Encounters with ED in prison

This week, Father Emmanuel Ribeiro concludes his account of the horrors he saw in the Rhodesian prison system. In this conversation with The Sunday Mail’s Deputy News Editor Levi Mukarate, Fr Ribeiro relates his encounter with a young Cde Emmerson Mnangagwa at Harare Central Prison

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Q: Can you explain further on these prisoners you say were listed as “commuted to natural life?”

A: Like I said earlier we had prisoners coming between 1968 and 1972 all whose sentences were listed as “commuted to natural life”.

Interestingly all had been convicted of murder. These people came into prison but we did not see them going out or a formal report that they have been executed.

But what I know is that behind the scenes, these people were being killed. Amongst these people are some who I saw being executed, but on record it is assumed they are still behind the prison walls and waiting to die naturally.

I saw them being executed and I know where they are buried.

The question that stands out to today is; was it a mistake by the authorities in entering these people in their records and classifying them as “commuted to natural life”. What does “commuted to natural life” mean, when it was supposed to be “sentenced to death”.

But another question comes asking could it have been a consistent mistake from 1968 to 1972.

That is why I am saying the Ministry of Justice should tell us what happened to these people, because they have the records.

Q: Since you were there during that time and you also point out that you witnessed some of these people being executed, can’t you then conclude that all these people were eliminated for their involvement in politics and there is no trace of them whatsoever?

A: That is why I am still probing because I am not satisfied or have a conclusive position.

There were seven of us in the Chaplaincy – myself, Edward Nyawa and Mapondera we were all blacks and white chaplains who included Padre William Clarke, Henry Swift SJ, Douglas Wall and Van Niekerk.

I witnessed certain things and did not witness other things. I am trying to run away from presuming that all these 41 people “commuted to natural life” were executed.

I could have seen two or three being executed, but I do not want to presume they are all dead.

That is why I am saying can society tell us where these people are. What is certain is that they came to prison, but I did not see them leave either dead or having been released after some consideration by the authorities.

What is clear is that people were coming to prison as condemned to death, but with this group of persons whose sentences were “commuted to natural life”, what was going on?

You see they are all condemned for murder and you suspect who have they murdered?

Again you have four people coming in on the same day and their offence is cited as murder.

There is need to get to the truth and we should not be carried by emotions. When we establish the truth then this will satisfy families.

If these prisoners were executed then we know. If they were taken from prison and died elsewhere, we need to establish where they are buried.

If anyone was released and says here I am, then as a country we will say come and let the world see you.

From then should we be able to ask them what happened and they should tell us their story.

Once that is done then this issue of 41 prisoners who came to Harare Central Prison between 1968 and 1972 being classified as “commuted to natural life” is cleared. Only then can we be able to know what happened.

Q: You ended up Chaplain-General. You saw these executions first hand, which you clearly question their nature and motive. What did you do then to try and ensure these wanton eliminations were curtailed?

A: At one time I went to Bishop Abel Muzorewa, then prime minister in the Ian Smith government and he didn’t want to see me.

I then went to his deputy, Dr Silas Mundawarara. I think providence works in a certain way. His son came in as we were seated and walked through between us. He came back again and walked through.

His father called the boy back and asked him, “What are you doing? Why can’t you greet Father Ribeiro? Don’t you know him?”

When he was done with the boy, he left and I told Dr Mundawarara straight that I have come because of his child, his son.

I told him I had gone to Bishop Muzorewa and he didn’t want to see me. It was around 8pm.

I told Dr Mundawarara that there is a boy who is going to be executed and the same boy is just the same as your son.

I went ahead and said he had to intervene, (if not) it is going to be difficult to forgive you.

Then I gave him the details of the boy, I remember his first name was Themba. The following day the boy was released. So these are the very difficult situations that we encountered.

The people on line to die were young, were looking up to us or the chaplaincy to help.

Even the President, our current President Emmerson Mnangagwa was in the same category.

He had been sentenced to death and I saw him at Harare Central Prison.

Q: You mention the President, can you narrate your encounters with him during his days in prison?

A: Just like all prisoners on death row, I would visit their cells. The condemned prisoners were given one hour to go outside where they could exercise and see each other.

They would be allowed to go out at 11am. When I was on duty I would go at 10am so that they would have at least two hours outside.

I would take my church service and lengthen it.

