from MARCUS MUSHONGA in Harare, Zimbabwe
Zimbabwe Bureau
HARARE, (CAJ News) – LAST weekend marked the tenth-year of the enforced disappearance of Zimbabwean journalist and pro-democracy activist, Itai Dzamara.
It was on March 9 in 2015 when five men abducted Dzamara from a barber shop in the capital Harare’s Glen View suburb.
The men, suspected to be state agents from the Central Intelligence Organisation (CIO), accused him of stealing cattle before handcuffing him and driving off with him in a white truck with concealed number plates.
All attempts by relatives and human rights lawyers to establish his whereabouts have been unsuccessful.
Amnesty International has renewed calls on authorities to urgently establish an independent, impartial and transparent investigation into his whereabouts.
“Itai Dzamara’s family and loved ones have endured ten years without answers,” said Tigere Chagutah, Amnesty International’s Regional Director for East and Southern Africa.
The activist said the authorities had ignored calls for information and investigation, including from his wife Sheffra Dzamara.
“Zimbabwean authorities must urgently carry out an effective investigation into what happened to Itai Dzamara and end their official silence on his case,” Chagutah said.
The High Court of Zimbabwe ordered police and state security agents to search for Dzamara and report on their progress every two weeks.
However, according to his lawyer, none of the security services have fully complied with the order.
Dzamara was abducted during the reign of president Robert Mugabe, head of state from 1980 until a coup in 2017.
Critics of the government have been abducted and reappeared injured or dead, but Dzamara has never been found.
– CAJ News