Monday 15th March
Weather, from Harare
19°C - Mostly Cloudy
This week's issues


YourZim Login



MDC Activist escapes Print
Written by The Changing Times   
Monday, 09 November 2009 15:56
justice_logoMASVINGO – MDC activist Peter Munyanyi, who escaped from his captors after six months of imprisonment and torture, has spoken of his terror.

Munyanyi, who was among hundreds of MDC supporters who went missing following last year’s post-election violence, said he did not know where he was after he was locked up by State security agents in a dark room without blankets, clothing or toilet facilities.
During the six months of his imprisonment, Munyanyi, from Shana Village in Gutu South, says he was also given very little to eat. He lived in continual fear that he would never see the outside world again, let alone his wife, Jacqueline and three-year-old son Malvern.
His six-month ordeal started on the afternoon of December 13 at Utsinda Business Centre in Gutu, where three men driving a white single-cab CAM truck pounced on him. They assaulted him and tried to force him into the vehicle.
“I managed to escape from them and ran away. One of them then started firing shots at me and, when the third shot was fired, I panicked and fell to the ground.
“That is when they started kicking me very hard with booted feet until I collapsed. From then on I don’t know what happened,” he said.
When Munyanyi regained consciousness, he found he had a broken arm and a missing tooth and was locked in a dark room.
Unknown to Munyanyi, this was going to be his home for the coming six months.
“I never received any treatment for my broken arm and I had to use the T-shirt I was wearing when I was abducted as a sling. I received excruciating torture during this period,” said Peter Munyanyi.
“I would sleep on the floor and after every two weeks, I was given a bucket of water for cleaning the room since I had to relieve myself in that very room.
“However, what made my experience more worrying was that my abductors never talked to me, but simply tortured me on a weekly basis without a word said,” he added.
On June 29, however, one of Munyanyi’s abductors came to the room at night and left the door open – something that had never happened before.
“Within five minutes I had bolted out of the room and I sprinted out of the place before scaling the fence,” he said.
He spent four days walking in the bush until he arrived at Filabusi in Matebeleland South.
A well-wisher gave him bus fare to travel to Masvingo, but when he got home he discovered that his house had been burnt down, his property looted and his wife had been beaten up.
“My wife had to leave for her parents’ home in Chivi, as she could not cope with the intimidation and harassment that she was getting from Zanu (PF) supporters in the area,” he said.
Since his escape from his abductors, Munyanyi says he has managed to have his arm treated but is still having sleepless nights because of what he went through.
Comments (0)
Only registered users can write comments!
 
Weather from Harare - Mostly Cloudy
19°C
Wind: 16 kph E
Humidity: 78%
Sunrise: 5:58 am
Sunset: 6:10 pm
Mon - Scattered Thunderstorms
Hi: 27°C
Low: 18°C
Tue - Scattered Thunderstorms
Hi: 27°C
Low: 18°C