• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • AMERICAN DEMOCRACY
  • WORLD DEMOCRACY
  • POLITICAL ART
  • more
    • election technology
    • money politics
    • political dissidents
    • THIRD PARTY
      • third party central
      • green party
      • justice party
      • libertarian party
    • voting methods
  • DC INFO
    • author central
    • about
    • advertise with DC
    • contact
    • privacy policy

Democracy Chronicles

Zimbabwe: missing pro-democracy campaigner’s wife appeals for president’s help

by DC Editors - March 11, 2020

FacebookTweetLinkedInPin
Zimbabwe: missing pro-democracy campaigner’s wife appeals for president’s help
File: Free speech, original image adapted and then superposed on Zimbabwe flag

From VOA

The wife of a missing pro-democracy campaigner and freelance journalist, has submitted a letter to President Emmerson Mnangagwa protesting that her husband, who was abducted five years ago, “cannot go unaccounted for just like that” and appealed for help to get answers to ascertain Itai Dzamara’s disappearance.

The Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights helped Sheffra Dzamara to submit the letter, which is calling for an immediate response from the Zimbabwean president.

“… I believe someone in your government knows what happened to him. If the abductors killed him, give me his body so that I can grieve, bury and get closure. I can also take my kids to his grave and say here lies your father. With tears, I appeal to you as the president to help me. I sincerely hope that you will help us for the sake of his two young children. I will not rest until I get answers as to Itai’s whereabouts.”

Presidential spokesperson George Charamba was unavailable for comment as he was not responding to calls on his mobile phone.

Human rights group, Amnesty International, said the Zimbabwean government has to account for Dzamara.

In a statement, Amnesty International said Dzamara’s“whereabouts remains a mystery and his family are stuck in agonizing limbo.”

Itai Dzamara is a well-known activist and had been a vocal critic of the late former Zimbabwean president Robert Mugabe before he was abducted from a barbershop on 9 March, 2015.He has not been heard from since.

“Imagine not being able to tell your children if their father is alive or dead. Someone knows where Itai Dzamara is, but they have chosen to subject his family to five long years of uncertainty,” said Muleya Mwananyanda, Amnesty International’s Deputy Director for Southern Africa.

“Today we join Itai’s family in calling on the Zimbabwean authorities to conduct a thorough, independent, effective and transparent investigation into his disappearance. People do not simply vanish into thin air. We need to see an inquiry with findings that are made public, and suspected perpetrators brought to justice, as well as an end to the harassment and intimidation of activists and critics in Zimbabwe.”

Before he disappeared, Itai Dzamara had been repeatedly harassed and beaten up by Zimbabwe’s security forces.

Amnesty International believes “he has been forcibly disappeared as a result of his activism and outspoken criticism of the government.”

Itai Dzamara was abducted on 9 March 2015 by five men while he was at a barbers’ shop in Harare’s Glen View suburb. His abductors are said to have accused him of stealing cattle before handcuffing him, forcing him into a white truck with concealed number plates and driving off. He has not been seen since then, and there are fears for his safety.

Itai Dzamara was a well-known activist who had campaigned to improve accountability in Zimbabwe. He had called for former President Robert Mugabe to step down and criticized his handling of Zimbabwe’s economy. Mugabe in power for almost four decades, until he was removed from office in a defacto military coup.

Amnesty International urged the government to set up an independent judge-led Commission of Inquiry into the circumstances around the abduction of Itai Dzamara, with powers to subpoena witnesses.

The findings of any inquiry must be made public and those suspected to be responsible should be brought to justice in fair trials. “Members of the public with information to contribute to the Commission through submissions must also be allowed to do so.”

Amnesty International noted that “under President Mnangagwa Zimbabwe remains a dangerous place to criticize the government. Security forces routinely use repressive laws such as the Public Order and Security Act to prevent people from carrying out peaceful protests and voicing their criticism.

“Government critics have increasingly faced harassment and intimidation under president Mnangagwa’s administration, including being charged with trumped-up treason charges, for exercising their rights to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly.”

President Mnangagwa was Vice president when he told the United Nations Universal Periodic Review in Geneva in 2016 that the government was actively pursuing the search for Itai. However, the government has failed to give regular updates on the search efforts for the activist, despite a court order issued in 2016 instructing it to do so.

FacebookTweetLinkedInPin

Filed Under: International Democracy Tagged With: Africa, Democracy Protests, Journalism and Free Speech, Zimbabwe

About DC Editors

We are your source for news on the all important effort to establish and strengthen democracy across the globe. Our international team with dozens of independent authors are your gateway into the raging struggle for free and fair elections on every continent with a focus on election reform in the United States. See our Facebook Page and also follow us on Twitter @demchron.

