A BULAWAYO-BASED ex-member of the Zimbabwe National Army, Hapson Ncube, said he was arrested last January and jailed for 14 months after being court-martialed and found guilty of actively participating in opposition MDC-T politics.
REPORT BY CHIEF REPORTER
He said he was bitter about his 14 months’ incarceration for actively participating in the structures of the MDC-T after leaving the army in 2006.
Ncube, who quit the army in 2006, said he was the MDC-T Cowdray Park youth chairperson at the time. He told our sister paper Southern Eye that he was arrested on January 3 2013 and court-martialed on March 12 on charges of desertion and active participation in opposition politics.
Ncube said he was jailed under “D Class”, which is a category for dangerous criminals.
“Trouble started when I tendered my resignation to the army in 2006,” said Ncube. “My resignation was rejected on the grounds that no army member should leave, but I left and went to South Africa.
“It was in South Africa that I got actively involved in MDC-T and returned to Zimbabwe to become Cowdray Park youth chairperson,” said Ncube.
Ncube said he did time in several prisons from Khami Maximum Prison, Masvingo, Hurungwe, Karoi and Beitbridge Prison.
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Ncube said he was not quitting politics now that he is a free man, but would pick up his life and continue to fight for change.
“Now that I have been released, I will seek audience with the (MDC-T) provincial leadership. I am still actively involved in politics and have resumed my duties as (MDC-T) youth chairperson.
“The July 31 election results broke my heart as I firmly believed that MDC-T would form the new government,” said Ncube.
Ncube said inmates were starving in all the prisons he was shuttled to and conditions were very unhygienic. The MDC-T has included Ncube’s imprisonment in a political dossier which it has sent to Sadc to apprise regional leaders about the pre-and-post election violence in Zimbabwe. Efforts to get comment from the army were fruitless.
