The abduction of an opposition activist in Harare earlier this week is now believed to have been financed and equipped by Zimbabwe's national bank, the RBZ.
MDC activists claim to have evidence that the bank provided the vehicles and paid the men who picked up Last Maengaham at a shopping centre, drove him 90km from Harare, stripped and beat him, and left him for dead in the bush.
The Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe, to give it its full title, is the financial wing of the ruling Zanu-PF party. Gideon Gono (right), the governor of the bank, is a close associate of President Mugabe. He is his personal banker, he is from the same village as Mugabe's wife Grace, and he also stands high in the list of those who Robert Mugabe may nominate to succeed him.
MDC activists claim that the evidence of the bank's involvement |
 |
|
 |
 |
|
Is Mugabe using allies at the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe to plan MDC abductions? |
| |
in the abduction is this:
Two vehicles were involved. Both were Mitsubishi DI-D 4WD double-cab vehicles. Only four of these vehicles have been imported into the country, and two of the four are still sitting in a showroom in Harare, waiting for buyers. According to sources, the other two were both sold to the RBZ.
Eye-witnesses to the abduction on Tuesday have stated that neither of the two vehicles carried registration plates. Yet they must both have passed through at least eight police or army road-blocks without hindrance during the operation.
Rumours circulated that the men involved in the abduction were paid in US dollars - something which only the RBZ can now easily obtain.
MDC Sec-Gen Tendai Biti told reporters: "We see the fingerprints of the RBZ in this case, and in the assault on our members."
FIRST POSTED MARCH 30, 2007
|
