via Political opportunists feasting on Dzamara | The Herald March 24, 2015 by Benny Tsododo
The alleged disappearance of one Itai Dzamara is a sad development that is traumatising to his family and friends; however, the opportunistic reaction of opposition politicians and civil society groups to his plight is not only unsettling but plainly heartless.
Opposition political groups have pounced on Dzamara’s misfortune to score cheap political points and revive their moribund political entities.
Like vultures they are circling to pounce on any morsel of political expediency availed by Dzamara’s plight.
Without allowing Government the opportunity to investigate the alleged abduction, opposition groups and civil society organisations colluded to impetuously accuse State security agents of being responsible for the alleged abduction.
Using conjecture inspired by political expediency, these groups totally ignored Government’s sincere condemnation of the supposed abduction and the subsequent assurances to investigate the matter.
To the floundering MDC-T party, the Dzamara mystery became a window of opportunity to play to the gallery of Western donors to beg for the reinstatement of its funding.
It is not a coincidence therefore that as the MDC-T and other opposition groups were escalating the Dzamara mystery, Tsvangirai immediately flew to the United States of America on the so-called diplomatic offensive to “hold high-level talks with US officials”.
The MDC-T believes it has hit a political jackpot.
Not to be outdone, civil society groups latched onto the bandwagon of political opportunism.
The Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights made a High Court application, ostensibly to compel Government to investigate the alleged disappearance of Dzamara.
This bid ended with High Court judge Justice David Mangota ruling that the Minister of Home Affairs, CIO Director-General and the Zimbabwe Republic Police Commissioner-General “shall do all things necessary to determine his (Dzamara’s) whereabouts including advertising within 12 hours of the granting of this order on all State media outlets including radio and television”.
All these hassles would have made sense had Government refused to investigate the matter. But prior to the High Court ruling, Government had publicly condemned the alleged abduction and given clear assurances that it would deploy its security services to fully investigate the matter.
Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa, on March 11, registered his unreserved disgust at the alleged abduction saying it was “barbaric”.
It is unfortunate that Government continues to be presented as being responsible for the alleged disappearance of Dzamara and is being urged to release him.
However, there is nothing new in this political mischief and misrepresentations since they squarely dovetail with a myriad other false regime change shenanigans to project Government as perpetrating human rights abuses and failing to guarantee the safety for its citizens.
It also fits into a worn out propaganda offensive to cast the country as having degenerated into a police state.
The major part of that blitz is to slander the security services so as to cause their replacement with others that are pliable to neo-imperial machinations.
This dislike and vilification of the security services has been ongoing with the MDC-T openly calling for an overhaul of the security sector through what it termed security sector reforms.
The current smear campaign against the security agents over the Dzamara case should be read against this self-serving backdrop.
Also with the alleged murder of Boris Nemstov in Russia playing in the background, it should be noted that it has become fashionable worldwide for Western supported opposition groups to blame their governments for any misfortune that befalls their activists.
In all fairness, we urge the public, political parties, civil society groups and all other interested parties to desist from passing unsubstantiated judgments. Let’s give Government space to freely conduct investigations into the supposed disappearance of Dzamara.
In our case, what is heart wrenching is that opposition groups are trying to shamelessly cash-in on the misfortune of Itai Dzamara, with Morgan Tsvangirai likely to come back from the US with fat dollar cheques to further his party’s narrow and barren political causes.
Now that the police have appealed for information on the whereabouts of Dzamara, we hope the vocal opposition parties and civic groups will troop to the nearest police stations to present the evidence they supposedly have against State security agents on the alleged abduction of Dzamara.
Failure to present such information would expose them as political predators that are drooling over the Dzamara case to raise funds for their phony democratic activities.
In all fairness, we urge the public, political parties, civil society groups and all other interested parties to desist from passing unsubstantiated judgments. Let’s give Government space to freely conduct investigations into the supposed disappearance of Dzamara.
COMMENTS
One can only imagine that this was the plan before they abducted Itai Dzamara – to cover their tracks by blaming the opposition, as well as M’nangagwa’s “condemnation!” of this barbaric act!!??
