CIO thug Kanengoni declared National Hero

HARARE – Central Intelligence Organisation (CIO) Deputy Director (Internal) and former Zanu-PF Central Committee member Elias Kanengoni who died last Wednesday has been declared a National Hero. 

Announcing the conferment of the hero’s status to the Kanengoni family at Whitecliff Farm in Concession on behalf of Acting President Mujuru last night, Zanu-PF Politburo member Sydney Sekeramayi said Kanengoni will be buried at the National Heroes’ Acre on Monday.

He described Kanengoni as a true cadre who was passionate about improving the lives of Zimbabweans.

“I have known Kanengoni for many years. This being my second stint as Minister of State Security, I have watched him grow and perform his assignments to the best of his ability. He completed all his assignments with distinction,” said Sekeramayi.

Born on December 25, 1953, Kanengoni, whose nom-de-guerre was Kudzonga Mabhunu, did his primary education at Chinehasha and Bare primary schools in Chiweshe District.

Between 1968 and 1971, he attained his secondary school education at Highfield Secondary School after which he worked at Saltrama Plastics as a printing assistant from 1972 to August 1975.

Kanengoni went to Mozambique to join the liberation struggle in 1975 under the Zimbabwe African National Liberation Army (ZANLA). He stayed briefly at Nyadzonya where he survived a brutal Rhodesian attack and later moved to Doroi Camp.

In November 1976, he was part of the first group of 750 liberation fighters who went to Tanzania for military training. In December 1977, he was appointed Military Intelligence Instructor at Chamimuka ZANLA Intelligence Headquarters in Mozambique.

He was also later appointed Deputy Head of Analysis at Chaminuka, ZANLA Headquarters of Security and Intelligence in February 1978. From June to November 1979, Kanengoni received training in Security Intelligence at the Police Training College of Sihala in Ravapindi, Pakistan.

In the same year, he returned to Mozambique where he was instrumental in providing security to the party leadership. During the liberation struggle, he rose through the ranks to become a Detachment Commander.

On January 27, 1980, he returned to Harare as part of the security team which protected the ZANU leadership. After Independence, he was attested into the Zimbabwe Republic Police as an Auxilliary Patrol Officer.

He later resigned from the police force to join the Central Intelligence Organisation and was attested into the President’s Department in 1982. He was immediately deployed to the Government Protective Security Inspectorate (GPSI) and appointed a Government Protective Security Officer (GPSO).

Kanengoni gained notoriety during the 1990 general elections when he shot the late former Gweru Mayor Patrick Kombayi. Kanengoni and a Zanu PF activist, Kizito Chivamba, pumped over six bullets into Kombayi’s groin.

Kombayi’s only crime was to contest against Mugabe’s deputy, the late Vice-President Simon Muzenda, for a parliamentary seat in Gweru.

Despite Kanengoni and Chivamba being sentenced to serve a seven year jail sentence they were controversially pardoned by Mugabe, using his presidential powers.

Not only was Kanengoni pardoned he was promoted, rising through the CIO ranks to Deputy Director General (internal). In 2010 he was appointed into the Zanu PF Central Committee, sparking protests from the MDC-T that a serving CIO chief should not be taking part in politics.

In 2008 when the CIO was rocked by serious infighting between Director General Happyton Bonyongwe and his late deputy Maynard Muzariri. Bonyongwe was accused of supporting the presidential bid of Simba Makoni, while Muzariri backed Mugabe to stay in power.

The rivalry was so intense it nearly paralysed the organization as the two CIO bosses spent time spying on each other. Showing how Mugabe rewards loyal operatives it was reported that the Zanu PF leader contemplated making Kanengoni the Director General of the CIO, to stop the infighting.

In June 2010 Kanengoni was doing the bidding of his masters again. He was reported to have assembled a hit squad that was responsible for ‘disciplining’ villagers in Chiweshe who did not toe the ZANU PF line during the constitutional outreach meetings.