Defence Minister, Army Boss Ordered To Pay ZiG40 000 To A Man Assaulted By Soldiers
Harare Civil Court Magistrate Tamara Chibindi has convicted Defence Minister Oppah Muchinguri and Zimbabwe National Army (ZNA) Commander Lieutenant-General Anselem Sanyatwe for the brutal assault of Muchademba Muponde by soldiers in 2019.
According to the Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR), Chibindi on Wednesday, April 10, ordered Muchinguri and Sanyatwe to pay Muponde, a Harare resident, ZiG41 633 as compensation for the ill-treatment which he endured at the hands of soldiers on 16 January 2019.
The soldiers had been deployed to suppress countrywide anti-government protests which were held in response to a unilateral government increase in fuel prices and worsening standards of living. The ZLHR said:
Muponde was assaulted by soldiers as he accompanied his grandfather to buy a chicken at Glenview 1 Shopping Centre in Harare, where he saw a group of soldiers chasing people around and he also began to flee.
One of the soldiers, who was brandishing a gun, spotted him and gave chase and caught him before assaulting him on the back of his body and neck using the back of the firearm.
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Muponde started bleeding when the soldier hit him on the back of his head and ran to hide at a nearby homestead.
But the soldier followed him and continued assaulting him using the back of the gun at the homestead. At one point, the soldier even lifted his gun threatening to shoot him.
Muponde sustained serious injuries on both legs including internal injuries on his left leg as a result of the assault and he could not walk.
The soldier continued beating him and only stopped after seeing the severity of the injuries sustained by Muponde and instructed him to wash the blood off his face.
Muponde then engaged Tinashe Chinopfukutwa of Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights, who in 2019 sued Hon. Muchinguri and Sanyatwe claiming payment of damages for pain and suffering, nervous shock, contumelia, affront to dignity and humiliation.
During trial, which began in February 2024 at Harare Civil Magistrates Court, Hon. Muchinguri and Sanyatwe vainly argued that the soldiers, who assaulted Muponde were not under the control of the ZNA Commander but of the Zimbabwe Republic Police, as they had been deployed to assist the law enforcement agents in restoring law and order.
Out of the ZiG41 000, Magistrate Chibindi said ZiG20 816 will be damages for pain, suffering, trauma and nervous shock, which was suffered by Muponde while ZiG20 816 will be damages for affront to dignity, humiliation and embarrassment caused to the Harare resident.
Hon. Muchinguri and Sanyatwe were also ordered to pay interest on the total amount of damages from 2019 until the date when they will make the payment to Muponde.
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