Flower had no more than a professional relationship with MI6, despite rumors that he had covertly and intermittently plotted with the British intelligence services to undermine Ian Smith's government.
Before the March 2002 election, the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) reportedly complained that its leaders were being "constantly harassed, intimidated and detained by the CIO and the police".
[4] The Star quotes the Zimbabwe Financial Gazette as alleging that "CIO agents from the counter-intelligence unit were working with Foreign Affairs Ministry officials to monitor the activities and movements of the international observers ahead of the critical two-day poll".
[4] In March 2002, CIO agents reportedly arrested a Zimbabwean correspondent for London's The Daily Telegraph, Peta Thornycroft, who had gone to Chimanimani (about 480 kilometers east of Harare) to investigate election violence by the ruling party, the Zimbabwe African National Union (ZANU), against the political opposition.
[10] The CIO consists of nine key branches which include internal, external, counter-intelligence, military intelligence, close security, technical and administration.
[13] The CIO has largely been viewed as the real power behind the ruling party' Zanu (PF), despite claims alleging the national army (ZNA) of being the same.