No to torture!

THE decision by Home Affairs minister Kazembe Kazembe to order the police to institute a full-scale investigation into the alleged abduction and torture of three MDC youth leaders — Harare West MP Joanna Mamombe, Cecilia Chimbiri and Netsai Marova — is commendable.

The police have to get to the bottom of what transpired last Wednesday after the trio led a flash demonstration in Warren Park against hunger stalking Zimbabweans during the difficult coronavirus lockdown.

While it was inappropriate and illegal for the MDC youths to take to the streets under the lockdown measures, we proscribe the alleged abduction and torture of Mamombe, Chimbiri and Marova.

Abduction and torture are the bottom of cowardice in a country claiming to be a democracy.
Over the years, before and after the Second Republic, opposition members and civil society activists have been kidnapped and tortured.

Several probes were launched, but no one was ever arrested for the dastardly deed.

Of late we have heard the government claiming there is a third force behind some of the abductions, but strangely it has done very little, if anything, to flush out the people behind the heinous crimes.

It the sole duty of the State to ensure and guarantee the safety of its citizens, including those it deems rogue.
The State should do whatever is in its power to unravel what transpired to the MDC trio. Speed in concluding the investigations is of paramount importance.

Never should this matter be allowed to be swept under the carpet as it has serious repercussions on the image of the government and country.

President Emmerson Mnangagwa got into power in November 2017 promising peace and tolerance for political dissent and what happened last week do not augur well for him.

The country has and continues to be excoriated worldwide as a result of the alleged abduction of the MDC youth leaders and the only way to correct the perception is to carry out thorough investigations and the perpetrators exposed and arrested regardless of their station in society.

An impression is now given that Mnangagwa’s calls for peace are not sincere or that he lost leadership of those who support him, who no longer take him seriously, disregarding his directives with impunity.

Is Mnangagwa speaking white, but acting black, indicating left and turning right, preaching peace but acting war?
Violence in any form is intolerable in a democracy!