By Political Reporter –Fresh details have emerged regarding the death of retired Central Intelligence Organisation (CIO) director Walter Basopo, who passed away on Tuesday this week.

According to state media reports, Basopo died at Life Groenkloof Hospital in Pretoria, South Africa. 

He was 66.

The date for his burial is yet to be confirmed.

The government has since declared Basopo a national hero.

The announcement was made at the family’s Harare residence by Minister of State for Presidential Affairs in charge of the CIO, Lovemore Matuke.

Basopo, was reportedly a close relative of President Emmerson Mnangagwa. 

He is remembered in activist and human rights circles as one of the state agents frequently associated with the March 2015 disappearance of journalist and pro-democracy campaigner Itai Dzamara.

Dzamara, who led the “Occupy Africa Unity Square” protest movement, was abducted in broad daylight by suspected state security agents and has not been seen since.

Despite ongoing pressure from both local and international human rights organisations—including Amnesty International and the United Nations—the state has never offered a credible explanation for Dzamara’s fate.

Basopo was repeatedly named by insiders and watchdog groups as a member of the CIO’s Special Operations Unit, which was believed to carry out surveillance, abductions, torture, and disappearances targeting government critics.

His death closes a potential chapter in one of Zimbabwe’s most chilling unsolved cases and deprives any future truth-seeking efforts of a key potential witness.