Congolese Trader Accuses CIO of Kidnapping in Harare’s Boiling Tuckshop Feud
A fierce rivalry in Harare’s bustling foreign-run tuckshop scene has burst beyond the marketplace and into the shadowy corridors of state power with explosive allegations that secret agents are being weaponised to crush business competitors.
A Congolese businessman and recognised refugee, Desire Nsengimana, has accused operatives from the Central Intelligence Organisation (CIO) and an Immigration compliance officer of kidnapping, harassment, and attempting to deport him under false pretences.
In a formal complaint dated November 7, 2025, Nsengimana, through his legal team at Rubaya and Chatambudza Legal Practitioners, alleges that certain Rwandan refugees involved in Harare’s informal trade have been feeding false intelligence to state security agents all in a bid to wipe out a powerful business rival.
“This appears to be a brazen weaponisation of state security and immigration apparatus in a campaign of persecution against our client,” his lawyers charged in a letter to the Zimbabwe Independent Complaints Commission (ZICC).
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The dramatic case, flagged by ZimLive, has peeled back the curtain on simmering commercial turf wars between foreign traders mainly Rwandans and Congolese who dominate Harare’s booming tuckshop economy, where billions in cash change hands daily under the radar.
According to the complaint, Nsengimana was abducted on June 10, 2025, by men claiming to be CIO agents.
They allegedly branded him an “enemy of the state” and accused him of being a Rwandan spy sent to infiltrate refugee business circles.
But Nsengimana insists he is a Democratic Republic of Congo national, not Rwandan, and that the wild accusations stem from jealousy and cutthroat competition within Harare’s refugee-run trade networks.
Following the abduction, Nsengimana was reportedly handed to an immigration officer known only as Machona, who ordered him to report to the department the next day.
When he complied, he says he was informed he would be detained at Harare Remand Prison as a “prohibited person” awaiting deportation to Rwanda.
The lawyers allege that Machona later admitted the move had been directed by powerful CIO members aligned to a clique of Rwandan refugees.
“This is a disturbing abuse of state institutions for private gain,” the lawyers wrote.
“Our client has been branded an enemy of the state based on gossip and commercial envy.
“This is unlawful persecution of a recognised refugee protected under the Refugees Act.”
Documents show Nsengimana’s refugee status, granted by the Commissioner for Refugees on November 27, 2014, remains valid.
His legal team argues that he deserves protection under both Zimbabwean and international law not persecution disguised as law enforcement.
The ZICC and the Ministry of Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs have acknowledged receipt of the complaint, which seeks a full-scale probe into the conduct of the CIO agents and immigration officials implicated in the scandal.
