It is alarming to learn that a Zimbabwean soldier who claims to have Special Air Service (SAS) training has alleged that abducted journalist Itai Dzamara was tortured and executed at the dreaded SAS base in Harare before his body was dumped into a well of acid.
On March 9, 2015, in Glen View, Harare, Dzamara, a journalist and political activist, was kidnapped eight years earlier by suspects from the state security agency.
The administration has repeatedly promised to find out where he is, but so far no information has been released.
A man claiming to be a soldier is now heard in a leaked recording that has gone viral outlining how SAS troops are chosen, trained, and do their jobs.
He emphasised that this unit is the one that abducts, kills and engages in robberies.
Even the President, he said, is aware of these SAS activities.
Itai Dzamara was taken hostage on March 9, 2015. I went to SAS for selection that November. SAS received Dzamara after being kidnapped by CIO and Military Intelligence. He suffered abuse and persecution. All of these organizations were there,” he added.
“What occurred was that SAS severely tormented him to the point that, by the time they were done, he was beyond repair.
They were no longer able to bring him back. All other departments—including Military Intelligence and CIO—withdrew at this time since they didn’t want to murder him.
“Dzamara was finally killed by the SAS. They initially wanted to throw his body into the Kariba range for lions to eat. But they realised his head was going to be left out. He was thrown in a well of acid situated at the SAS camp.”
The soldier claimed that he disclosed this information to make sure that Dzamara’s family knew that their son was killed.
“It is very important for the Dzamara family to know that their child is dead. He was consumed by acid,” he said.
The soldier also goes into detail about how members of the feared unit are recruited and trained and how they are assigned to carry out various assignments.
He claims street kids are rounded up from the streets of Zimbabwe and used for live drills on how to kill a person and their bodies subsequently dumped in Kariba to be eaten by lions.
Dzamara’s wife Sheffra Dorica wrote a letter to President Emmerson Mnangagwa who assumed power through a military coup in November 2017, to ascertain her husband’s whereabouts from the government but her efforts continued to hit a brick wall.
It is believed that, on 9 March 2015, Dzamara, then a fierce critic of then President Robert Mugabe (late) left his home to get a haircut at the neighbourhood barbershop in Glen View, a high-density suburb in Harare.
He reportedly asked his wife to prepare breakfast saying he was coming back after a few minutes.
He never returned.
