Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
02HARARE2852
2002-12-20 10:23:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Harare
Cable title:  

DISCOVERY OF BODIES IN ABANDONED WELL

Tags:  PGOV PHUM ASEC ZI 
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This record is a partial extract of the original cable. The full text of the original cable is not available.
C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 HARARE 002852 

SIPDIS

NSC FOR SENIOR AFRICA DIRECTOR J. FRAZER
LONDON FOR C. GURNEY
PARIS FOR C. NEARY
NAIROBI FOR T. PFLAUMER

E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/01/2012
TAGS: PGOV PHUM ASEC ZI
SUBJECT: DISCOVERY OF BODIES IN ABANDONED WELL


Classified By: Political Officer Audu Besmer for reasons 1.5 b/d

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 HARARE 002852

SIPDIS

NSC FOR SENIOR AFRICA DIRECTOR J. FRAZER
LONDON FOR C. GURNEY
PARIS FOR C. NEARY
NAIROBI FOR T. PFLAUMER

E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/01/2012
TAGS: PGOV PHUM ASEC ZI
SUBJECT: DISCOVERY OF BODIES IN ABANDONED WELL


Classified By: Political Officer Audu Besmer for reasons 1.5 b/d


1. (C) Summary: On December 10 police in Nkayi District (in
Matabeleland North Province) reportedly retrieved five
skeletons from an abandoned well near the town of Lukona. A
local war veteran, implicated in a previous case of murder by
torture freely accompanied police when the bodies were
retrieved. Fearful residents want to know the fate of their
loved ones, but police have admitted to finding only one
body. End Summary.


2. (SBU) On December 10 police in Nkayi District (in
Matabeleland North Province) reportedly retrieved five
skeletons from an abandoned well near the town of Lukona.
The BBC, which also reported the story, and the Daily News
reported the site was a defunct "dip tank" (a tank usually
about six feet deep for dipping cattle in a pesticide bath).
But according to the government-owned weekly Bulawayo Sunday
News, and Nkayi MDC MP Abednico Bhebhe who is in touch with
local residents and a police officer in Nkayi, the site was
an abandoned well about 100 feet deep.

Body Parts
--------------

3. (SBU) (Note: In April 2002, the independent weekly
Financial Gazette reported that residents of Lenkubini,
another village in Nkayi District, found a hand floating in a
dip tank there. According to Shari Eppl of Amani Trust, a
local human rights NGO, and Bhebhe, residents reported that
police guarded the site overnight while two to three
skeletons were removed. Later the official police report
said no bodies were found. News reporters may be confusing
the two sites. End Note.)

Missing Bodies
--------------

4. (C) The Lukona investigation and finding arose when
villagers noticed that a ZANU-PF youth militia member, known
only as Mazolo, was missing from the area. They questioned
and beat other ZANU-PF youths in the area, who eventually
confessed to killing their colleague and dumping his body in
the abandoned well. The villagers informed Nkayi police, who
arrested ZANU-PF youth militia member Mandla Ncube.
According to Bhebhe, who has a contact inside the Nkayi
police department, Ncube confessed the killing to police and
revealed that war veterans had killed and dumped bodies of
MDC members in the well during the March 2002 election
period. According to the government-owned Bulawayo Sunday
News the 'one' skeleton found belongs to Freedom
Ncube--killed by cattle thieves for threatening to reveal
them.

The Killer Next Door
--------------

5. (C) The Daily News reported that a local war veteran
commonly known as Khiwa accompanied police to the well at
Lukona on December 10. According to Bhebhe, Mandla Ncube
fingered Khiwa as responsible for the deaths of those in the
well. According to Bhebhe, two other MDC members abducted on
February 6, 2002 and tortured for a month at an underground
military-style bunker in Nguana (Nkayi District),Newman
Bhebhe and Van Dube, had subsequently reported in signed
affidavits to police that Khiwa (whose real name is Esa
Ngwenya) was their lead captor. The two were abducted along
with a third MDC member, Tembendi Ndebele, who died during
the episode at the bunker. Amani Trust interviewed Van Dube
and documented the medical evidence of his torture. The
three had been sent to Mateme (Nkayi district) to set up an
MDC rally ahead of the presidential contest. According to
Bhebhe, Khiwa is affiliated with the CIO, and investigated
alleged dissidents for the GOZ during the Matabeleland
Massacres in the 1980s.


6. (SBU) Bhebhe reported that torture sites were also set up
in bush areas near Lukona, Bona and Isifisosikazulu (Nkayi
District) in the run-up to the March 2002 presidential
challenge.

Comment:
--------------

7. (C) Nkayi district witnessed some of the worst violence in
the country leading up to the March 2002 elections; dozens of
people are still missing. Residents were visibly afraid to
talk to Poloff during a visit there in September 2002, but
they are also reportedly eager to know if any of the bodies
found belong to people they know. Given that police are
admitting to finding only one body at Lukona, it seems
unlikely that the identities of the rest of the victims will
ever be revealed. It is also disturbing that Khiwa, who
appears to have been implicated for torturing and killing MDC
members in other cases, accompanied police to the Lukona
well, and is able to move about freely. Police seem to be
caught between grieving and fearful fellow residents who want
answers, and ZANU-PF authorities who would rather hide the
truth. Ever more concerned with their own safety and putting
food on the table, it appears unlikely that rural Nkayi
residents would stand up to ZANU-PF authorities and insist on
a thorough investigation. End Comment.
SULLIVAN