) chairperson, said they were still nursing the wounds from the policebrutality.
“It was a painful occasion and we want people who did that to be still accountable in the fullness of time, but what it also did is that it opened the eyes of the Zimbabwe people as to the extremities to which this regime would go to try to maintain its power,” he said.
Mutsvangwa said the CIO was also at the centre of promoting corruption and human rights abuses.
“All the rot which have forced you the people of Zimbabwe to suffer so much, the CIO should have been vigilant. All the problems which have finally forced the Army which is normally there to just protect the boarders to intervene in national politics would have been corrected if the CIO and the police had done their job and we are saying you were derelict on duty Bonyongwe (former CIO boss) as Mugabe was,” said Mutsvangwa.- agencies
COMMENTS
By all means, they should be held accountable and charged. And, while you’re at it, charge the War Vets for their part. OK, all that’s a pipe dream, because those in positions to hold any of them responsible all have their own varying degrees of guilt… from ordering the crime, to wielding the hammer or club, to exonerating the guilty in court, to turning a willful blind eye.
Remember, freedom has not yet come. Mnangagwa is not the answer… but he can become an unwitting stepping stone if the people’s voice is not silenced.
Remain vigilant. Do not squander opportunities, again.
How self saving of Chris and the war vets.!!They seek justice for being brutalized by the police and CIO!Who do ordinary Zimbabweans appeal to for justice for the brutality they endured at the hands of the war vets during several election cycles,just to keep RGM and Zanu in power?Why is he not calling the CIO to divulge the fate or whereabouts of Itai Dzamara?
The country will never prosper if the war vets keep blackmailing the country.
All Zimbabweans made horrendous sacrifices and died for the struggle than Chris and his band of ragtags give them credit for and acknowledge.All Zimbabweans made sacrifices and none should claim entitlement.