Violent ex-leaders seek amnesty from officials

In Zimbabwe, an African nation still stinging from political transition, Joint Operations Command is attempting to make a stealthy getaway at the expense of a terrorized people.
Joint Operations Command is an 11-member group of President Robert Mugabe’s top official lieutenants.

According to an article in the New York Times, the group has been involved in shocking criminal activity and responsible for abducting, detaining and torturing opposition activists and officials.

The violence was at its peak during the nation’s last general election.

According to a State Department human rights report released in February, last year close to 200 people were killed and thousands were tortured in state-sponsored attacks.
Sadly no one has been prosecuted so far.

Mugabe’s henchmen were also responsible for cutting off aid to impoverished areas and blocking access to journalists among other things. Now this cowardly bunch is seeking amnesty from these heinous crimes.

Naturally negotiators are reluctant to give in and many officials are wondering why the matter is being acknowledged.

But the opposition is not as enthusiastic about the idea of granting amnesty.

In the same article, Roy Bennett, the opposition’s third-highest ranking official, said, “I’d rather rot in hell than agree to anything like that.”

Since the 1980s, Mugabe’s band of legal gangsters offered him the same shield of protection they are begging for now. But Joint Operations is only deserving of the same kind of mercy they have granted to the people of Zimbabwe. And that’s none at all.

Yewande Addie for the Editorial Board.