TWO MDC activists were reportedly abducted by suspected State security agents in Gokwe early Tuesday morning and their whereabouts were still unknown last night.
BY BRENNA MATENDERE
MDC Midlands provincial spokesperson Takavafira Zhou confirmed the development and identified the missing activists as Prince Paradza and Edify Vushoma from Gokwe Central.
A missing persons report was made at Gokwe Police Station.
Sources told Southern Eye that last weekend, the two had an altercation with individuals suspected to be State operatives who accused them of pulling down President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s campaign poster during last year’s elections. The poster was pasted at Gokwe centre bus terminus.
“During the altercation by their tormentors, the two MDC activists were given four hours to either replace the poster or disappear. We strongly believe that the threat has been put into action,” said one source.
Zhou also concurred with the source.
“The duo was falsely accused of removing Mnangagwa’s poster and was given a four-hour ultimatum. However, they politely indicated that there were not the ones who had pulled it down and so they could not replace it,” he said.
The opposition spokesperson highlighted that the poster in question had, in fact, been pulled down by the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission officers ahead of the 2018 elections since it was in the vicinity of a polling station.
“As a legitimate party that has chosen to change government through the ballot box, MDC is perturbed by the abduction and harassment of its members who are not in any way a security threat … our activists must be immediately released from unlawful detention and harassment,” said Zhou.
He also pointed out that human rights violations should be avoided at a time the government was trying to go back into the community of nations and emerge from economic doldrums.
“Zimbabwe, which is at crossroads at this critical juncture, does not need such unpalatable violations of rights of innocent citizens, but respect of the dignity and inalienable rights of law-abiding citizens. We appeal to the powers-that-be to reign in renegades masquerading as Central Intelligence Officers,” Zhou said.
National police spokesperson Assistant Commissioner Paul Nyathi said he was yet to get a briefing on the matter.
“I am not aware of the case, can you talk to Inspector Joel Goko the spokesperson for Midlands, he is on the ground perhaps he can shed more light,” he said.
However, Goko was unavailable for comment.