I knew Mnangagwa had come in as part of the Crocodile Gang that included James David Ncedile Dhlamini and Albert Victor McSifelani Mlambo.

These were young men; Dhlamini was 20 while Mlambo was 22. They were all young, including Mnangagwa. Unfortunately Dhlamini was executed despite being under 21 and the law outlawed such executions.

That is why I said earlier the Smith regime had established killing machines against liberation fighters.

Back to Mnangagwa.

I remember one day after service I went to his cell and asked him, “Have you written a letter for mercy?” His reply was, “I did, they did not reply, why waste my time?”

His cell was the one at the end and everyone coming in and out down the hall would pass by his cell.

He would hear the footsteps and know that someone is gone, someone is getting killed. That is how traumatising it was for the young man.

Despite his response, I went to Dr Laviccoco who was in charge of the prisoners at the prison hospital. I said to him that I have a boy who is in the condemned cells and I am worried over him, especially his age.

He said bring him in for examination. I asked the staff to take Mnangagwa to Dr Laviccoco.

He was unaware of what was happening or what I was planning. The doctor examined his health and asked him to do a lot of things as part of the check on his eyes, mouth, teeth and so forth.

The doctor said, “No, is a boy.”

Then I went back to the doctor after the young man was taken to his cell. I asked for a medical report of what he had seen. Dr Laviccoco did not object and gave me the report.

With the report, I asked Mnangagwa to write a letter for mercy and he did. I directed staff to send the letter to the then president, Clifford Dupont, and in two weeks I saw him in the yard.

He was no longer in the D-Hall. But he remained a D-Class prisoners.

As the time went on, I put him in my office, put him on education so he did Form One, Two, Three and Four with Central African Correspondence.

He did Ordinary Level in prison and not Advanced Level as being stated now. At the time, A-Level was not (common).

All our examinations came from South Africa. Here, the only schools that had Form Three South Africa (level) were Kutama, Dadaya, Bonda and Mt Selinda. After Form Three you would go to Matric.

Then we had forms, but the education system was much higher than now.

To me, Emmerson was a son, he was a young boy. The first thing was to protect him. Protect from what? He is a young man who was locked up in a cell for about six years.

Once released, he did not fit in the world where other prisoners had friends. His colleagues are the ones he had left in the D-Hall that he only interacted with for one hour a day.

So after enrolling into education he did very well. I made him a librarian.

Every time prisoners were released from the cells they would come to the chaplain’s office for books.

If prisoners wanted books he would be the one giving the books and he kept a record.

If he was not helping fellow prisoners he would sit in a corner and study. If it was time to go and eat, he would go and eat then come back.

He was very quiet; he had a listening ability.

You would not tell him twice what to do; it was just once and he would follow what you said. If you gave him an order either to say, “I am leaving office, you stay seated outside,” definitely you would return to find him there.

Every morning, as he got out of the cells he would come to the chaplain’s office.

Q: How did he take prison life?

A: Since he had a task when he was with me, it was getting easy for him. He liked it and I remember around 1974, 1975, 1976, 1977 things had got bad because the war was at its peak and prisoners were now many in the jail.

They were packed in the cells like sardines. I suggested to Emmerson that the place was now bad and told him I was thinking you go to Khami Prison.

It was only Khami or Harare because that is where there was the D category. Again, it must be clear that despite his death sentence being set aside, Emmerson was kept in the D category.

What it means is instead of being categorised as A, B or C, the judge or the court didn’t release him but kept him on D class as dangerous.

We should not forget he was a trained man and a dedicated fellow.

Also when these young men and women were recruited for the war, it was not just a random exercise.

Those doing the recruiting would have seen certain attributes in their targets. Remember, also, he had been to Egypt and China for military training. He also used that to his advantage. He took it up and used it to survive the prison life.

Q: You saw many prisoners then, but why did you single out this particular character, Emmerson Mnangagwa?

A: Like anyone else, what struck me on him was that he was a young boy. There were various types of people in jail and imagine if you are young among these people?

There were homosexuals, real criminal who were dangerous. I singled him out to work in my library partly because I had effected his release (from deathrow) and I saw him in the yard. I said, “Wow, he is out.”

Having experienced other prisoners losing their minds because of jail, I had to bring him in. I said to the staff that were looking after them in the yard, “Please let this young man have access to the chaplain’s office.”