One of the most painful disappearances of a prominent African nationalist occurred on October 15 1975, when Dr Edison Furatidzwayi Chisingaitwi Sithole and his personal assistant, Miriam Mhlanga were kidnapped by Rhodesia Special Branch officers as he disembarked from his car at Ambassador Hotel in the then Salisbury.
Anyone suspected of being a"bad influence" was targeted and in most cases would never be found again.
This is the fate that befell the affable Dr Sithole, who at the time of his abduction was a 40-year-old lawyer after graduating from the University of South Africa with LLD and was the second black person to be admitted to the Rhodesian Bar after Dr Herbert Chitepo. In her article published on April 10 2022, Manzvanzvike follows up on excerpts from a memoir,"Serving Secretly" by Ken Flower, the last Rhodesian intelligence head, in which he writes:"In October 1975, he and his girlfriend were bundled into a vehicle outside the Ambassador Hotel in Salisbury and were not seen again.
Could it be that the Special Branch could have orchestrated the abduction without his prior knowledge? "That plan was endorsed by several senior Special Branch officers, who agreed that Sithole would indeed prove a valuable source of intelligence if the right inducements were offered." However, the truth according to the two Rhodesian officers, was that Sithole was taken to Fort of Inkomo Barracks near Harare and later transferred to Bindura for interrogation.
The sudden glare of publicity jeopardised plans by the Special Branch to 'turn' Sithole and he was never again seen.There was a problem processing your submission. Please try again later.A Rhodesian African Riffles corporal, Amos Muradzike, signed a declaration of facts that he had seen Sithole inside the Fort of Inkomo.The CCJP flew Muradzike and an investigator to Malawi for safety.
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