Zimbabwe’s controversial Environment, Water and Climate Minister, Saviour Kasukuwere, was detained for almost three hours at Munich International Airport on Saturday morning (November 16).
According to reports, German police swooped on Kasukuwere soon after his arrival on a plane from South Africa on his way to Poland to attend the United Nations Framework on Climate Change Convention. He was detained at a police post at the airport where he was told that the country’s security system had alerted the police that “an undesirable element was entering the country.”
Speaking on Saturday from Munich International Airport, Kasukuwere said Germany’s Ambassador to Zimbabwe Ulrich Klockner called him after the ordeal to apologise, saying such an incident would never happen again. Kasukuwere added: “Problems started when I landed at Munich International Airport around 6am today. As we were walking from the arrival terminal, police details and security agents appeared as if they were carrying their usual airport checks but as soon as they got hold of my passport, they all swooped on me.
“They stopped searching all the other people and I suddenly became the centre of attraction as they escorted me to a police post within the airport and they detained me in a small room for two and half hours.
“As soon as we got into this room, they took away my passport and gave me some document saying I was supposed to be subjected to some security checks. The police details consulted with higher authorities and shuttled from one office to the other.
“I asked them what was the problem and they told me that their security system had alerted them that an undesirable element was about to enter into their country.
“They searched me and checked all my details and after a while, they left me to sit alone in this tiny room not knowing what was going on.”
He added: “It was quite some experience but I wasn’t surprised. I then spoke to the Germany Ambassador in Zimbabwe who made frantic efforts to call these police details to no avail. I sat in this tiny room on some bench and all I could do was just to read my prayer book.”
The Minister said he had even tried to explain to the police details that he was on his way to Poland for a UN meeting but they would not listen.
“I went further querying why as a diplomat I was being kept in this tiny room but they maintained that they were doing their job.
“After about two and half hours of uncertainty, one of the police officials just came in and handed me my passport. He then hurriedly left and I was really taken aback by this treatment. I think this had something to do with the illegal sanctions but no one mentioned this to me. This was quite some experience.
“I was only freed around 8:45am. This treatment was totally uncalled for. After I had been released, the Germany Ambassador to Zimbabwe contacted me and he was very apologetic about the whole ordeal. He gave me assurance that this would never happen again.”
It appears, however, that not only the Germans regard Kasukuwere as an ‘undesirable element’. Thousands of unsympathetic Zimbabweans flooded social media sites over the weekend to register their glee at the treatment meted out to him in Germany. A comprehensive dossier published by Nehanda Radio allegedly exposes the minister as a violent thug who from 2000 to 2008 beat up opposition activists using an iron bar, while hunting them down using militia gangs. The Mt Darwin South MP is also accused of leading and sponsoring terror gangs that operated mainly in the Mashonaland Central province.
Nehanda Radio alleges that on May 5, 2008, Kasukuwere organized and ferried (using his lorry) a group of over 300 youths to Chaona, Mazowe where they beat up perceived opposition supporters, killing 6 and injuring dozens.
