Under-fire war veteran and former diplomat, Cde Agrippah Mutambara, who is being accused of raping Judith Todd, the activist daughter of former Rhodesian prime minister, Sir Garfield Todd, says there is nothing to be ashamed of as everything he did during his time in the army were orders coming from his superiors. Todd—who was a leading anti-Rhodesian activist in the years leading to Zimbabwe’s Independence—says Cde Mutambara, a former brigadier in the army, raped her in 1983 when she was trying to contact then Prime Minister Robert Mugabe to alert him of the Gukurahundi killings that were just starting in the Matabeleland and Midlands provinces in, as she did not know that the killings had been ordered by Mugabe himself.
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Speaking to Zimbo Today.com, an unfazed Cde Mutambara said he has nothing to worry about since as the loyal soldier he ever was, he was only taking orders from his superiors and he believes that his was a revolutionary act in line of duty. “I was just doing my job as a soldier. When you are in the army, you do not question instructions coming from your superiors, so for anyone to suggest that I committed the crime in my personal capacity would be the height of madness,” said the war veterans, who went on to be rewarded for his “gallant” acts by being posted by President Mugabe as Zimbabwe’s ambassador extraordinaire and plenipotentiary to several countries around the world.Cde Mutambara—whose liberation war name was Cde Dragon Patiripakashata—has since resigned from the government to join the Zimbabwe People First party led by former Vice President, Joice Mujuru.
“This is something that used to happen during and after the war,” asked Cde Mutambara who appeared to be getting irritated by persistent questions from Zimbo Today.com. “What is special about her? Tens of thousands of women were raped both during after the war—including white women like herself—so tell me what is special about her?” Cde Mutambara boasted that nothing will ever happen to him because he cannot be charged with any crime since the purported crime took place when he was an officer of the Zimbabwe National Army, whose actions are covered under a blanket immunity provided for by the Indemnity and Compensation Act, a Rhodesian law that indemnified all government officials from prosecution for acts committed “in the line of duty”, which Mugabe relied on for the first decade of his rule.
He said if ever there are attempts to get him prosecuted—which he called persecution—he would have a field-day in court where he said he would spill the beans, giving a full roll-call of all the who’s who in Zimbabwe today when committed more heinous crimes. “Everyone was doing it… there is not even one person who is clean as far as I know!” swore the author of the book “The Rebel in Me”. The rape in question took place at the Ambassador Hotel, which has led to many to readily address the former diplomat as “Ambassador”, not in his official title, but the nickname for his exploits in dealing with those that had been singled out by his superiors as dangerous kill-joys.-Zimbotoday.com/satire
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