via Moyo likens Dzamara to UK and Syria – New Zimbabwe 19/05/2015
THE government’s failure to find missing activist Itai Dzamara is just like the UK’s inability to stop its citizens slipping away to fight in Syria, Zimbabwe’s information minister argued on Tuesday.
Asked on Twitter why the authorities had not located Dzamara, who was abducted on March 9, Jonathan Moyo said: “For the same reasons the British government is not aware of hundreds… of its citizens who go to Syria despite security.”
At least 500 British citizens are thought to have gone to fight in Syria, with some of them joining ISIS.
Dzamara, 35, was abducted from a barber’s shop in Harare by unidentified men and driven off in a vehicle with masked number plates.
The opposition Movement for Democratic Change and many activists believe state agents are behind Dzamara’s disappearance, especially as the former journalist had been calling on the 91-year-old Mugabe to stand down.
Dzamara had been previously assaulted by police.
In comments broadcast this week, Moyo told a BBC interviewer that Dzamara’s disappearance “was obviously of concern to the government”.
“People disappear every day… We have quite porous borders,” Moyo argued.
A court order for police to search for Dzamara has yielded nothing, and his family now say they have hired a private investigator.
Rumours circulate from time to time saying that the father-of-two has been found but nothing concrete has emerged.
Visiting top US diplomat Steven Feldstein said last week that the US wanted “the facts” on Dzamara’s disappearance as soon as possible.
Former MDC advisor Alex Magaisa tweeted on Tuesday: “1 man tried a protest. He was abducted & disappeared. Zimboz have just got on with their lives.”
COMMENTS
I think Moyo’s response was not well thought out. The two cases can not be compared. “Itayi was abducted” while the citizens of Britain sneak out voluntarily to support a cause whether rightly or wrongly.Itayi’s case has nothing to do with porous boarders but an ugly culture where human life is worth next to nothing as long as your political views differ from those of the “Napoleons” of Zimbabwe’s animal farm.
This regime change agent Dzamara knows Mugabe’s government cannot do anything good for anyone.How does anyone expect an incapable government to find him,wherever he has hidden.He might as well disappear for good.He clearly is not the first person to disappear in this country.After all his funders said they were going to employ a more professional private investigator who is better than Mugabe’s ZRP.
the zimbabwean public and the world at large fully believe that Itai Dzamara was abducted by government agents.
and we have good reason to suspect zanu pf government / cio.
there have been so many similar cases in the past.
they may still be holding him, but given the global pressure, it is likely that they would have released him were he still alive.
so now moyo is making up stories to try to hide behind.
but everyone ‘knows’ what happened.
the voice of liberty was silenced – yet again.
so they thought.
but there is no silence.
only a deafening demand.
where is Itai Dzamara?
where is Itai Dzamara?
I think it’s high time that we should unite & conquer the monster regime
I think it’s high time we all much to the state house. We have twitter, free from econet, it’easy to co-ordinate ourselves. If we can have a million people marching to the state house to confront that old man, I am sure that even the riot police and the soldiers sent to do his dirty work will join the masses.
If we could have the Madhuku’s and Tsvangirai’s be bold enough like long ago and rally the people and march with us. Kusiri kufa ndekupi!
Asijiki
@Rockstone, you are right about UNITY, it’s the only way WE can have a hope in hell of making any progress against this monster that is ZANU Pf.
One wonders how long it’s going to take for any of our Semi-Decent, Honest, or Selfless politicians to sit down and put their differences aside and PULL TOGETHER FOR THE SAKE OF ALL THE PEOPLE OF ZIMBABWE!!
The real question is, ARE THERE ANY SUCH POLITICIANS IN ZIMBABWE TODAY???
This is part of the ZANU-PF propaganda to try and mislead the world about Dzamara’s disappearance. The norm is if you repeat a lie often enough – somebody may just believe it. BY now there is little hope that Dzamara is still alive – he clearly was murdered by the security services – and would not have been without the express approval of the monster at the top.
It is common in dictatorships that the opposition is fractured and there rarely is a united front to fight the dictatorship. This is normally a case where the dictatorship aims to get any potential threat eliminated by being behind and supportive of “leaders” interested only in their own interests without any regard to the people of the country.
In Zimbabwe how many MDC’s are there? Have they come about normally – or are they the result of state sponsorship by the dictatorship. This madness started in 2005 and is continuing. Why?
Is it not a case that every Tom, Dick and Harry wants to be leader and every one of those “leaders” bar Tsvangirai really had enough support on the ground to even get a crowd of 500 together to come to their meetings.
The same problem has hit the dictatorship – because Disgrace is the de-facto president and wants to rule in future – so all potential threats must be eliminated. Again the question needs to be asked – how much support does Mujuru, Mutasa and co have on the ground since they were part of the treacherous dictatorship and none of them are innocent of the abuses inflicted on the people of Zimbabwe. They have the same dirty hands as Mugabe and his crowd have. Are they just part of the scheme to fracture and destroy the opposition even further?
More classic misinformation from the master of such….don’t worry Johno you’ll be held responsible with all your murderous thug mates. Wait and see.
I doubt Itayi Dzamara is still alive. His remains could be lying at the bottom of one of the many disused mines around the country. It is a waste of time for us think the government is trying to find him when it is the same government that abducted and killed him. MDC T and other interested organisations should utilize private investigators to identify those who carried out the abduction and deal with them.
Professor Moyos commentseems to be coming from a child or a drunken individual. British people leave Britian voluntarily. Dzamara was kidnapped while having a haircut.The kidnappers claimed they were taking him for official business. This is the pattern and was used against Mumoko. Moyo supports the government an cares least about Zimbabweans. He tried to spin whe HE fell and severs people were made to suffer.