You can fool some people, some of the time, but you can’t fool everybody All of the time. It’s obvious to everybody who Itai Dzamara was abducted by. These thugs obviously think that people forget very easily.
This is what Benny Tsododo of the Herald has to say about Zimbabweans….
“It is unfortunate that Government continues to be presented as being responsible for the alleged disappearance of Dzamara and is being urged to release him.
However, there is nothing new in this political mischief and misrepresentations since they squarely dovetail with a myriad other false regime change shenanigans to project Government as perpetrating human rights abuses and failing to guarantee the safety for its citizens. It also fits into a worn out propaganda offensive to cast the country as having degenerated into a police state.”
Ha Ha. Benny, Benny, Benny – You make us laugh..
What an article. Attacking those that are expressing their disgust at the abduction of a fellow Zimbabwean? Most unbelievable. This has happened before and should not happen in a civilized country. We know only too well what happened in 2008 and by who! Cry the beloved country
Benny you really need to stop drinking your bathwater it’s not doing you any good!
Chickens will come home to roost. A spade is a spade. Why is a bullet shaped like a bullet an not like a wage. Good lucky Benny in yourendeavours.yes the gang have fools to fool.
How can the government investigates itself? Surely with all the road blocks the police are mounting in our roads everyday you can’t expect a van with a folded number plate to pass through without any suspicion . Suspicion which would lead to search and then leads to discovering a kidnapped someone. It’ so strange that you publish your biased story . Why are you trying to exonerate the state when on several times abducted people ended up being brought to the court after weeks of unknown whereabouts ? Take J Mukoko for example.
The opposition is àctually doing what any party with sane people would have done.
where is Itai Dzamara?
have the police released a public statement on progress in their investigations yet?
it seems that the Herald wants everyone to keep quiet so that the case can be forgotten.
that is a sign of the sickness.
people can disappear, and it is called “alleged disappearance”, or “supposed disappearance” – as if Dzamara has not disappeared at all.
let the Herald understand that even the ZRP has opened a docket into Dzamara’s disappearance.
Didmus Mutasa says in some interview, Munangagwa is very good at covering his footsteps. If Munangagwa knows where Itai Dzamara is, we don’t expect him to say it loud in parliament. He of course, as he did, would publicly condemn the act. Hypocrites. The Herald should not expect civil society and opposition leaders to remain silent when citizens are abducted in broad daylight by the government security agents. We know the Herald is Zanu Pf government’s propaganda machine and here it is ridiculing efforts by all who care to have Itayi Dzamara released by a government purporting to ac t on behalf of the people. For the recording, it is the Herald that is helping covering the footsteps of the abductors. For the record, we never expect the same government that abducted Itayi Dzamara to earnestly search for him. What we have is efforts by a the VP and the Herald to hoodwink the people that the government ids doing something. They are only buying time through these statements, to make people forget.
Didmus Mutasa says in some interview, Munangagwa is very good at covering his footsteps. If Munangagwa knows where Itai Dzamara is, we don’t expect him to say it loud in parliament. He of course, as he did, would publicly condemn the act. Hypocrites. The Herald should not expect civil society and opposition leaders to remain silent when citizens are abducted in broad daylight by the government security agents. We know the Herald is Zanu Pf government’s propaganda machine and here it is ridiculing efforts by all who care to have Itayi Dzamara released by a government purporting to ac t on behalf of the people. For the record, it is the Herald that is helping covering the footsteps of the abductors. For the record, we never expect the same government that abducted Itayi Dzamara to earnestly search for him. What we have is efforts by a the VP and the Herald to hoodwink people into thinking that the government is doing something though it may actually be doing nothing . In my opinion the government and the Herald are only buying time through these statements, to make people forget and carry on.
Tsododo knows where Dzamara is. He should just tell his paymasters to release him if he wants people to keep quiet.Dzamara is a political activist so why shouldnt politicians comment or rather demand his release? History of zanu and its brutal character are there for every sane person to see. Many disappeared only to be found dead and CIO has always had a hand. For how long should the people keep quiet? Do this benny know what the family of that innocent man is going through? Dzamara must be freed!