Zimbabwe Republic Police officers fired directly at prisoners who rioted at a high security jail in Harare last week, Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa told parliament on Wednesday as he confirmed a ZimEye.com exclusive coverage of the brutal killings on the day. [READ MORE – Chikurubi Riot: 7 Prisoners Shot Dead as Mass Torture Begins;   ………...  Massive JailBreak, 1 Shot Dead as Fire Breaks Out at Chikurubi Maximum Prison ]
Mnangagwa contradicting the prison authorities’ spokesperson who claimed no gunshots were fired, said however officers fired live bullets onto the unarmed prisoners while also alleging that the disgraced former ZANU PF MP candidate and church pastor, Robert Gumbura convicted of rape, had masterminded the prison food riot.
He said the prisoners had “armed themselves” with pieces of wood and bricks and began attacking officers at Chikurubi Maximum Security Prison on Friday because they thought the police “[did] not have bullets”.
“When the officers felt that they were in serious danger that is when they fired and one inmate died in prison,” Mnangagwa said, contradicting earlier claims from a prisons spokesman that the first reported casualty was not shot but died in a stampede.
“Those who got wounded, one died the same day and the other three died later on. Altogether five have passed on,” he said.
“Two had climbed the roof to escape and that is why they were shot,” the vice-president, who is also justice minister, added.
He did not say whether the fifth victim died of gunshot wounds or from other injuries sustained during the chaos, which lasted three hours and was sparked by discontent over poor food.
The Prisons spokesperson had last week insisted that officers only used blanks.
Harare West MP Ms Jessie Majome (MDC-T) asked why Mnangagwa’s version was different from spokesperson of the Zimbabwe Prison and Correctional Services, Elizabeth Banda-Karinda’s, who was quoted in the media saying inmates died during an ensuing stampede.
Mnangagwa responding, admitted that he “had read in the press” what was said, but added: “I am giving this house the report I have received as Minister of Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs.
“I have no doubt that the report… is the authentic and official report, not the one that is in the newspapers,” he added, in an official transcript of his speech.
Meanwhile ZimEye.com can reveal that the number of the shot prisoners is actually seven(7) and the prison authorities have been suppressing the figures since last Wednesday.
ZimEye/SAPA