Correspondent: Zimbabwe Burning Tx Date: 3rd March 2002 This script was made from audio tape – any inaccuracies are due to voices being unclear or inaudible 00.00.01 Aston Secret filming 00.00.01 John Sweeney We work for the BBC and we've been asked to leave. 00.00.05 John Sweeney Eight months ago, Robert Mugabe's secret police, the Central Intelligence Organisation or CIO, kicked me out of Zimbabwe. 00.00.14 John Sweeney The crime? Committing journalism. As a parting shot, we secretly filmed the secret police deporting us. 00.00.21 John Sweeney It wasn't much consolation. 00.00.23 Music 00.00.25 John Sweeney Well I've never been deported before so this is a first. It's not been a brilliant start to what we were trying to do in Zimbabwe but umm, I don't want it to be the end. 00.00.37 Correspondent Theme Music 00.00.43 Title Page ZIMBABWE BURNING 00.00.46 Music 00.00.49 John Sweeney Time marches on. So does terror. Mobs rule the streets of Zimbabwe. 00.00.55 John Sweeney Their target are the opposition, the Movement for Democratic Change, the MDC. Behind the violence many detect the hand of Mugabe and his secret police. 00.01.05 Music 00.01.14 Bird watcher Four five nine - southern yellow billed hornbill. 00.01.24 Bird watcher Four four seven - lilac breasted roller. 00.01.32 Bird watcher Seven three nine – crimson breasted boabo. 00.01.36 John Sweeney BBC journalists may be banned from Zimbabwe. But luckily, birdwatchers aren't. 00.01.44 Music 00.01.55 John Sweeney To provide cover a safari company offered to show us the wildlife. This was thought to be the safest way to travel around Zimbabwe; go from game park to game park and try talk to people along the way. 00.02.07 John Sweeney But nothing goes to plan in Zimbabwe these days. 00.02.12 News reader This is Robson….with the news. In our top stories; President Robert Mugabe says Zimbabwe is determined to see the return of justice to the people in equitable land redistribution. 00.02.28 Aston JOHN SWEENEY It's the world's most boring news station. The reason we're listening is that we were tipped off earlier today that there'd actually been an announcement on Zimbabwe Radio news that the authorities had discovered that there were two journalists who were pretending to be tourists who were in the country and they were going to put out road blocks and they'd get them tonight. Well, not so fast. However, it is a worry. It's very easy to be paranoid on the other hand national radio says they're out to get us. 00.03.03 John Sweeney The safari company felt we had become a risk not worth having and they dropped us. We were now alone in Robert Mugabe's Zimbabwe. From now on, so we didn't get arrested, we're forced to film everything secretly. 00.03.21 Music 00.03.23 John Sweeney We hired a car to continue our journey around Zimbabwe. 00.03.26 John Sweeney We're heading south to a place the state won't even acknowledge exists. But the locals know only too well. 00.03.33 Music 00.03.40 John Sweeney Even at the height of his power in the early eighties, President Mugabe felt threatened by 'dissidents'. The solution: to bring in north Koreans to train up his Fifth Brigade. 00.03.52 John Sweeney The enemy were people loyal to the father of Zimbabwean independence, Joshua Nkomo. 00.03.57 Music 00.03.59 John Sweeney Or anyone else who got in Mugabe's way. Tens of thousands of 'dissidents' were rounded up. 00.04.07 John Sweeney And dealt with. 00.04.10 John Sweeney According to Amnesty International, as many as ten thousand people are estimated to have been murdered. 00.04.20 John Sweeney No one has been brought to book for a single killing. We've come to where it all began. 00.04.26 John Sweeney Now, this book is called Breaking the Silence; a report on the disturbances in Matabililand in the midlands 1980 to 1988. To actually carry this book around on the streets of Zimbabwe you can go to jail for it. What we're specifically looking for is this photograph, which was taken in 1996. 00.04.55 John Sweeney And this is it. 00.04.59 John Sweeney Much of the torture and the killing took place here at a place called Bhalagwe. It was a concentration camp. 00.05.17 John Sweeney Twenty years on, this man still has the scars from his four months at Bhalagwe Camp. This is the first time he's dared speak out. 00.05.30 Camp survivor Voice over I was abducted from my home in the countryside. I worked as a shopkeeper. The shop I worked in was never robbed, that was the problem. They asked why the other shops were robbed and not mine. They thought our shop was associated with dissidents. They accused us of feeding the dissidents, housing them and hiding them. When they questioned us they would show us dead bodies and tell us if we wanted to live we had to tell them everything. 