Gibson Nyandoro
Gibson Nyandoro (1954 or 1955–2008) was a Zimbabwean war veteran and political dissident who died in military custody in Zimbabwe in May 2008.
Background
Originally a supporter of the late Robert Mugabe's Zanu PF, and a participant in the war for independence, he took part in the seizing of White-owned farms. A few days before the March 2008 elections, he took part in a pro-Opposition rally. He was arrested on May 2 in Epworth, near Harare, and reportedly tortured to death in army barracks.
When Gibson Nyandoro raised his arm and slowly unclenched his fist to make the open-palmed salute of Zimbabwe's opposition at a rally in March 2008, it was a moment so loaded with symbolism that it stilled the crowd. Only days before the 2008 presidential election, the gesture by then 53-year-old war veteran and former government supporter reflected a nation's rising defiance of the late President Robert Mugabe and the growing hope that a change of regime was really coming, and with it a path back to prosperity and freedom.
Abduction
On the 1st of May 2008 Gibson Nyandoro, a war vet who had fallen out with his colleagues, began openly campaigning for the MDC-T. Furious at this defection the local Zanu PF leadership summoned him to a kangaroo court chaired by Christopher Mutsvangwa. They warned Nyandoro about his links with the MDC-T but he refused to be intimidated and continued campaigning for the party.[1]
They came for Nyandoro on 2 May 2008 as he sat at one of the long tables of the Zimunhu Bar in Epworth, 15 miles from Harare, chatting with old comrades about football and politics. Sungura music was playing, a fast beat danced with fast moving feet to imitate horses' hooves, and the drinkers were making their glasses of sour white beer made of sorghum last. Around 15 men, some in uniforms, arrived in cars, poured into the bar, smashing out with long iron bars before taking Nyandoro away.[2]
Death
Two weeks after his abduction on 2 May 2008, Gibson Nyandoro was reported missing by his relatives and his body was discovered floating in a local dam a few days later in May 2008.
