Part 5 of the SW Radio Africa leaked CIO list

By Lance Guma

SW Radio Africa continues with Part 5 of the list of Central Intelligence Organisation (CIO) agents working in and outside Zimbabwe. The document dated 2001 contains a list of state security agents working at that time. Some may have retired or passed away, but evidence has shown many are still serving. Although the document contained their home addresses, SWRA are not publishing these details.

Last week SW Radio Africa reported on Eleanor Mtangi, listed as an ‘operative’ at number 281 on the list. We also reported on how she and her husband Collin Cephas Mtangi, ran Cottel Enterprises (Pvt) Ltd from Harare, supplying electrical equipment and consumables to the mining and industrial sectors. The company boasted contracts with the army, police, air force, national oil company, ZESA, Zimglass, Shabani Mashava Mines and the Department of Irrigation, among others.

This week the matter took a new turn as our investigations showed Eleanor is now the Treasurer for the MDC-T Women’s Assembly in the United States. SW Radio Africa has been told that she divorced her husband and moved to the US but this has not been confirmed. Den Moyo, the MDC-T USA Chairman, told SW Radio Africa that they instituted their own investigations and a committee which included officials from the ‘Intelligence & Security Sub Committee’ called Mtangi to a hearing.

“Mtangi confirmed that she was once employed by the CIO, not as an operative, but as an administrator in the communications department, and that she resigned in December 2001. She sighted one of her reasons for resigning as the fact that she did not agree with the way the government was operating, and she wanted to see change. She joined the MDC around that time. She stated that she immediately left Zimbabwe, and when entering the USA, she disclosed her prior involvement with the CIO,” Moyo told SW Radio Africa in a written response.

“She insists that she severed all ties with the CIO, and that she is truly involved with the MDC,” Moyo added.

Despite claims by Ms. Mtangi that she disclosed her prior involvement with the CIO to the US authorities, it does not seem her fellow colleagues in the MDC-T knew her background. SW Radio Africa spoke to her by telephone on Thursday, and, despite refusing an official interview, she claimed she had told MDC-T US Columbus District Chairman Zvidzai Ruzvidzo about her CIO background.

Meanwhile at number 356 on the list is the late CIO Deputy Director General Livingstone Menard Muzariri, a man who exemplified all that is wrong with the organisation. In 2001 he was listed as an ‘operative’ but now Muzariri’s name remains synonymous with the Gukurahundi Massacres in the Matabeleland and Midlands provinces. A ruthless operator within CIO circles, Muzariri played a prominent role in the Massacres alongside the current Air force Commander Perrance Shiri.

Although Muzariri generally remained out of the public eye and shunned publicity his fellow colleagues in the CIO confirmed his notoriety for being brutal during assignments. A former CIO operative now based in London told SW Radio Africa that Muzariri committed some of the most serious atrocities during the Gukurahundi Massacres. He led public executions, often forcing victims to dig their own graves in front of family and villagers.

With help from the 5th Brigade army units, Muzariri and his fellow agents would routinely round up villagers and march them at gun point to a central place. There they would be forced to sing Shona songs praising ZANU PF, at the same time being beaten with sticks. These gatherings usually ended with public executions, another source told us. At the time of his death Muzariri was into farming and was a neighbour to Reward Marufu, brother to Grace Mugabe who died last year.

Floyd Ndaudzwa at number 371 is listed as a ‘Deputy Intelligence Officer’. Investigations by SW Radio Africa revealed that around August 2005 he was based at Chaminuka Building (CIO headquarters) and was working there as the chief personnel officer (CPO) of the organisation. Ndaudzwa was cited in a high profile case in which a CIO agent, sacked in 2002, went to court challenging his dismissal for allegedly training his four-year-old daughter on how to use an AK47 rifle.

At number 383 is the recently appointed Deputy Director General Aaron Daniel Tonde Nhepera, who replaced the late Livingstone Menard Muzariri. Shockingly Nhepera in 1997 claimed to have suffered 98 percent disability from injuries sustained in the liberation war. He subsequently made five different claims and received Z$650 901 from the War Victims Compensation Fund. He claimed to be suffering hallucinations, persistent headaches, ear and stomach aches.

Nhepera, just like his predecessor Muzariri, played a key role in the Gukurahundi Massacres. By his own admission he only resigned from the notorious 5th Brigade army unit because of ill-health. The 5th Brigade was an elite unit of soldiers specially trained by North Korean instructors and had about 3500 ex ZANLA fighters. They rampaged through the Matabeleland and Midlands provinces killing an estimated 20 000 perceived opposition ZAPU supporters.

The late Corneous Nhloko a ‘Deputy Intelligence Officer’, at number 385 on our list, died in a fire at his farm in Wozoli, Silobela, in February this year. Known by his liberation war nickname of Victor Mlambo he was declared a national hero by ZANU PF. He joined the CIO in 1979 and rose through the ranks to become assistant intelligence officer in 1986 before he was then appointed head of the counter-subversion unit for Harare Province.

In 1992 Nhloko was posted to Lagos, Nigeria where he worked as a ‘liaison officer’ before being transferred to the CIO Training Academy in Harare in 1996. SW Radio Africa

See Part 5 of the 2001 CIO List