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(NEWZIMBABWE) Radio publishes names of 'CIO agents'

Radio publishes names of 'CIO agents'
01/07/2011 00:00:00
by Staff Reporter

A LONDON-BASED Zimbabwean radio station has published a list of what it claims are names of Central Intelligence Organisation (CIO) agents in what could be potentially a major national security breach.
The radio station, which broadcasts to Zimbabwe on short wave, posted a list of 83 names on its website and promised to release more names every Thursday for the next six weeks.

CIO director general Happyton Bonyongwe appeared sixth on the alphabet-organised list released on Thursday. The radio station offered no justification for the move which analysts say has no precedence anywhere in the world.

Writing a week before the disclosures, SW Radio Africa reporter Lance Guma said: “For years, agents working for the CIO have relied on their secret identities to carry out abductions, torture and the murder of opposition activists.

“But recently, SW Radio Africa received a document, leaked in 2001, containing a list of CIO agents at the time.”

Guma said it was “expected that a number of the people on the list may have retired or passed away”, adding: “Agents recruited after 2001 may not be found on the list but there will be many who are still serving.”

We could not independently verify the authenticity of the list last night, described by SW Radio Africa as an “Internal Directory of the President’s Office”.

But the news value of the decision to publish names of serving CIO agents, including their ID numbers and addresses, was questioned by one respected Zimbabwean political commentator.

Oxford University-based Blessing Miles-Tendi, the author of ‘Making History in Mugabe's Zimbabwe: Politics, Intellectuals and the Media’, said: “Firstly, what evidence is there that the list of names is authentic?

“Secondly, what does SW Radio Africa hope to accomplish, which is constructive, by publishing these names, ID numbers and physical addresses?

“Thirdly, SW Radio Africa's Lance Guma once made an outlandish claim that UK-based public intellectual George Shire is Air Marshal Perrance Shiri's brother. George suffered serious consequences, one of which was the desecration of his father's grave, because of Guma's fable.

“SW Radio Africa's latest action underlines the dearth in responsible practice in Zimbabwe's journalism fraternity.”

The Zanu PF-side of Zimbabwe’s power sharing government has long called on Britain to shut down the donor-funded SW Radio Africa, saying its continued broadcasts were a violation of Zimbabwe’s “sovereignty”.

SW Radio Africa has justified its broadcasts on short and medium wave saying it is denied space in Zimbabwe where the state-owned Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation enjoys a radio and television monopoly despite commitments to reform by the power sharing government.

Labels: CIO, HAPPYTON BONYONGWA, LANCE GUMA, SW RADIO, TREASON

posted by MrK @ 4:09 PM