By Political Reporter- Two senior figures from the country’s notorious military-security apparatus, long associated with the brutal enforcement of ZANU PF rule under Robert Mugabe and later under Emmerson Mnangagwa, have died under mysterious circumstances during the Easter holidays, raising fresh questions about the fate of the so-called military junta that has dominated Zimbabwean politics since the 2017 coup.
The deceased are Walter Basopo, a long-serving Central Intelligence Organisation (CIO) operative implicated in the abduction of political activists, and Retired Brigadier General Victor Rungani, a former high-ranking member of the Joint Operations Command (JOC) who oversaw state-sponsored violence in the 2008 presidential run-off election.
Basopo, reportedly a close relative of President Emmerson Mnangagwa, died in a hospital on Tuesday, according to family sources. Mourners gathered at his home later that evening.
He is best remembered in activist and human rights circles as one of the state agents frequently named in connection with the March 2015 disappearance of journalist and pro-democracy campaigner Itai Dzamara.
Dzamara, a vocal critic of Mugabe’s regime, spearheaded the “Occupy Africa Unity Square” protests and became a symbol of resistance against state repression.
He was abducted in broad daylight by suspected security agents and has not been seen since.
Despite repeated appeals from local and international human rights bodies, including Amnesty International and the United Nations, the state has provided no credible answers about Dzamara’s fate.
Basopo was routinely identified by insiders and watchdog groups as a member of the CIO’s special operations unitbelieved to be responsible for neutralising dissenters through surveillance, intimidation, torture, and disappearances.
His death brings a grim finality to one of Zimbabwe’s most haunting cases of enforced disappearance—while robbing the Dzamara family and the nation of a potential witness in any future truth-seeking processes.
In a striking coincidence, Basopo died on the same day as Retired Brigadier General Victor Rungani, whose passing was confirmed by the Children of War Veterans Association (COZWVA).
His son, Hardlife Rungani, is an active member of the group.
Rungani, originally from Bikita in Masvingo Province, served in the shadowy Joint Operations Command—a powerful body composed of the heads of the army, police, intelligence, and prisons.
JOC was responsible for the coordination of ZANU PF’s coercive statecraft, especially during elections and political crises.
In the 2008 presidential run-off election, Rungani was allegedly deployed to Mashonaland East, where opposition supporters faced a wave of systematic violence, including beatings, torture, arson, and murder.
Human rights observers described the crackdown as a “campaign of terror,” which ultimately forced MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai to withdraw from the race, allowing Mugabe to claim victory.
Rungani, like Basopo, was part of a generation of security chiefs who operated with virtual impunity during bothMugabe’s reign and the early Mnangagwa years.
Their tactics left deep scars on Zimbabwe’s political landscape and silenced countless voices that dared to challenge the ruling elite.
The simultaneous deaths of Basopo and Rungani come at a time of intense political infighting within ZANU PF.
Since the 2017 coup that toppled Mugabe and brought Mnangagwa to power, Zimbabwe has witnessed a precarious consolidation of military-political power—initially cloaked in promises of reform, but quickly reverting to authoritarian control.
The military junta, once united in its mission to depose Mugabe, has become increasingly fragmented.
Vice President Constantino Chiwenga, widely seen as the coup’s architect, has clashed repeatedly with Mnangagwa over the direction of the party and control of state resources.
Reports of purges, mysterious deaths, and shifting loyalties within the security sector suggest that the post-coup honeymoon is long over.
Observers believe the deaths of Basopo and Rungani may signal the waning influence of Mugabe-era enforcers—many of whom found renewed purpose under Mnangagwa—but whose legacies are now seen as liabilities in the shifting sands of ZANU PF power struggles.