The mystery surrounding Zimbabwe Hospital Doctors’
Association (ZHDA) acting president Dr Peter Magombeyi deepened yesterday
following revelations that doctors are investigating the possibilty that he was
injected with an unknown substance.
Magombeyi was allegedly abducted from his Harare home last
week on Saturday.
He was found allegedly disoriented on Thursday in Nyabira,
about 40km from Harare, and has been detained at a hospital in the capital
undergoing medical tests.
His lawyers and doctors were reluctant to talk about his
condition yesterday after Home Affairs minister Cain Mathema issued
thinly-veiled threats against groups that were “interfering” in police
investigations.
One of Magombeyi’s lawyers, however, told this publication
last night that there were strong indications that the youthful doctor was
injected with an unknown substance by his alleged abductors.
“The doctors have extracted pathological samples from
Magombeyi and we are now waiting for the lab results of the tests conducted,”
said the lawyer, who requested to remain anonymous.
“We will advise you when the medical affidavit has been
signed.”
President Emmerson Mnangagwa on Friday said the abduction
was staged and equated it to terrorism. Mnangagwa’s comments drew an angry
response from doctors.
ZHDA spokesperson Fortune Nyamande said the government as
an interested party must remain neutral during investigations.
“The State is a concerned actor and if they want
objectivity into these matters, they can appoint an independent committee to
investigate all the reported cases and consider merits or demerits of each
case,” he said.
“Such assertions will obliterate objectivity and deny the
victims of such gruesome experiences justice and closure.
“We urge the State to ensure that rights to have a medical
practitioner of the patient’s choice are equally respected.
“All this must be done in an ethical manner that safeguards
the patient’s privacy and proffer an environment conducive for speedy
rehabilitation and recovery.”
Civic groups and the opposition MDC Alliance blamed state
security agents for Magombeyi’s abduction.
MDC vice-chairperson Job Sikhala, who was abducted from a
police station in 2003 and was subjected to electrocution on the feet,
genitals, tongue and ears, yesterday said Magombeyi’s ordeal was similar to
his.
“A person who has not experienced it will pontificate nonsense
on denying something that he or she has not gone through,” he said.
“When we were tortured on the 13th of January 2003, we were
taken out of Harare Central Police Station and blindfolded and driven to a
place we didn’t know at the material time, which we were later informed that it
was at the Kabrit Barracks along Seke Road.
“Like exactly the explanation by Dr Peter Magombeyi, we
were led into an underground bunker two floors downwards.
“We were electrocuted from our feet, genitals, tongue and an
electric shock into our ears.”
In 2008 Zimbabwe Peace Project director Jestina Mukoko went
missing for 21 days after being abducted by seven State security agents from
her Norton home.
The government initially denied charges that it was behind
the the abduction, but former State minister Didymus
Mutasa later admitted that Mukoko’s assailants were State
security agents.
Meanwhile, the strike by doctors over poor working
conditions continued throughout the country yesterday with hospitals turning
away patients. Standard
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