00.06.07 John Sweeney Asbestos. A bit of an asbestos holding pen. And dozens of these pens, like the kind of things you keep pigs in back home, maybe as many as five thousand people were kept in this concentration camp. 00.06.25 Camp survivor Voice over Fifty to sixty people were kept in each asbestos hut. We were crammed tightly into the huts. We slept side by side. If someone escaped during the night, the guards knew we would have woken up so they blamed us for the escape and tortured us. 00.06.46 Music 00.06.50 John Sweeney The Fifth Brigade and the Central Intelligence Organisation tortured and murdered here for months on end. Their methods of killing created a surreal hell. 00.07.04 Camp survivor Voice over They had old sewage pipes that were waiting for repair. They put five people inside. Two in one end, three in the other. The people on the outside were beaten so they scrambled inside the pipe to escape. The person in the middle would suffocate. 00.07.26 John Sweeney Ten years ago when drought threatened Zimbabwe old wells were dug up. But it wasn't just water they found. 00.07.34 Music 00.07.36 John Sweeney Bones of people killed at Bhalagwe and dumped down well shafts were brought to the surface. 00.07.41 Music 00.07.42 John Sweeney The government learnt their lesson from this embarrassment. 00.07.49 John Sweeney Come and have a look at this. 00.08.04 John Sweeney I know a little bit about mass graves. I've seen enough of them in Rwanda and Burundi and former Yugoslavia to know that this is very, very suspicious. 00.08.18 Camp survivor Voice over There were a lot of people buried in the pits that were used as toilets. We used to fill them in when they were full and then dig some more. I personally saw at least three hundred bodies. 00.08.34 John Sweeney Bones never lie. So they were dug up and dumped elsewhere. The grave-tamperers didn't even bother to fill in the holes in the ground - laying open to the sky plain evidence of mass murder. 00.08.47 John Sweeney Officially no atrocities took place here. Officially no one was tortured. Officially no one was murdered. The difference between this place and somewhere like it in former Yugoslavia is total. 00.08.58 John Sweeney There, there'd be forensic pathologists, scientists, archaeologists, going through the evidence, finding bones, trying to find out what happened. Here; no investigation is taking place, nothing, there's just silence. 00.09.14 John Sweeney And the reason. Well, that can be summed up in the great Zimbabwean riddle; When is a war crime not a war crime? When the man who ordered it is still in power. 00.09.25 Music 00.09.29 John Sweeney In the eighties, Mugabe's regime killed thousands and got away with it. Today, his rule is threatened once more, this time by the Movement for Democratic Change. 00.09.40 John Sweeney Mugabe is dealing with this new opposition to his power in an all too familiar way. 00.09.47 John Sweeney We're going to go and see David Coltart. He's a human rights lawyer, an MP for the opposition, the MDC and he's a marked man. However, he is willing to see us and he believes that it's possible for us to, to talk to him without us all being spotted. 00.10.11 John Sweeney Hello. John Sweeney. 00.10.12 David Coltart Hello John, hi, welcome. So you've had a hot drive? 00.10.17 John Sweeney For Coltart, Mugabe's use of violence for political ends is not ancient history. 00.10.23 Aston DAVID COLTART MDC MP This country is plagued by what I term a culture of impunity. We, in this country, have had two decades now of brutal oppression of those who oppose Robert Mugabe. 00.10.42 John Sweeney Two years ago David visited the family of his election agent, Patrick Nabanyama, after winning the Bulawayo seat. 00.10.49 John Sweeney But this was no victory party. Patrick had been kidnapped by Mugabe supporters. He has not been seen since. 00.10.59 John Sweeney Patrick's daughter saw her father being dragged away that June evening. 00.11.05 John Sweeney Today, she did not want to show her face because she is still scared for her life. But she did agree to talk to us about what she had witnessed. 