A Zimbabwean court has ordered the Salary Service Bureau (SSB), which processes government salaries, to deduct US$100 monthly from each of the two prison officers who tortured a Harare man last year for passing through Chikurubi Prison.
On October 20, 2023, the Civil Magistrates Court ordered SSB to deduct US$100 from the salaries of two Zimbabwe Prisons and Correctional Services (ZPCS) employees, Michael Nduna and Florence Chihambakwe, in order to satisfy a US$5 200 judgment debt awarded after the victim successfully sued the pair for their barbarism.
According to the Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR), the victim Alex Tendai Gombedza and his friend Evidence Kutsawa were severely assaulted and tortured by Nduna and Chihambakwe, who accused them of passing through a prohibited area while walking through Chikurubi in January 2022.
“During the torture, Nduna and Chihambakwe instructed Gombedza and Kutsawa to lie down on the ground before assaulting them on their feet using wooden pick handles. After the assault, the ZPCS officers instructed some prisoners whom they were supervising to also assault the duo,” said ZLHR in a statement.
Gombedza and Kutsawa sustained severe injuries and had to seek medical attention.
“Gombedza sustained injuries on his legs, feet and had to be admitted at Parirenyatwa Group of Hospital for treatment. The Harare resident suffered excruciating pain on his feet, which he still feels to date. According to a medical report, Gombedza suffered three percent residual disability as a result of the injuries, which he sustained from the assault,” said ZLHR.
Following the assault and torture, an aggrieved Gombedza engaged ZLHR lawyers, Tinashe Chinopfukutwa and Paida Saurombe who sued Nduna and Chihambakwe in August 2022 for damages totalling to US$5 250 arising from the physical attack, ill-treatment for pain, suffering, humiliation, affront to dignity and embarrassment.
In his case, Gombedza also named Minister of Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs, Ziyambi Ziyambi and ZPCS Commissioner-General Moses Chihobvu as the respondents.
During trial at Harare Civil Magistrates Court, Gombedza’s lawyers argued their client “felt greatly humiliated, embarrassed, dehumanised, degraded with the assaults and ill- treatment that he received at the hands of the ZPCS officers.”
The human rights lawyers stated Nduna and Chihambakwe treated Gombedza as if he was a dangerous criminal yet he was unarmed and posed no security threat “whatsoever.”
“Furthermore, Chinopfukutwa and Saurombe argued there was no justification for the excessive use of force against Gombedza as he had not committed any crime but was just going about his business walking on his way to Harare’s Central Business Centre,” said ZLHR.
Gombedza had to request that the two ZPCS officers’ salaries be garnished after the proceeds from the sale of some of Nduna’s household property at an auction held in Harare in April 2023 to recover the US$5 250 debt only amounted to US$49, leaving an outstanding debt of US$5 200.
“Gombedza said no attachable property was found at Chihambakwe’s residence,” said ZLHR.
Apart from garnishing salaries of delinquent ZPCS, SSB has in recent years also deducted salaries of Zimbabwe Republic Police officers, who would have been sued by ZLHR for misdemeanours committed against human rights defenders and ordinary citizens.
