MDC activist's decomposed body found

MDC activist's decomposed body found

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By Staff Reporter

ZIMBABWE’S main opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) on Tuesday released graphic images showing a decomposed body which it said was that of Joshua Bakacheza, a driver for the party abducted by “state security agents” on June 25 in Mashonaland West Province.

The MDC said the body, scorched by heat, was discovered last Saturday on a farm in Beatrice, some 30km out of Harare.

The party said the body showed signs the activist had been “tortured and shot”.

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown reportedly used Bakacheza’s pictures at the Group of 8 (G8) summit in Japan, which concluded Tuesday, to persuade world leaders to support his call for sanctions against President Robert Mugabe’s government.

Britain’s Telegraph newspaper reported Tuesday that Brown’s use of the image “may have swayed some leaders” who supported a strong statement issued at the end of the summit which fell just short of calling for sanctions on Zimbabwe.

The paper quoted a source in the Prime Minister’s office as saying: "Joshua is just one of the many innocent people murdered by Mugabe's thugs in recent weeks, but by highlighting the way he was brutally murdered while helping a widow and her children, the Prime Minister was telling other leaders that this is a tragedy which is going on right now as they sit talking, and every day we wait to act, more innocent people will suffer."

The MDC said Bakacheza and another activist Tendai Chidziwo were kidnapped in Msasa, Harare, while moving furniture and personal belongings of another murdered activist, Tonderai Ndira, to another residential area where his wife had sought accommodation.

The party said three unmarked trucks intercepted them – one blocking them at the back, another in front and a third pulling up on their left, forcing them to stop.

A party statement said: “16 men armed with AK assault rifles disembarked. They then hijacked the MDC truck loaded with the furniture and drove Tendai and Joshua to Beatrice, leaving Tonderai's widow and her two children standing by the roadside, trembling from fright and crying.

“Once there, they tortured the two, asking questions relating to their involvement in the MDC and then shot them both.”

The MDC said Joshua was shot three times and died on the spot, while Chidziwo is now recovering in hospital after he was shot once on the right side of the head. “Good Samaritans” assisted him after they found him in a state of unconsciousness in the Beatrice farming area.

An army colonel owns the farm where Joshua's body was found, according to the statement.

MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai pulled out of a June 27 presidential election run-off, accusing President Mugabe of deploying his militant supporters to intimidate voters. The party said up of 80 of its activists had been killed. The election was condemned as a "sham" around the world and Mugabe is now battling to enforce his legitimacy.
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