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NewsDay

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CIO spy in soup

Politics
Phillip Machemedze, the former CIO operative who was controversially granted asylum in the United Kingdom, has landed in more trouble. A Zimbabwean woman, domicile in the UK, has come out alleging he raped and infected her with HIV. Machemedze has publicly confessed his HIV-positive status. The development comes at a time when several Zimbabweans in […]

Phillip Machemedze, the former CIO operative who was controversially granted asylum in the United Kingdom, has landed in more trouble.

A Zimbabwean woman, domicile in the UK, has come out alleging he raped and infected her with HIV.

Machemedze has publicly confessed his HIV-positive status.

The development comes at a time when several Zimbabweans in the United Kingdom have also approached the British Home Office, claiming they were tortured by the former operative.

The woman (name supplied) who is currently in Zimbabwe, claims she was abducted from her aunt’s home in Harare by Machemedze and three other people before being gang-raped and tortured for four days. The victim’s aunt was an MDC activist.

Machemedze’s lawyer, Masimba Mavaza, who is based in the UK, yesterday confirmed the allegations had been submitted, but dismissed them as false.

He said in a telephone interview with NewsDay the allegations of rape were aimed at reversing the UK court’s decision to grant his client asylum.

Mavaza said an interview obtained from the woman had been submitted to the Home Office as evidence.

“But these are lies,” the lawyer said. “We all know that in 2000, during the days of the referendum, nothing like that was happening. Machemedze had already left the country by the time the woman claims he raped her,” said Mavaza.

“The people who are coming up now claiming to have been tortured by Machemedze are doing so in the hope that they will win their asylum cases. It seems people think they can bolster their claims by lying that they were tortured by Machemedze.” Mavaza said his client was “deeply distressed” by the sprouting allegations, adding he was worried about the impact the allegations had on his children and family.

He, however, said the Home Office would not be swayed by the allegations.

“Unlike other countries, Britain has a legacy of upholding the rule of law. Their judicial system will not be tainted and swayed by the unsubstantiated reports in the Press.

“The Secretary of the Home Office does not move because the Press has spoken, but she institutes proper and credible investigations into all the allegations against my client,” he said.