Sapa-Sapa-AFP
BULAWAYO — A candidate for Zimbabwe’s opposition Movement for Democratic Change, David Coltart, said yesterday he had been informed of a new death threat against him, apparently linked to his work as a human rights lawyer during the Matabeleland massacres in the 1980s.
Coltart, who has been threatened on several occasions during the election campaign, said news of the threat came from a sympathetic senior police officer in Bulawayo, who had asked to meet Coltart’s campaign manager, Simon Spooner.
“Simon was told we should be extra careful because there were plans to eliminate me if I revealed the information I have on Gukurahundi, the Fifth Brigade.”
Gukurahundi was the name given by President Robert Mugabe to the programme of genocide carried out by his Korean-trained Fifth Brigade in the province between 1983 and 1985. At least 10000 people were detained and 7000 beaten or tortured. While investigators could confirm over 2 000 deaths, they said possible dead could be more than five times that number.
Coltart investigated many of the incidents and was co-author of the Catholic Justice and Peace Commission report on the episode.
The MDC has proposed war crime tribunals for those responsible for the killings, who include several Zanu-PF candidates running in the election.
The original reports and other “damning” documents used in compiling the commission report are now housed in London for safekeeping.
Coltart said he had no intention of using the documents in the election campaign, and did not in any case have any authority to do so, as they were controlled by the commission and the Legal Resources Foundation, co-sponsor of the project.
Coltart said the police officer told Spooner he had learned of the threat through intelligence circles. He said he himself did not know the origin of the threat, other than that it came from “within government circles”, possibly the Central Intelligence Organisation (CIO).
He was concerned at the new threat, which followed earlier threats to firebomb his home and a visit by the CIO a few weeks ago. “Knowing the nature of this regime you can’t take these threats lightly,” he said.
Coltart, who is standing as a candidate in Bulawayo, has for several weeks now been accompanied by at least one armed bodyguard when he moves in public.