Serving soldier escapes court martial

Chronicle Reporter

A SERVING member of the Zimbabwe National Army reportedly deserted the force is now on the wanted list after he was accused of supporting the opposition MDC Alliance.

Despite denying the charges, Private Gift Ndiweni (40) is said to have been arrested and tortured under suspicion that he was a member of the opposition party.

He was based at Induna Barracks in Bulawayo.

As part of his disciplinary proceedings he was demoted from the rank of Corporal to that of being a Private.

Over the years a number of soldiers have deserted the armed forces citing a number of reasons mainly disgruntlement with their remunerations.

According to the army, Ndiweni was wanted for questioning after his suspected desertion.

“He was initially arrested on suspicion of being politically active and inciting fellow officers to revolt against the leadership which can be considered as an act of treason. He was expected to appear before a court martial but on the scheduled day, he was no show hence a warrant of arrest has been issued against him,” reads the army statement.

Sources close to Ndiweni’s case revealed that he had been picked up together with other officers as part of a head hunting mission to weed out people who were suspected to be aligned to the opposition.

“The suspicion was that Ndiweni and his colleagues were actively involved in opposition politics hence initially in trying to deter him they reduced his rank from Corporal to Private but they then felt they are not driving the message through as they went on to arrest him and he was tortured in the army prison facility,” said the source.

Colleagues who work with Ndiweni revealed that he had advised them that he was being victimised as he was not a political person and he felt he was going to be punished for something he did not do.

“He told us that he was not only tortured at the army prison but he was stripped of his rank for something which he did not even do hence he now did not trust the system,” said the colleagues who declined to be named.