The MDC-T has accused the police of playing politics on the
disappearance of political activist Itai Dzamara, who is believed to have been
abducted by State security agents three years ago.
MDC-T secretary-general Douglas Mwonzora said, while the
party would want Dzamara to be brought back safe and alive, they were
disappointed by police’s seemingly lackadaisical approach to the matter.
“They are not serious, that is political posturing ahead of
the elections, because after three years and court interventions they all of a
sudden wake up to appeal for public help on a matter that they know about,” he
said.
Mwonzora called on police Commissioner-General Godwin
Matanga to show more commitment to the matter.
“Where the police and State security agents are involved,
you see by the absence of arrests, three years down the line, when all tracks
have gone cold there was not even a single arrest of a suspect, even a phoney
one,” he said.
This came hard on the heels of a statement by police
spokesperson Senior Assistant Commissioner Charity Charamba, where she appealed
for public help to put closure to Dzamara’s case.
A former police officer who spoke to NewsDay on condition
of anonymity blasted police for pussy footing over the matter, saying if they
were committed they would by now have picked up the suspects and vehicle used
in the alleged abduction of the activist.
Dzamara’s younger brother, Patson, also said he was angry
over police delays in concluding investigations into the issue.
“I was shocked yesterday to learn about the statement by
ZRP asking for help to find Itai three years after his abduction. It is over a
year since the last time there was an engagement between us and ZRP. How they
are trying to trivialise this matter in order to present a reformed face is not
only repugnant, it’s preposterous. It’s not only nonsensical but diabolic for
the people who abducted my brother to be asking Zimbabweans to assist them with
answers,” he said.
Dzamara said he tried to get former President Robert Mugabe
and even President Emmerson Mnangagwa for his brother’s release but to no
avail.
“From the onset, I never minced my words regarding who
abducted Itai. That satanic act was executed by the military intelligence under
the oversight of Zanu PF. Not only that, up until now, these are the same
people who have egregiously stonewalled me (us) every time I (we) tried to
engage them about this issue. We tried to engage Mugabe and his government to
no avail. From the time Mnangagwa snatched power from Mugabe, I wrote him two
letters seeking for a platform to engage. Not once did I get a response,” he
said.
Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition (CiZC) said it has to be noted
that since Dzamara’s disappearance, the ZRP has been frustrating efforts by
pro-democracy groups in search of the missing human rights activist.
CiZC said as a result, there were a series of arrests and
assaults of the concerned individuals by the law enforcement agents.
“To make matters worse, the ZRP went on to defy a High
Court order to search for the missing activist and give regular updates to
Parliament and former President, Robert Mugabe’s spokesperson, George Charamba
event went on to state that the former Head of State was too busy to be
occupied with the issue of Dzamara,” the grouping said. Newsday
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