Former Rhodesian prime minister, Sir Garfield Todd’s
daughter, Judith, says opposition leader Retired General Agrippa Mutambara
saved her life by allegedly raping instead of killing her at the height of the
Gukurahundi genocide.
In her book, Through The Darkness, which chronicles the
1980s massacre of Zapu supporters in Matabeleland and Midlands by the fifth
Brigade, Todd wrote about her alleged violation by the former diplomat.
Mutambara, who was a senior army general at the time, was
allegedly ordered by then army commander, the late General Solomon Mujuru, to
kill the rights activist for being too vocal about Gukurahundi.
Todd had just presented evidence of the killings in
Midlands and Matabeleland to Mujuru, who then referred her to Mutambara.
The Zimbabwe People First interim leader denies the rape
allegations up to today and last week told The Standard that his accuser should
have reported the case to the police, if it was true.
Describing the incident in her book Todd wrote: “The
[senior officer] led me into a bedroom, opened a bottle of beer for each of us,
unstrapped his firearm in its holster, laid it on the bedside table next to my
head and proceeded.
“I did not resist.”
The issue was resuscitated recently when Mutambara joined
the MDC Alliance — an opposition coalition led by MDC-T leader Morgan
Tsvangirai, which seeks to challenge President Robert Mugabe in next year’s
elections.
Critics argued that Tsvangirai should not be forging an
alliance with a politician with a tainted record, but Todd last week said she
had long forgiven Mutambara.
She believes he was also a victim of Mujuru, also known as
Rex Nhongo.
“It is quite clear from my book, Through The Darkness that
when he collected me from my office 34 years ago, Mutambara was acting under
the orders of the then army commander, Rex Nhongo,” she said.
“He may have been as terrified as I was. For all I know,
and surely what I feared, Nhongo may have ordered Mutambara to kill me and the
fact that he didn’t would mean that I owe him my life.”
Todd added: “Mutambara did communicate with me before and
after he read my book.
“I regard him as just another casualty of that so-called
‘moment of madness’ and believe we were both victims of the then frightening
circumstances.
“I forgave him for his action against me a very long time
ago and I wish him well in his endeavours.”
However, Mutambara insisted that he did not rape Todd who
he regards as a friend. He said he never got any instructions from Mujuru to
harm the respected human rights campaigner.
“It’s difficult, people don’t understand my character. I
cannot be used by anyone, even by the commander or the president,” he said.
“When I left the army, even after very successful battles
in Mozambique, it was because I didn’t want to take certain orders.”
Mutambara said his relationship with Mujuru was not all
that rosy.
“I don’t even understand this issue. Judith is a learned
person and she should have taken the matter to the courts. I read about it and
it doesn’t make sense,” he said.
“However, as far as I am concerned, there is no bad blood
between the two of us.
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