Job Sikhala, a Zimbabwean MP, had wire wrapped around his genitals, toes and tongue and was then subjected to electric shocks for eight hours until he confessed to treason against the Zanu-PF regime.
Sikhala, who was one of the first of a succession of Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) members to be tortured, is in South Africa for psychological treatment. Meanwhile, increasing numbers of members of his party are being arrested, tortured and assaulted.
The retribution campaign follows a speech by Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe on March 21 in which he compared himself to Adolf Hitler. Mugabe said he would be the “black Hitler tenfold in crushing his opponents”.
Reports indicate that widespread persecution of opposition members has occurred since a two-day anti-government strike organised by the MDC last week.
Speaking at a hideout in Johannesburg, Sikhala says this new wave of violence flies in the face of South African President Thabo Mbeki’s statement that Zimbabwe has gone a long way towards curbing human rights abuses.
He says Mugabe no longer hides these human rights violations but is using the army as an instrument of state oppression. Taking off his shoes, Sikhala points to dark marks around his middle toe, where he says an electric wire was tied.
“This is the torture my people will be facing,” he says. “They [Zanu-PF] have not killed my spirit. My horrendous experience has hardened my resolve that it is better to die for the freedom of the Zimbabwean people than to remain silent.”
He says on January 14 this year armed police burst into a hotel room where he had gone to meet Gabriel Shumba, a human rights lawyer.
“There were five of us in the hotel room. The police assaulted Gabriel and took us to different police stations,” Sikhala said.
At 6pm the next day two policemen took him out of the Harare police station to a minibus. “I was blindfolded, handcuffed and taken to an unknown location.”
The 30-year old man is almost 1,8m tall, but trembles when he recalls the torture. “I knew my life was in danger, and walking down a long passage I began to prepare myself for death.”
After hours of interrogation, being beaten under the feet with a wooden plank, stripped naked and electrocuted, Sikhala says he “cracked”.
“I was forced to use my body to wipe up my urine, then they told me to lick it up,” he says wiping his eyes.
“I answered all their questions. They wanted to know where the MDC had hidden arms … if we were planning to overthrow the government. I made up stories just to stop the pain.”
The final humiliation was when one of his assailants urinated on him.
Sikhala is undergoing psychotherapy to assist in his recovery and will return to Zimbabwe next month. He has also undergone blood tests because he was forced to drink toxins during his incarceration.
Sikhala, Shumba and three others were charged with masterminding a treason attempt and appeared in court on January 25.
Harare magistrate Caroline-Anne Chigumira ordered a medical examination of Sikhala and Shumba during the trial after hearing testimony about police brutality towards them.
“The case was thrown out because the evidence used by the state was a document written by Shumba under duress. Gabriel was tortured and made to write a document accusing me of treason,” Sikhala said.
The police warned Sikhala that he would be killed if he spoke about the torture, he says, but after his testimony there was a “public outcry” that an MP could be tortured.
Sikhala, who is anxious to return to his wife and two children, says he is not afraid to go back to Zimbabwe. He says to stay away or be silent would be to allow the human rights abuses to continue.
“The Mugabe regime uses systematic murder, rape, arrests and assaults as a way of silencing dissent.
“We do not want or expect Mbeki to liberate Zimbabwe, but to tell the world the truth about what is happening in Zimbabwe.”
Sikhala warns that Mugabe is the greatest threat to the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (Nepad). “Mugabe is a demonic ruler, who stands against all the ideals of good governance and human rights that Nepad is trying to achieve.”