00.11.14 Patrick Nabanyama's daughter He just said if they wanted to kill him they should, they should kill him at home, not take him anywhere. Because he knew that now they were really serious because it had been after some threats that he should leave the party and keep a low profile, which he couldn't because he was quite an activist. 00.11.39 David Coltart We know who was responsible for his kidnapping and presumably murder but none of these men have been brought to justice yet and there doesn't appear to be any intention on the part of government to bring these men to justice. 00.12.01 John Sweeney Fearing that he was going to be killed, Patrick wrote to a local newspaper in desperation. He never got to post the letter. 00.12.09 John Sweeney reading letter "I have been subjected to several death threats since last month. Right now, I'm separated from my family and have become a refugee in a free Zimbabwe. I'm calling upon genuine people to condemn any form of violence. Signed Patrick Nabanyama." 00.12.28 John Sweeney And this was written on the day he was abducted, on the nineteenth of June 2000. He has never been seen since. 00.12.41 John Sweeney Where do you think your father is now? 00.12.45 Patrick Nabanyama's daughter This is the hardest that I've ever, you know, I always think about it and I always want to push it away but I don't think he's alive. Now I've really lost hope on him being alive. Those men are killers. Now we hear violence taking place every day here, people being killed, people being raped, people being, you know, kidnapped, almost on a daily basis. And I just wonder if my father could, could be alive. 00.13.18 John Sweeney Two days later we're in Harare, Zimbabwe's capital and the headquarters of Mugabe's ruling party – ZANU-PF. 00.13.25 John Sweeney After two decades in office over half the country is out of work and inflation has rocketed. But some are doing very well. 00.13.35 John Sweeney Mugabe has boosted the pay of the CIO, the old colonial special branch, by a hundred percent. He knows they are the key to his hold on power. 00.13.45 Music 00.13.49 John Sweeney And this building is paranoia central. 00.13.53 John Sweeney That building over there is, I'm told, one of the major centres of the CIO's sort of surveillance operation. I understand it's where they, they bug Zimbabwe's telephone system, they make their plans, they organise things. So we shouldn't hang around here very long. So we'd better go. 00.14.20 Bird watcher Eight double four – blue waxbill. 00.14.25 Bird watcher Four six four – black collared barbit. 00.14.29 Graphic a safe house somewhere in Harare 00.14.32 John Sweeney Today is the day ZANU-PF dominated parliament are going to pass the Access to Information Bill which actually stops access to information. 00.14.40 John Sweeney The bill makes it illegal for any foreign reporters to be here without Robert Mugabe's say so. The punishment; up to two years in prison. 00.14.49 John Sweeney So, we thought we'd pop along to parliament on the day they're criminalising the BBC. We had a cover story, of course. 00.14.57 John Sweeney Subtitle Excuse me, is this the museum? 00.15.00 Security guard Subtitles No, no, not the museum – this is the Parliament of Zimbabwe. 00.15.03 John Sweeney Oh the parliament building. Oh right, is this where Mr Mugabe is and stuff like that? 00.15.07 Security Guard Mr? 00.15.08 John Sweeney Mr Mugabe and stuff, the MPs and things like that. 00.15.11 Security Guard Yeah. 00.15.12 John Sweeney What's the bill about, what's it about? 00.15.13 Security Guard It's about access to information. 00.15.15 John Sweeney Oh right, ok, jolly good. Like a freedom of information… 00.15.18 Security Guard Yeah. 00.15.19 John Sweeney Yeah. Smashing. 00.15.21 Security Guard If you want you can come and see at two. 00.15.24 John Sweeney Uh huh, thank you, bye-bye. 00.15.28 Music 00.15.30 John Sweeney After such a polite invite what tourist wouldn't return that afternoon to watch the media being gagged by law. 00.15.37 Music 00.15.41 Graphic five minutes later 00.15.44 John Sweeney I gave my name, I didn't lie, no problem. I had a bag with me; they wanted to search my bag. So, I opened my bag, there was nothing in it worth troubling about and… 00.16.02 John Sweeney …then, a man stopped me, put his hand on my shoulder and I went ooh. And he said; 'excuse me sir, you cannot go to parliament'. And I said; 'why not?' And he said; 'because you are improperly dressed'. The reason they wouldn't let me in was not because I'm a journalist, even though they're about to ban them, it's because I was wearing shorts and a flowery shirt. I couldn't make it up. 00.16.40 John Sweeney Very good. See you at twelve. Bye. 00.16.46 John Sweeney We've got an architect for our casino. I don't know; the man phones me and tells me we've got an architect for a casino. We don't have a casino, I don't think he's an architect but we are going to go and see him. I think he's somebody who's got something interesting to say that doesn't go out on the official media here. 00.17.09 John Sweeney It turns out we're to meet the Treasurer of the MDC but not to discuss economic policy. 