In a conversation with the SABC's Special Assignment programme, MDC Activist Tonderai Ndira revealed that he believed his life was in jeopardy, just a few years before he was killed by Zanu-PF militia.

There was a tree nearby with low V-shaped branches. They lifted my feet up and threw them over the V so that I balanced on the ground with my chained hands. They picked up logs and sticks and started beating me, focusing mainly on my buttocks. The beating went on forever and finally, my knees buckled. I slumped to the ground. Every time I fell down, the beatings intensified and I would be hung up again. Tired of hoisting me, they changed tact. I had to march up and down singing a popular MDC song, “Ndezve Change Nero.” Whenever I slowed down, the beatings would start. The singing and marching lasted for about an hour. They called it “rehearsals” for the demonstrations. My captors appeared under an impression that I was the coordinator for the July 31 demonstrations in Bulawayo, and possibly Matabeleland as a whole. After the marching I had to lie down on the ground, and they took turns beating me. It might sound crazy to most, but at that point I had made peace with the fact that I was going to die. My only concern then was that like Itai Dzamara, missing since 2015, my family would never find my body while living in the cruel hope that one day I would walk through the door. Tawanda Muchehiwa #Zimbabwe#