A new hit list of 300 opposition leaders and activists has been drawn up by President Mugabe's strongmen. The 300 are marked down for arrest, beatings and torture, with the top ten targeted for assassination.
The list, which I have seen, comes with a memo suggesting the killings should take place either during street protests or fake robberies and road accidents.
It is topped by Morgan Tsvangirai, leader of the opposition party, the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), although interestingly an earlier version (right) did not include him. Also in the top ten are MDC spokesman Nelson Chamisa, Roman Catholic Archbishop of Bulawayo Pius Ncube, trade union leader Wellington Chibhebhe, and Tsvangirai's deputy Thokozani Khuphe.
The list was compiled on April 5 in Harare by the Joint Operations
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Mugabe makes a list of the people he wants beaten, tortured or simply assassinated |
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Command - a committee of senior commanders of the police, the armed forces and the Central Intelligence Organisation, Mugabe's secret police.
The memo states: "The top 10 are very dangerous individuals who should be attacked by unknown assailants in public places or their homes. They can also be shot by riot police during public upheavals that they always want to create."
To efficiently target people on the list, assistant police commissioner Mabunda will lead a team keeping activists under 24-hour surveillance.
State Security Minister Didymus Mutasa denied the list exists, saying it was the invention of opposition activists. "They are lying with your help," he told a reporter.
But Nelson Chamisa said: "They want to eliminate the top leaders of our party. This has always been the regime's strategy." 
FIRST POSTED APRIL 20, 2007
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