Police investigating a string of petrol-bomb attacks in politically tense Zimbabwe claim they have been barred from pursuing their probe in South Africa, reports said on Thursday.
Zimbabwe authorities claim members of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) carried out the attacks on supermarkets and police stations in the weeks following the high-profile arrest of party leader Morgan Tsvangirai on March 11.
While a group of MDC activists has been held in police custody on terrorism charges connected with the bombings since March, investigations so far appear to have yielded little.
More than a dozen are still in custody, and several are reported to have been badly assaulted.
The MDC denies it had anything to do with the bombings, which left a number of police officers nursing serious burns.
The party says the attacks were the work of President Robert Mugabe’s much-feared Central Intelligence Organisation (CIO) and were designed to prove to outside observers that the MDC was a violent party, as Mugabe claims.
The Zimbabwe authorities claim that the men had undergone terrorist training at bases in South Africa.
Testifying at the High Court in Harare on Wednesday, prosecutor Tawanda Zvekare said a police team from Zimbabwe had already been to South Africa twice to pursue investigations, according to the official Herald newspaper.
But now the authorities there have told the police they must follow proper channels before entering the country, Zvekare said.
”Initially the police relied on strong ties that existed between Zimbabwe and South Africa police to an extent that police details went to that country without invoking formal procedures that are required when conducting extra-territorial investigation,” he said.
But recently the investigators, who were in the company of state witnesses, were turned back at Beitbridge border post, he claimed.
”When they arrived at Beitbridge they were informed by their counterparts that if ever they set their foot in South Africa they would be arrested immediately under that country’s terrorism law,” he said.
South Africa and Zimbabwe are normally very close allies.
The Zimbabwe authorities rely heavily upon South African President Thabo Mbeki’s refusal to criticise the Mugabe government, preferring to pursue a policy of quiet diplomacy.
In fact, Mbeki is leading efforts to bring Zimbabwe’s opposition and Mugabe’s ruling Zanu-PF party to the negotiating table ahead of next year’s polls.
But in recent days, suspicion of the South Africans has crept into Zimbabwean state media, which closely reflects the government line.
Earlier this week, the Herald accused South African veterinary authorities of racism after 100 cattle belonging to Zimbabwean villagers were shot in what may have been an attempt to stop the spread of foot-and-mouth disease. — Sapa-dpa