CIO chaps thrash cops and blow cover on jamming center

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BY MAGAISA IBENZI

WARD 12, PARIRENYATWA HOSPITAL, HARARE – So now we know where Mugabe’s jamming station is. It didn’t take long for our over-zealous CIO chaps to blow the cover. They recently beat up an innocent passer by because he was too close to the spy center housing the jammers opposite Makro in Hillside.
It is interesting that it is the CIO who are guarding the jamming station, and not police or army details who usually guard strategic buildings. When the poor man reported the incident to the police, even the officer in charge of Braeside Police Station, along with 10 other armed policemen, were given a thorough beating by CIO agents.
Their crime? They had dared to investigate the assault charge laid by the innocent civilian. Their investigations led them to the secret jamming center where the CIO guards promptly disarmed them and gave them a vicious thrashing.
Magaisa’s own surveillance agents have informed him that the policemen were made to lie down on the ground and were kicked and sjambokked. The officer in charge, an ex-combatant, tried to pull rank but failed to impress the thugs with his liberation history. He was heard screaming in anguish “Maiweeee” as the sjambok fell again and again.
While I feel sorry for these guys I can’t help thinking that it is about time some representatives of the police force at least had a little taste of their own medicine. After all, this is what thousands of Zimbabweans have suffered during the past six years at the hands of the police.
Commissioner of Police Augustine Chihuri complained about the incident to superspook Happyton Bonyongwe. But he was fobbed off with an explanation that a few cadres had been a bit overenthusiastic and there was nothing to worry about. “It’s not serious,” said Happyton dismissively.
Whereupon Augustine rushed to the president’s office to complain – but was once again given short shrift. It seems the police are no longer in the pound seats.
While Chihuri is busy trying to ensure assurances of protection for CIO bully-boys for his officers, nobody is out there attempting to protect the ordinary Zimbabwean – men, women and children – from such thuggery. Chihuri is unable even to secure a promise that such incidents will not happen again in the future. In other words, even the Zimbabwean police cannot defend themselves against Zanu (PF) thugs on the state payroll – never mind the person, or child, in the street.
What this means, basically, is that Zimbabweans going about their daily business could be assaulted by these over-enthusiastic spooks in shiny suits and nobody can or will do a damn thing about it – not even the president. What a sad day for our country.