Farai Dziva|A prison officer identified as Ronald Chiwakaya threatened to shoot MDC activists who were detained at Harare Remand Prison.

Below is a statement written by Stephen Chuma, the MDC Youth Assembly spokesperson who was also arrested for allegedly inciting violence in Chitungwiza:

The rot and squalid conditions at Harare Remand Prison where we were unjustifiably incarcerated for the past 25 days is reflective of Emmerson Mnangagwa’s failed regime.

From every facet, the institution which is located along Enterprise Road has become a symbol of military dictatorship where dissent political voices are subjected to torture and nervous conditions which defiles and defies local and international statutes on rights of detainees.

At the centre of persecution of political detainees is one boastful Ronald Chiwakaya who is the Officer In Charge at the torture institution.

Chiwakaya, an ex-military man with the Zimbabwe National Army (ZNA) is an embodiment of frontal human rights attacks under Mnangagwa’s military dictatorship.

His presence at the remand institution which ideally is for safe keeping of accused remanded in custody is a clear confirmation of state capture by the military.

In one instance, the Officer in Charge called me and 12 other co-accused MDC activists to his office whereupon he pulled his 9 millimetre short gun and pointed at us.

Chiwakaya who is a law unto himself uttered all sorts of polemic attacks on our party and its leadership which he branded as “agents of West”.

Chiwakaya who is a self proclaimed participant of Gukurahundi killings threatened us with death and disappearance citing suspicious murders of fallen MDC leader, Learnmore Jongwe and activist Hilton Tamangani at the hands of state.

As if the threats were not enough, we were made to watch ZANU PF propaganda documentaries for three hours on Friday 20 March and on Tuesday 25 March.

The nervous conditions at Harare Remand Prison where raw sewer flows in cell corridors makes the institution a death trap.

Critical water shortages at the institution compound the situation and as a result there is already fears of typhoid as evidenced by inmates faecal matter laced with blood which could be easily seen in toilets that go for days without water.

With Coronavirus on our doorsteps, there are fears that inmates will be wiped out due to over congestion in cells if the pandemic find its way in prisons.

In spite of all the challenges, threats and persecution, we remain unmoved and unshaken!

Our resolve and conviction for change is still the same.

It’s game on!

Stephen Sarkozy Chuma
MDC Youth Assembly National Spokesperson