00.17.18 John Sweeney Three months ago Fletcher Dilini was charged with plotting double murder in Bulawayo. 00.17.24 John Sweeney The only problem with the prosecution case is that he was at the other end of the country at the time at a pre- budget meeting. 00.17.31 John Sweeney Among his alibi witnesses are twenty MPs, including the speaker of the house. Despite this, Fletcher spent a month in prison. 00.17.40 Fletcher Dilini I was alleged to have been in Bulawayo when actually I was in Nyanga. 00.17.44 John Sweeney Can you, can you reach it? Go on, try harder. 00.17.47 Fletcher Dilini No I can't. 00.17.48 John Sweeney Try harder. Try harder. Go on if I push you against it. 00.17.52 Fletcher Dilini No, I can't. 00.17.56 John Sweeney On the same day. 00.17.57 Fletcher Dilini Yeah, on the same day. 00.18.00 John Sweeney You can't be in the same place even on the map but actually, it is to be fair, five hundred, six hundred kilometres, three hundred, four hundred miles between the two places. It's bonkers, completely raving bonkers. But on this evidence they've charged him with two murders. Why do they do this to you? 00.18.20 Fletcher Dilini Well, it's clear now that they wanted to involve a top MDC official into this matter. 00.18.28 Aston FLETCHER DILINI MDC Treasurer The whole thing was in order to justify that you are a terrorist organisation and ban us before the presidential election. 00.18.40 John Sweeney Fletcher wasn't the only man picked up by the CIO. Sixteen other MDC activists were also accused of being in the Bulawayo murder plot. Some were tortured. 00.18.50 John Sweeney Stephen Chasara was willing, unlike many, to show his face. 00.18.57 Aston STEPHEN CHASARA MDC activist Bulawayo is very far, very, very far and I had never been in Bulawayo. I don't even… So why are they were trying to accuse me about this man who died? I was hit. I'm lucky I went to the hospital. If I didn't, sure I was going to die. 00.19.24 Stephen Chasara I was going to die. Some had been using fists, some using some chamboks (phon), you know chamboks (phon)? 00.19.33 John Sweeney It's a whip. 00.19.34 Stephen Chasara A whip, yes. My legs now were swollen. They beat us all the time; they were changing each other. If someone wants to go and eat he can go but there is someone who'll be there. And we needed the water to drink but they said you are not going to drink even to eat, you are not going to eat. 00.19.53 John Sweeney And when they were beating you, it's incredibly painful on the soles of the feet, were you screaming? 00.19.59 Stephen Chasara You cannot scream. You can't even scream. If you scream they will hit you more. 00.20.09 John Sweeney Stephen drew us a map of the place where he was tortured. It was in a police station just next to the main bus terminus. 00.20.15 Stephen Chasara This main terminus here, so the police is here. 00.20.21 John Sweeney Where's the bus station? 00.20.23 Guide Right here. 00.20.23 John Sweeney Ok, it's a bus station is over there. 00.20.25 Guide The bus station is on, if you turn on your left. 00.20.27 John Sweeney Yeah. Right, yeah ok, got it. So, it's from this angle, it's somewhere… 00.20.33 John Sweeney With the secret camera and the local guide in the back seat we drive to locate the torture centre. 00.20.38 Guide The central police station is there, you can read it. Ok? 00.20.42 John Sweeney It's the CIO office inside Harare Central Police Station. 00.20.46 Guide That's where they, you go in there. That's the front entrance and this is where they take you in through that… 00.20.53 John Sweeney Suddenly a car draws up alongside. 00.20.59 John Sweeney We've been rumbled. He's sussed the secret camera. 00.21.02 Man Go left. Go left. 00.21.04 John Sweeney Time to go. 00.21.08 Man Is he behind us? 00.21.11 John Sweeney The way you're holding that, it looks like a camera, what the hell are you doing? 