EXILED former cabinet minister Jonathan Moyo has denied knowledge of inside information linking the state to past acts of citizen brutality although emphatically pinning all blame on security forces for the atrocities.
Moyo was once fierce aide to late former President Robert Mugabe who led a brutal regime blamed for killings, abductions, rape and the extermination of those regarded as enemies of the state.
The former Tsholotsho legislator distanced himself from playing any part in the acts but squarely blamed the state for the transgressions.
He also blamed the state for the bombing of the Daily News printing press in 2001.
Moyo told the media this week that all transgressions against enemies of the state were targeted attacks.
“All unresolved serious crimes and atrocities that have been committed in Zimbabwe including the bombing of the Daily News were done by state agents,” Moyo said.
“And that is why we have this dark cloud of unresolved atrocities. It’s because they have been committed by the state.”
The Daily News, the only privately owned local daily at the time, unsettled government through fearless reportage on state excesses.
The paper’s establishment coincided with the formation in 1999, of MDC, which became the first formidable opposition since the former PF Zapu merged with Zanu in 1987.
When the publication’s printing press was bombed, Moyo, as then information minister widely viewed as enemy to press freedom, was blamed for the incident.
But the former Zanu PF politburo member and party strategist further has distanced himself from the incidents, adding that government has deliberately created confusion to keep the public guessing on who was responsible for mysterious incidents that have been taking place.
“One of the dark spots and points of heritage especially regarding our post-independence period is that certain acts have been committed in our country with impunity,” Moyo said.
“We do not have and we have not had a culture of accountability. So, get horrible things done and we never get to know who did what.
“All that we get to know is when these things happen and yet you don’t have to be a rocket scientist to know who controls and who uses the instruments of violence with impunity in Zimbabwe.
“Interestingly, our police force has an impressive record of solving crimes, murder especially crimes committed by individuals and so forth, but when you find a very serious crime, atrocities committed in Zimbabwe, you don’t have to guess who committed that crime. All you need to look at is whether the authorities resolve or solve that crime or not.”
Moyo added, “Where they don’t, is without exception, state would have committed that crime.
“If a person is abducted or you don’t get to know who abducted them and if a facility is bombed and you don’t know who bombed it, the answer is very clear; agents of the states would have done it.
“And this is one of the most serious problems that we have faced in our country.” – Newzim
