Nathi Masuku
THE family of an exiled political activist, Blessed Mtinsi, has pleaded with the National Peace and Reconciliation Commission to intervene in a case of torture and victimisation that Mtinsi and his mother Moureen suffered at the height of the 2018 elections campaign period.
The campaign, while it was deemed as one of the peaceful since independence, was not without incidents of violence. The elections, pitted two of Zimbabwe’s powerful politicians, President Emmerson Mnangagwa of Zanu PF and Nelson Chamisa of the Movement for Democratic Change Alliance (MDC-Alliance).
President Mnangagwa went on to win the vote.
At the time, Blessed and his mom had met violence and intimidation, in a case that was swept under the rug. Of late, the family has been finding it hard to seek justice and closure.
Calling on the influence of the NPRC seems as the best route for them.
In 2017, Blessed was the organising secretary of the MDC’s Gweru district. He was forced to flee the country in fear for his life after having been arrested and tortured several times.
He was a regular feature in many demonstrations against the Government at the time the country was heading for the 2018 elections.
Blessed was accused for inciting and involvement in the demonstrations which are claimed to have led into public violence in July of 2017.
In an interview with The Zambezi Times, Blessed’s mother was tearful as she her son narrated how her son suffered at the hands of “unknown” torturers purportedly sent by rival politicians and the state security apparatus.
She said, ever since her son fled the country, she hs had to answer unending questions from the police in Gweru.
Pain was scribbled all over her face as she narrated the events she encountered in the hands of the police.
“All my son wanted was a change for a better life for people but he was accused him of things he didn’t do,” said Moureen.
“They keep coming (the Zimbabwe Republic Police details) because they believe l have information about where he is. This will never end.”
Moureen said police came recently to search her home in Mberengwa.
From 2017 until now Moureen said she has been called over to Gweru police station countless times. She recalled when she was even handcuffed and held in the cells for hours. Upon release, she was late to the bus station, where she gets transport back to Mberengwa.
Moureen stays in Mberengwa about 200km from Gweru.
Her routine visits to the police have meant that she has to violate stipulated rules on movement during the Covid-19 restrictions.
“I am forced to comply and so I travel all the way whenever called to come in. Sometimes they send in local rural police randomly.
Moureen has not been part of any political party.
She said, since the time, she has endured discrimination in her village, as some Zanu PF supporters in her area have excluded her from getting food from the Non-Governmental Organisations like Care International which gives out food to the poor in rural areas.
The Mtinsi family has sent a request to the chairperson of the NPRC, Justice Sello Nare, to look into the future.
“The only way we can find peace as a family on this matter is to approach the NPRC. At the moment we are to engage Justic Sello Nare and other commissioners to look into the issue.
“As Zimbabweans, we have to find love, justice and accept that we have different political opinions. The Constitution rightly protects citizens from such victimisation that our dear relative Blessed and his mother Moureen have suffered. Please may peace loving Zimbabweans and the NPRC hear us out,” said a family spokesman.
The National Peace and Reconciliation Commission (NPRC) is mandated to provide for in section 253 of the Constitution of Zimbabwe Amendment (No 20) Act of 2013 and the NPRC Act Chapter 10:32 of 2018.
It was as a result of the realisation of the social and political will and aspirations of Zimbabweans to copy their past as they transit into a harmonious future. Its full meaning cannot be well understood in isolation, but rather it should be examined within the broader context of the evolution of peace and security on the international arena that is at the United Nations (UN) and subsequent regional groups of the African Union (AU) and the Southern African Development Community (Sadc).
