Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum
Statement
Regarding Mr. Pfebve
The Human Rights Forum wishes to make
public the following events that have recently occurred. Mr Elliot Pfebve is a
victim of organised violence and torture, and one of the complainants in the
civil suit mounted against Mr Robert Mugabe in a
New York
court.
Mr Pfebve’s offices at
95 Robert Mugabe Way
in
Harare
were broken into on
Monday 27th August 2001
. The entrance
has an iron screen and, double glass doors and a wooden door.
The burglars cut the lock to the screen, broke the glass doors and forced
entry into the office. They
ransacked the offices. Only two
notebooks were missing. This gave
the impression that the burglars were not common thieves but people who were
looking for certain documents. Mr
Pfebve reported this burglary at Harare Central Police Station.
The female police officer who received the reported asked CID to take
fingerprints from the doors but nothing was done.
On
Friday 21st August 2001
Mr. Pfebve’s car was broken into while it was parked
outside his flat. One of its windows
was broken and the radio was missing. Papers
were strewn all over the floor. Mr.
Pfebve reported this theft at Harare Central Police Station.
On 3rd September Mr. Pfebve went to his office in the morning
and found his doors open. Nothing
was broken. Only a cash box with
$7000 was missing. Again papers were
scattered on the floor. This
incident was also reported at Harare Central Police Station.
On the same day Mr. Pfebve received a phone call from a male person who
refused to identify himself. The man
said he was aware the Mr. Pfebve was having problems and that the break-ins were
not the work of common thieves. He
said that they were responsible for the break-ins and that they were looking for
the documents relating to the
US
lawsuit against the president.
The man advised Mr. Pfebve to surrender the documents so that he does not
get harmed and hung up.
On 4th September Mr. Pfebve left his house at around
9pm
. He wanted to
arrange security for his office. His
wife, maid and one year old daughter saw him out.
While they were going back into their house, Mr. Pvebve’s wife,
daughter and maid were threatened with a knife by certain men and forced into a
4x4, Mazda double cab motor vehicle. There
were two men in front. Two other men
sat with Mrs. Pfebve, their one year old daughter and their maid in the back.
They drove along enterprise road until they got to Shamva turn-off.
There the car made a U turn and dropped them off at Newlands Shopping
Centre. Whilst they were driving
Mrs. Pfebve was asked about the
US
lawsuit documents. Before
they were dropped off Mrs. Pfebve was told that they would not be harmed but she
would be picked up again next time. By
that time she should have sufficient information about the lawsuit if she does
not want to be harmed. Neither Mrs.
Pfebve nor her maid was able to take down the registration numbers of the motor
vehicles. She can identify the
kidnappers. This was reported to
Harare Central Police Station.
6
September 2001
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