WARNING: This is Version 1 of my old archive, so Photos will NOT work and many links will NOT work. But you can find articles by searching on the Titles. There is a lot of information in this archive. Use the SEARCH BAR at the top right. Prior to December 2012; I was a pro-Christian type of Conservative. I was unaware of the mass of Jewish lies in history, especially the lies regarding WW2 and Hitler. So in here you will find pro-Jewish and pro-Israel material. I was definitely WRONG about the Boeremag and Janusz Walus. They were for real.
Original Post Date: 2008-06-28 Time: 18:00:04 Posted By: Jan
By Justine Gerardy
Morgan Tsvangirai’s two South African bodyguards were starved of food and water, interrogated nonstop and accused of plotting to kill Robert Mugabe after being arrested in Harare last weekend.
VIP protection officers Sphiwe Nkosi and Isaac Lekgoe (both 33) returned to South Africa on Thursday after six days of detention following their arrest for breaching immigration laws on June 21.
The men entered Zimbabwe on June 3 in transit to Uganda but were then asked to go to Harare to provide protection for the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) leader.
| ‘My friend, we are the police. If you want to run away, run away’ |
While on the MDC campaign trail, the pair were searched and detained at least five times with Tsvangirai’s convoy. But at 2am last Saturday, plainclothes Central Intelligence Organisation (CIO) officers raided the pair’s Harare hotel room. Nkosi was told: “My friend, we are the police. If you want to run away, run away. Here in Zimbabwe we shoot to harm. The first bullet goes into the body, the second is a warning.”
The two arrived at Harare Central police station at 3.30am, where they were separated and underwent nonstop interrogation – with no water, food or rest – for more than 14 hours.
The CIO men asked if they were in Zimbabwe to kill Mugabe and where their weapons were. “They even wanted to know how much Tsvangirai paid us a day,” said Nkosi.
After the interrogation, they were taken barefoot to the cells. They slept in the passage with no blankets and among cockroaches, rats and mosquitoes. The cell floors were covered with human excrement.
“If you wanted to go to the toilet, they gave you plastic bags to put on your feet,” said Nkosi.
On Monday, after two nights in the cells, the men were asked if they had eaten. Their last meal had been on Friday night.
“I told them we were starving. They said if we had money, they would buy us some food,” said Nkosi. The officers bought rice, chicken and juice – but gave back no change.
On Tuesday, the pair were taken to court in leg irons, barefoot and handcuffed together.
At court, they were told they had to pay for the prosecutor and the magistrate and handed over nearly R15 000.
They pleaded guilty to contravening the immigration laws with the case postponed until Wednesday for sentencing.
That day, Nkosi and Lekgoe were taken to Newlands Prison.
“When we got there, each and every official said: ‘Here are the bodyguards of Morgan Tsvangirai. You think you are clever. You think you are big. Why would you do things that Thabo Mbeki wouldn’t do?'”
Walking to the cells, they were also taunted by the prisoners, who called them makwerekwere (foreigners) and told them they would be shown how things were done in Zimbabwe.
Given blankets, they were put in an open, bed-less, dark room that held 86 prisoners.
On Wednesday, they went back to court in leg irons and handcuffs. The pair were fined Z$25-billion each or four days in prison. The fine was paid by their lawyer.
However, Nkosi and Lekgoe were put back into chains, returned to Newlands Prison and told they could stay there for up to two weeks while waiting for immigration authorities.
“We felt terrible, depressed, confused,” said Lekgoe.
However, on Thursday morning they were taken to Harare Central to pick up their passports, driving and firearm licences, and phones, and taken to immigration.
Then they were taken to the airport and escorted onto a flight home.
At the airport, Nkosi had a near scare over the payment of his ticket. “I felt like crying. I said to him [Lekgoe], you are going nowhere. You can’t leave me here.”
He recalled how detainees were randomly beaten at Harare Central during morning head count – one officer beat a prisoner who apparently reminded him of someone who had once stolen his cap.
Lekgoe said one of the worst ordeals was having to walk barefoot on the filthy cell floors. The men could not sleep on their first night at home.
“The mind is still thinking and the body is tired,” he said.
Nkosi and Lekgoe are employed by Pasco Risk Management, who are working with DeltaOne to provide protection for Tsvangirai. The pair are receiving trauma counselling and medical treatment.
On the night of the raid, a third employee ran 25km dressed only in shorts to warn the MDC leader’s party.
“We are proud of all of them. They have performed admirably under the most challenging of conditions,” said Pasco managing director George Nicholls.