The executioner talks

On May 22 I reported for The First Post on the five Zimbabwean mounted soldiers who made a dash for freedom in South Africa only to be captured by Mugabe's men, brought back, and tortured.

I wrote that their families feared the young men had been executed. These fears were confirmed this week by a man who took part in the executions. He is Michael Nyathi, 47, a member of a Central Intelligence Organisation hit squad for the past ten years. Nyathi, finally sickened by his own deeds, and fearful for his life, has deserted from the CIO and is on the run. This is his story as he told it to me, in all its brutal and horrifying detail.

"On April 6 I was sent as part of a team to pick up the five young soldiers from Chikurubi jail. There were 10 in our