Getting Arrested: Oral Histories of Violence, Torture, and Arrest in Rhodesia, 1960–1979

Abstract

In the wake of growing African political opposition, and the outbreak of the guerrilla war in the countryside in the early 1970s, political imprisonment became an important tool of governance and repression for successive Rhodesian governments. This chapter demonstrates that, as a way of suppressing growing African opposition, Rhodesian authorities passed a plethora of preemptive security legislation that was largely responsible for manufacturing¹ thousands of political prisoners in Rhodesia between 1959 and 1979. I also show that although Rhodesian authorities framed these laws within the discourse of “anti-terrorism,” these very laws were responsible for breeding state-sponsored terror and extra-legal arrests of thousands of Africans in both urban and rural Rhodesia. Furthermore, for many African political detainees, the road to Rhodesian prisons and detention centers was fraught with violence and torture. In their oral testimonies, former Rhodesian political prisoners depicted the various methods of torture that were applied to their bodies by Rhodesian security agents while they were under arrest. Their stories, found in oral testimonies, court evidence, and written submissions by victims of torture, are important in reconstructing the experiences of being incarcerated.

Shamwari, ndakarohwa! (My friend, I was beaten!)

Interview with Oliver Muvirimi Dizha, Murewa Rural Area, Zimbabwe, October 17, 2006

Then they said these words: “We have arrested you because you sent three boys to Zambia to train as freedom fighters.” I told them that their statement was not true. Then they looked at each other, and one of them said,“You will tell us the truth today.” The (white) detective officer-in-charge then said to the (African) sergeant, “Take him to the slaughter house.”

Transcripts of Interviews (Informant’s name suppressed in the original document), Zimbabwe National Archives, MS 591/4 “Political Prisoners: 1975–80”