Prominent activist Briggs Bomba says suspected state security agents that raided a leisure facility that he runs in Harare were after his life.
Bomba, who is the programmes director at Trust Africa, said the incident that happened early this month was part of the violent crackdown on government critics ahead of the ongoing Sadc summit in Harare.
The suspected state security agents allegedly turned the place upside down and harassed patrons, who included a retired army general, as they searched for the activist.
Over 100 opposition leaders and civic society leaders have been thrown behind bars on allegations that they were plotting protests to disrupt the Sadc summit.
Bomba said the group that raided the leisure centre arrived in unmarked Toyota Fortuner vehicles and were armed with AK47s
They demanded to know his whereabouts amid suspicion that they wanted to abduct him.
Bomba likened the raid to the activities of the brutal Rhodesian regime that suppressed the majority black population.
"Leadership in Zimbabwe needs to do better than this and put an end to these Gestapo manoeuvres, which too closely resemble Rhodesian-style tactics that were used to terrorize and dehumanize black Zimbabweans before independence,” he said in a statement.