Give Bob a Dzamara push: Crisis group

via Give Bob a Dzamara push: Crisis group – NewZimbabwe 08/01/2016

CRISIS in Zimbabwe Coalition says the nation should “press” President Robert Mugabe to order the search for the abducted human rights activist Itai Dzamara.

Dzamara was abducted at a barber shop in Glen View on 9 Mach last year following a series of campaigns during which he challenged Mugabe to step down for having “failed” the nation through misrule.

Prior to his disappearance, Dzamara and his colleagues from the Occupy Africa Unity Square (OAUS) campaign had been battered by anti-riot police on several occasions despite the fact that Zimbabwe’s constitution guarantees the right to stage peaceful protests.

High Court ordered the state to search for Dzamara but 10 months down the line the rights activist is still missing.

In a statement Friday, the coalition said if President Mugabe was to order the state agents to produce Dzamara it would not take time for them to bring him back.

“The Head of State and Government, President Robert Mugabe has chosen to remain mum on the Dzamara issue despite the serious dent that the issue has caused on the country’s human rights record with the European Union (EU) and the United States expressing serious concern over the disappearance of Dzamara,” said the Civil Society’s umbrella body.

“His stance on Dzamara’s disappearance is in direct contrast to his sentiments over the mysterious death of Higher and Tertiary Education Minister, Jonathan Moyo’s daughter, Zanele (MHSRIP) who was found dead in a bathing tub in South Africa on October 17, 2015.”

“President Mugabe expressed serious concern over the manner in which South African authorities had handled the issue yet back home he chooses to remain quiet when authorities behave in a manner that is inconsistent with their duties.”

The coalition said they had no doubt that Dzamara was abducted by the CIO, Mugabe’s secret police.

“The manner in which Dzamara was abducted is synonymous with the operations of Zimbabwe’s state agents who are notorious for descending heavily on anti-government activists, some of whom have since independence in 1980, disappeared without a trace,” said the NGO.

“History is laden with anti-government activists who were disappeared the Dzamara style and have not been accounted for since then.”

Since the abduction, civic society organisations, the church and foreign embassies in Harare, have been expressing serious concerns over the mysterious disappearance of pro-democracy activist.

State has been on a defensive mode, labeling the missing activist as an opportunist trying to benefit from a “stage managed disappearance”.

Mugabe’s spokesperson, George Charamba said the Dzamara issue was too trivial to bother the Zanu PF leader.

 

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