00.21.14 Guide Is that what he said? 00.21.15 John Sweeney Yes he did. 00.21.16 Guide Oh? 00.21.16 John Sweeney Ok, so what I don't like is that I'm still on the same track, so give me another direction. 00.21.25 John Sweeney I think we lost them but we have been identified, in this car, to an extent, how much whether they got the number, the registration plate, whatever, as trying to film the main CIO torture chamber in Harare. And I don't like that one little bit. I want to go home. 00.21.55 John Sweeney A scare for us but nothing compared to the daily drip of fear experienced by those here who dare to oppose Robert Mugabe. 00.22.04 John Sweeney When they were torturing you what went through your mind? 00.22.08 Stephen Chasara Firstly, I was thinking of my family …how is my family going to survive? The second thing; if I die I know what I'm dying for – we want this country to be free. 00.22.33 John Sweeney And now: What Robert Mugabe's Papers Say. 00.22.36 John Sweeney So the main news today is that the Commonwealth has rejected calls to suspend Zimbabwe for human rights abuses and the local newspaper, government newspaper The Herald, has said: 'Bid to Isolate Zim Flops' and there's a picture of Jack Straw looking pretty miserable. 00.22.55 John Sweeney But more interesting for us is the following story on page four. It's in the small detail. 00.23.03 John Sweeney "This stance has prompted government sources to confirm widely held beliefs that the BBC correspondents were coming on missions other than to report facts." Quote: "It has become clear that the correspondents double as intelligence people for their governments and we've always said this." 00.23.21 John Sweeney Do I look like James Bond material? 00.23.25 Bird watcher Eight double one – spotted backed weaver. 00.23.33 Music 00.23.35 John Sweeney Another day, another double murder. But this one goes right to the heart of Zimbabwe's culture of impunity. 00.23.43 John Sweeney The sole survivor is taking us to the murder scene, east of Harare. 00.23.48 John Sweeney In the 2000 parliamentary election he was out campaigning for the opposition with two friends, Tichoana Chiminya and Talent Mabika, when they were attacked by a van load of Mugabe supporters led by the local CIO Chief, Joseph Mwale. 00.24.06 John Sweeney This man was in the pick-up truck driven by Mwale. Since then he has switched sides and now speaks openly about what he saw. 00.24.15 Survivor They hit Chiminya until no movement, to Chiminya and Talent. Then he, Mwale take the five litre paraffin and then squeeze into the vehicle. 00.24.30 John Sweeney Inside the… 00.24.31 Survivor Inside the vehicle. 00.24.32 John Sweeney On the unconscious bodies. 00.24.35 Survivor Yes, then he light the newspaper, they threw that newspaper into the vehicle. Then the fire burnt all the vehicle and all the people. 00.24.47 Aston SANDERSON MAKOMBE Chiminya was able to open this door and when they got out he was just running but it was just, you're burning all over, it was just like you are a ball of flames. Then Talent also did the same thing, she got out of the vehicle but she was burning all over, you could just see that it's just, it's a person running but you could not see exactly who it was. They were all covered in flames. 00.25.18 John Sweeney But before we get to the murder site an opposition activist talks us through the risks. 00.25.24 Opposition activist The less obvious that we can be is the better. So I suggest that you go and do what you have, keep it, keep it brief as possible but obviously you have to do what you have to do. And then get out of there because Sanderson is well known and he would be like a catalyst to violence that might happen tomorrow or anything. They will go back and they will blame the MDC for bringing Sanderson into the area and whatever. So, so, let's not give trouble to the people who live there. 00.25.58 John Sweeney Sanderson managed to fight his way out of the car before it was set alight. His two friends were not so lucky. 00.26.06 John Sweeney Sanderson has not been back to the area since. 00.26.11 John Sweeney Ten kilometres down the road we find the spot. 00.26.22 John Sweeney After eighteen months the wreck of the burnt out car is still here. 00.26.27 Sanderson Makombe Subtitles We were coming this way. They blocked us just by that side. They jumped out and then they started assaulting everybody. 