CIO gags relatives of arrested Zanu PF officials Zim Online (SA) Date posted:Sun 26-Dec-2004 Date published:Sat 25-Dec-2004
Back to previous page		Chiyangwa is being detained at the CIO's Goromonzi torture chambers less than 80 km east of Harare while the other Zanu PF officials are scattered at other secret locations of the CIO Harare - State secret agents have threatened close relatives of Zanu PF provincial chairman, Philip Chiyangwa and other top party officials they are holding on espionage not to speak about their whereabouts or face unspecified but serious punishment. Intelligence officers speaking anonymously told Zim Online that Chiyangwa's wife and relatives of Zimbabwe's ambassador to Mozambique, Godfrey Dzvairo; Zanu PF deputy security chief, Kenny Karidza; the party's external affairs director, Itai Machi and bank executive, Tendai Mantambanadzo had been ordered to remain silent. "Chiyangwa's wife, for instance, knows where her husband is and the fact that he suffered a mild stroke earlier this week but she is under strict instructions to watch what she tells the press," said one senior agent of the state's secret service Central Intelligence organization (CIO). Chiyangwa, who is a relative of President Robert Mugabe and is Zanu PF chairman for Mashonaland West Province was arrested last week on allegations he was supplying strategic information about the ruling party and government to British and Israeli spies. His arrest led to the arrest of the other Zanu PF officials. Since the arrest of the five party officials family members have maintained standard responses that they were away attending business meetings and not in prison. But according to intelligence sources Chiyangwa, who is believed to be the ringleader of the group, is being detained at the CIO's Goromonzi torture chambers less than 80 km east of Harare while the other Zanu PF officials are scattered at other secret locations of the CIO.