Government yesterday told the diplomatic community that it was investigating the alleged abduction of three MDC Alliance officials, indicating the State’s prime objective was to expose and prosecute the perpetrators or reveal the involvement of a third force.
Responding to the diplomatic community’s concerns over the
abduction, torture and sexual abuse of Harare West legislator Joanah Mamombe,
Cecilia Chimbiri and Netsai Marova, Foreign Affairs minister Sibusiso Moyo said
the government was equally worried.
Moyo’s response came over two weeks after the abduction,
with several Zanu PF officials alleging it was stage-managed.
“Government will, however, await the outcome of the investigation
before drawing any conclusions.
Investigations will be conducted with the prime objective
of exposing and prosecuting the perpetrators, if any, or exposing the
involvement of a possible third force,” he said.
“The government would like to assure the public and the
international community that it is taking these allegations seriously. These
allegations are particularly grave in that they involve alleged violations of
the rights of the girl child.”
Moyo said State security agents had started investigating
the matter and at the same time investigating the circumstances surrounding the
unauthorised staging of a demonstration during the national lockdown.
He further said some media organisations and the diplomatic
community had concluded that the government was responsible for the alleged
abuses.
Moyo, however, said government would not ignore glaring
similarities which exist between recent alleged abductions, which he claimed
had hallmarks of a stage-managed theatre designed to soil the State’s image and
divert attention from squabbles in the main opposition MDC Alliance.
The Foreign Affairs minister further said that government
was committed to upholding human rights as seen by the recent arrest of six
police officers in Bulawayo accused of assaulting Cowdray Park sisters Nokuthula
and Ntombizodwa Mpofu.
The three MDC Alliance activists claimed that they were
arrested at a roadblock before being abducted at Harare Central Police Station
by State security agents, who went on to dump them in Bindura after subjecting
them to torture and sexual abuse.
Reports reveal that at least 50 human rights activists and
opposition politicians have been abducted and tortured since President Emmerson
Mnangagwa won a controversial election in July 2018, but to date, no one has
been arrested for the offences. Newsday
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