00.26.38 John Sweeney You were driving this way. 00.26.39 Sanderson Makombe We were driving this way. 00.26.45 John Sweeney Where was Tichoana? 00.26.47 Sanderson Makombe Subtitles Chiminya was in the driver's seat, Talent was in the middle and I was here. 00.26.53 John Sweeney And you, how did you get out of the car? 00.26.55 Sanderson Makombe Subtitles I crawled out through the window here and landed on my feet. 00.27.04 John Sweeney Where did Chiminya run? Which direction? 00.27.08 Sanderson Makombe Subtitles Chiminya ran towards that direction, along with Talent. 00.27.12 John Sweeney Which way? This side of the road? 00.27.13 Sanderson Makombe That side of the road…this side, they went that side. 00.27.18 John Sweeney Subtitle Two balls of flame? Sanderson Makombe Subtitle Yes, running in that direction. 00.27.21 John Sweeney What did the police do? Were the police around? 00.27.25 Survivor The police didn't take any action. The police was five metres apart from Chiminya's vehicle. 00.27.35 John Sweeney Behind it? 00.27.36 Survivor Behind, yes. 00.27.37 John Sweeney But they could see what was, you could see them? 00.27.39 Survivor Yes. 00.27.41 John Sweeney And they watched all this happen? 00.27.42 Survivor They watched us. 00.27.44 John Sweeney All of it, the umm, the beating with the iron bars and the rifle butts and, and the pouring of the paraffin. 00.27.52 Survivor Yes. 00.27.53 John Sweeney And they did nothing to stop it? 00.27.56 John Sweeney Who was in charge of the people who attacked you? 00.27.59 Sanderson Makombe It was Joseph Mwale. You could tell even from the way he jumped out of their vehicle and he led in doing the first attack of the vehicle. 00.28.09 Survivor Yes he was the leader. 00.28.12 John Sweeney You're sure of that? 00.28.13 Survivor Yes. 00.28.14 John Sweeney It was he who poured paraffin, you're saying it was he who poured the paraffin. 00.28.17 Survivor Yes. 00.28.19 John Sweeney Not petrol? 00.28.20 Survivor Not petrol, paraffin. 00.28.23 John Sweeney A five litre… 00.28.23 Survivor A five litre tin. 00.28.26 John Sweeney Has Joseph Mwale been brought to justice? 00.28.30 Sanderson Makombe No he hasn't. 00.28.31 John Sweeney Has he been arrested? 00.28.33 Sanderson Makombe No he hasn't. 00.28.34 John Sweeney Has he been brought in for questioning? 00.28.36 Sanderson Makombe No. They haven't done anything to him. 00.28.45 John Sweeney How does it feel to be back here again? 00.28.50 Sanderson Makombe Subtitles It's an emotional experience. It really means a lot to me. It's had a lasting impression on me, emotionally. 00.29.10 John Sweeney So, this is the scene of the crime that never happened. There hasn't been a criminal case. Murders with impunity. 00.29.33 Faith Chiminya Here's my Dad. It's actually written here 'brutally murdered on the fifteenth of April 2000'. 00.29.44 John Sweeney Faith's father was one of the two people burnt alive by Joseph Mwale. 00.29.52 Faith Chiminya His funeral, his coffin here. 00.29.57 Aston FAITH CHIMINYA This is my poem, which I'm going to read to you, which I wrote some time back about my Dad's death. 00.30.04 Faith Chiminya I miss my Dad. His life was cut short. But why? No answer to this question. I miss you Dad. And the way you died wasn't good. You were burnt as if the prime meat. But they killed you and it was a painful death. If only I was there maybe I was going to help you. But unfortunately nobody was there to help you and they left you to die like an outcast. That's sad. I miss you Dad. 00.30.44 John Sweeney Philip Mabika is the brother of Talent, Mwale's other victim. He had to identify his sister's body. 00.30.50 Aston PHILIP MABIKA I was not even able to identify. 00.30.54 John Sweeney Why? 00.30.55 Philip Mabika Yeah. 00.30.56 John Sweeney Why couldn't you identify her? 00.30.59 Philip Mabika She was more burnt beyond you know recognition. 00.31.04 Music 00.31.06 John Sweeney And then two months ago his best friend Trimor was beaten to death by a ZANU-PF mob. 00.31.13 Philip Mabika He had deep cuts, four deep cuts into the head, the back of the head, the middle of the head and all over. Yeah, he's …, he has ten wounds by knives, screwdrivers. 00.31.30 John Sweeney His crime – campaigning for the MDC. 00.31.34 Music 00.31.39 John Sweeney At the funeral, Trimor's father berates the ZANU mob who killed his son. But they had not finished with the family. 