Paul Themba Nyathi - Under Siege: Zimbabwe's Human Rights Activists - Worldpress.org
Under Siege: Zimbabwe's Human Rights Activists
Map of Zimbabwe. (Source: C.I.A. World Factbook)
Nyathi  like Ncube, trade unionist Raymond Majongwe and 64 others  had been placed on a list of people who were to be barred from entering into or traveling out of Zimbabwe. In August, the ruling Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF) government had used its parliamentary majority to push through a set of constitutional amendments, among them a provision allowing the government to impose travel bans on "traitors" and those deemed to be harming the national interest.
"On my first arrest, in 1974, I was interrogated in relation to recruitment of guerrillas for the ZAPU army, ZIPRA [the Zimbabwe People's Revolutionary Army]. The white officer was well informed about our activities, but when he couldn't get anything from me, he handed me to two black officers who assaulted me
and eventually simply let me go," he says.
"I was arrested and detained for four days at Bulawayo Central Police Station, where I had been in 1974. I saw an amazing disregard for basic human dignity. The cells were unbelievably filthy, a rag which was once a blanket was caked with human vomit and excrement, the stench from the overflowing toilet was overwhelming, and there seemed to be a sadistic appreciation of the role played by hoards of mosquitoes
In four days I was never given food by the police  I had to be fed by colleagues from outside," he says.
Previous articles in this series: "Raymond Majongwe," "Netsai Mushonga" and "Trevor Ncube."