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| Patrick |
Cornelius Sagandira,
an MDC activist who is nephew to the party’s Makoni Central constituency top official
Patrick Sagandira, told the Daily News
that he is fearful for his life in Zimbabwe.
“I was very young at the time when my family was heavily
involved in the opposition politics and
naturally I would join other youths but I unfortunately became a target of the Zanu PF
youths as they attempted to burn us
alive in our home,” Cornelius said.
“I would love to come back home and work for my country but
the mere thought of it sends a chill
down my spine because of what I experienced. I had hoped that now (former
president Robert) Mugabe is gone, it
should be safe but what I am seeing in the media regarding the human rights situation there is not good,”
said the Jönköping University student.
“Only recently I heard that some party officials who
supported my uncle in the last elections before he lost the primary elections
were also kidnapped by unknown people and it is sad.
“On the 7th of March 2017 I went back to Zimbabwe to attend
my grandmother’s funeral in Nyanga and I had planned to stay in Zimbabwe for
three weeks but on the 10th of March when I was on my way to Mutoko, I was
attacked by Zanu PF youths.
“I was stabbed with a knife at the right-side armpit.
Fortunately, I managed to get in the car and left. I had to book a ticket to go
back to Sweden on the 12th of March because I was afraid of being killed.”
MDC spokesperson Jacob Mafume warned that it will be
foolhardy for Sagandira to come back hoping to see change.
“The situation is still as dire as the boy left and it
would be unwise for him to think that because Mugabe is gone then there is
change because it has become worse, restrictions are continuing,” Mafume
said.
Following Mugabe’s
ouster in the November 2017 soft coup that saw the ascendancy of President
Emmerson Mnangagwa, most European countries began to prepare to deport
Zimbabweans on the assumption that things had changed back home.
But Amnesty International,
the International Crisis Group and the Zimbabwe Restoration of Human Rights
Organisation (ROHR)’s recent reports show that authorities have maintained a
brutal crackdown in the wake of protests over fuel prices, with dozens of
killings, reports of rape by military personnel and widespread arbitrary
arrests and torture among other serious human rights violations. Daily News
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