00.31.47 John Sweeney When they returned to the grave to lay fresh flowers the next day, a ZANU mob was waiting. They seized Trimor's uncle, seen here on the left. 00.31.56 John Sweeney His mutilated body was found three weeks later. 00.31.59 Music 00.32.05 Bird watcher Sixty-three – black headed heron. 00.32.10 John Sweeney Morning. Ok, we've got to stop? Ok. 00.32.15 John Sweeney We headed out east towards Chimanimani where we'd heard Joseph Mwale was now working. But getting there is no easy matter. You first have to get through the police roadblocks. 00.32.32 Policeman Hi, how are you? 00.32.33 John Sweeney Hi, very well thank you, what's the trouble? 00.32.35 Policeman May I see your… 00.32.36 John Sweeney Yeah okay, you want to see the boot yeah? Righty ho! 00.32.59 Policeman Hi, how are you? 00.33.00 Man in car Very well, how are you? 00.33.00 Policeman Want to check inside the… 00.33.19 John Sweeney Hiya. 00.33.20 Policeman 2 Thank you very much. 00.33.20 John Sweeney Thank you very much. Bye-bye. 00.33.28 John Sweeney Well that went fine considering we left the camera tripod in the boot and the man saw the tripod and he said what's that for and I said oh that's for the camera, we're shooting birds. And he went oh fine. Bloody hell. 00.33.42 Music 00.33.51 John Sweeney Soldiers; just on exercise or is this a display of force on the run up to the election? 00.33.57 Music 00.34.09 John Sweeney We're in Chimanimani. This is the area where Joseph Mwale now runs the CIO. Everybody's a little bit paranoid here and worse a few days ago the CIO turned up to a place very near where we're staying saying are there any journalists here pretending to be tourists. So it's all a bit spooky. 00.34.35 John Sweeney Joseph Mwale's fame had preceded him. Everyone we met in Chimanimani was afraid of the CIO double killer. 00.34.43 MDC activist 1 He's well known as the notorious Joseph Mwale or the petrol bomb man. 00.34.48 John Sweeney The petrol bomb man, why is he called the petrol bomb man? 00.34.51 MDC activist 1 Yes, he's called the petrol bomb man because he actually burnt to death two MDC activists. 00.35.00 John Sweeney Just five days earlier, another opposition activist was approached by Mwale. 00.35.06 John Sweeney What were the precise words he used in … 00.35.10 Second MDC activist speaking 00.35.16 John Sweeney What does that mean? 00.35.17 MDC activist 2 He said he'd cut my private parts, meaning my testes and penis off, if he continue to see me around Chimanimani. 00.35.30 John Sweeney Joseph Mwale's shadow is everywhere in town. This is where he works, the local CIO headquarters inside Chimanimani police station. 00.35.40 John Sweeney And this is where he lives, high in the hills above Chimanimani. For a double murderer he's not exactly keeping a low profile. 00.35.54 John Sweeney So who's Mwale's boss? 00.35.56 MDC activist 1 Robert Mugabe is Mwale's boss. 00.36.00 John Sweeney Why? 00.36.02 MDC activist 1 Because with the crimes which he has committed and he's actually walking like a free man. If he was just an ordinary person who doesn't report to the President he would have been arrested long back. 00.36.16 John Sweeney Aren't you afraid? 00.36.17 MDC activist 2 I'm afraid of Mwale. 00.36.19 John Sweeney So why haven't you left? 00.36.22 MDC activist 1 Where can I go? My, this is my district, this is my country, I cannot leave this country. 00.36.31 John Sweeney One last go at finding Mwale. He often fills up at the local petrol station. But not today. 00.36.43 John Sweeney There are very, very few tourists here at the moment, we stick out like a sore thumb. There's only so much time you can hang around for Joseph Mwale at Chimanimani petrol station. We got petrol, we checked our oil, our tyre pressure. But we were beginning to look a bit obvious. 00.37.03 Bird watcher Two o nine - crowned crane. 00.37.10 Bird watcher One four one - African crowned eagle. 00.37.13 Robert Mugabe I am President of Zimbabwe. 00.37.20 John Sweeney I'm off to see the leader of the opposition. 00.37.40 Driver You ok in there? 00.37.45 John Sweeney My producer hid under the back seat but I got the boot. 00.37.54 John Sweeney Nothing is easy in Zimbabwe. Not even seeing the leader of the opposition. It's only a short distance from where we're staying to where he lives but it's umm, it's got to be probably the most unpleasant way of moving around - in the boot of a car. On the other hand his house is often watched and because I've already been deported we can't take any risks. 