Some highlighted Democracy Chronicles topics

Africa American Corruption American Local Elections American State Elections Asia Capitalism and Big Business Celebrity Politics China Democracy Charity Democracy Protests Democrats Dictatorships Education Election History Election Methods Election Security Election Transparency Europe Internet and Democracy Journalism and Free Speech Middle East Minority Voting Rights Money Politics New York City and State Elections Political Artwork Political Dissidents Political Lobbying Redistricting Republicans Russia Socialism and Labor Social Media and Democracy South America Spying and Privacy Supreme Court Third Party Voter Access Voter ID Voter Registration Voter Suppression Voter Turnout Voting Technology Women Voting Rights Worldwide Worldwide Corruption

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Home | ALL NEWS | WORLD | Zimbabwe: missing pro-democracy campaigner’s wife appeals for president’s help

Primary Sidebar

Advertise button

Harnessing The Power Of “We The People” On Independence Day

By Jenna Spinelle July 3, 2022

Democracy does not have a singular definition, which is one of the things that makes it so interesting to me — and undoubtedly to many of you.

Florida Doesn’t Need a Speech Czar

By Steve Schneider June 28, 2022

Full disclosure: I’m a liberal Democrat. So, I won’t be sending in my vote-by-mail ballot for Ron DeSantis in November. Nor will I vote for him in 2024.

democracy chronicles newsletter

DC AUTHORS

Introducing: When The People Decide

By Jenna Spinelle June 25, 2022

Several activists and average citizens have changed their communities and the country by taking important issues directly to votes.

Democracy’s Summer Blockbusters

By Jenna Spinelle June 8, 2022

The summer will be legally and politically charged particularly with the January 6 committee hearings scheduled to begin June 9.

Can American Democracy Have Nice Things?

By Jenna Spinelle June 7, 2022

Universal voting would be the surest way to protect against voter suppression and the active disenfranchisement of a large share of our citizens.

PODCAST: Baby Boomers And American Gerontocracy

By Jenna Spinelle May 23, 2022

Older and younger voters are increasingly at odds: Republicans as a whole skew gray-haired, and within the Democratis, the left-leaning youth vote.

A Dangerous Reprise Of American Exceptionalism In Ukraine

By Jamie Lampidis May 15, 2022

The stakes are too high to cave into Putin’s phantasmatic imperial play, and too high to believe that this war can be won by arming Ukrainians.

On The Coming End Of Roe v. Wade

By Peter J. Dellolio May 11, 2022

Anyone who says that the evolution of law has nothing to do with politics is either very corrupt or very stupid. Laws evolved through the centuries.

Goodbye Roe v. Wade, Goodbye Rule Of Law

By Andrew Straw May 5, 2022

Congress should impeach judges who act like that because it is not good behavior, and they were asked not to act that way when they were confirmed.

MORE FROM OUR AUTHORS

VISIT OUR POLITICAL ART SECTION:

dc political art

DEMOCRACY CULTURE

Magnum Photographers Challenged To Picture Swiss Democracy

Magnum Photographers Challenged To Picture Swiss Democracy

July 6, 2022

Magnum photographers accustomed to exploring crisis regions have been challenged to capture the quiet operation of Swiss democracy.

India: Why Are Punjab Political Singers Under Attack?

India: Why Are Punjab Political Singers Under Attack?

June 8, 2022

The murder of Sidhu Moose Wala has brought attention to the link between Punjabi music and India’s cross-border criminal networks.

University Educated Less Likely To Endorse Authoritarianism

University Educated Less Likely To Endorse Authoritarianism

June 4, 2022

Higher education is now seen as a new political cleavage, with level of education increasingly important in describing political attitudes.

From Cake To Volunteers, Welcome To Australia’s Democracy Day

From Cake To Volunteers, Welcome To Australia’s Democracy Day

May 25, 2022

The atmosphere in the interstate polling booth in Sydney’s inner east resembled that of an emergency room waiting for a donor organ.

Kenyan 'Cartooning For Peace' To Draw Africa Towards Democracy

Kenyan ‘Cartooning For Peace’ To Draw Africa Towards Democracy

May 17, 2022

Cartooning is an art that has been playing a major role in illustrating stories in different ways, from health to politics, and even sports.

MORE CULTURE

VISIT OUR US DEMOCRACY SECTION:

American Democracy