00.38.39 John Sweeney I'm from the BBC. 00.38.40 Morgan Tsvangirai My goodness, what's happening? 00.38.46 John Sweeney Hello! 00.38.46 Morgan Tsvangirai Hello! 00.38.47 John Sweeney Sorry about that. Dear oh dear oh dear! So. 00.38.55 Morgan Tsvangirai So you're working under extreme, extreme conditions hey? 00.38.58 John Sweeney Will it be a free and fair election? 00.39.03 Morgan Tsvangirai Very doubtful. 00.39.09 John Sweeney How can it be a free and fair election if these men, for example a man like Joseph Mwale is still working for the government, if there is evidence out there that he burnt these people alive. 00.39.24 Aston MORGAN TSVANGIRAI Leader of the MDC Well you see the most gruesome experience we have, we have come to accept is government's decision, is a situation in which immediately after the elections everyone was pardoned. Government published a blanket amnesty to all the perpetrators of violence during the parliamentary elections. 00.39.48 Morgan Tsvangirai So, what it sends is that it encourages ZANU-PF thugs to go on a campaign of violence because they will be protected by government. So you have this intimidatory atmosphere around the country where these thugs roam around …with impunity. 00.40.08 John Sweeney The odd thing about Zimbabwe is that it's not quite a tyranny, not like Sadaam Hussein's Iraq. There is a rule of law but it's selectively applied, that's what a lot of people say. 00.40.19 Morgan Tsvangirai Yes, it's selectively applied for political purposes but tyranny is tyranny, the degree may differ but it's still tyranny. 00.40.29 John Sweeney And this is a tyranny? 00.40.30 Morgan Tsvangirai I'm sure it's authoritarian to the extent that if people are being brutalised with state sponsored thugs and these thugs are able to commit these acts of criminality with impunity. What do you call it? 00.40.46 Radio presenter 1 BBC world service for Africa. 00.40.48 Music 00.40.51 Radio presenter 2 The first journalist to be detained after the government's tough new security laws. 00.40.54 Music 00.40.59 Radio presenter 2 The arrest comes days after the European Union threatened sanctions against Zimbabwe if independent observers were not allowed in to monitor presidential elections in March… 00.41.09 John Sweeney A fellow journalist has been arrested. That means trouble for us, it means the clamp down's begun. Oh dear. 00.41.17 Music 00.41.19 John Sweeney Time to get out. 00.41.20 Music 00.41.28 John Sweeney Everyone who spoke to us could face torture or even death for doing so. 00.41.34 Music 00.41.35 John Sweeney They know the price for opposing Robert Mugabe but they think it's worth paying. And that, sooner or later, spells the end for Robert Mugabe. 00.41.45 Music 00.41.53 John Sweeney We've made it, we've crossed the border, we're out and the relief is all too real. Back in Zimbabwe just the sound of the car can get you twitching with nerves. Is that the CIO, have they come to get us or is it somebody doing their shopping? 00.42.09 John Sweeney But for the people we've met back there, they're still under the pressure, they're still having to fight with the fear, they're still living under a regime that murders people and gets away with it and is still getting away with it. 00.42.26 Faith Chiminya This is my Dad with Morgan Tsvangirai. Here again, my Dad, he was a teacher. And this one was when he was still young. 00.42.41 Faith Chiminya When he grew up he started drinking so every time when he was drunk he could sing the songs and they used to like number one fifty one, hymn now number one fifty one in the …and I can sing it. 00.42.59 Faith singing 00.43.15 Voice over John Sweeney will be on-line tomorrow at two thirty pm. You can e-mail him your questions now at: www.bbc.co.uk/correspondent 00.43.15 Reporter JOHN SWEENEY Additional footage JAMES MILLER EDWINA SPICER Dubbing Mixer PHITZ HEARNE VT Editor JASPAL BANGA Graphic Design NICOLA OWEN Production Team ALEXANDRA CAMERON EMMA CASHMORE SARAH EVA ANJANA SHARMA Production Manager JANE WILLEY Unit Manager IRENE OZGA Film Research NICK DODD Research JO DUTTON BILL ODDIE Picture Editor RYSHARD OPYRCHAL Series Producer SIMON FINCH Filmed & Produced by WILL DAWS Deputy Editor FARAH DURRANI 00.43.29 Voice over In two weeks; the failure of justice in the killing fields of Cambodia – the case against Pol Pot's deputy that the world has ignored. 00.43.37 Editor FIONA MURCH BBC © BBC MMII 00.43.42 End BBC Correspondent 1 22