The family of journalist and human rights activist Itai Dzamara is seeking clarity about his fate nearly a decade after his abduction in March 2015.
Itai Dzamara was reportedly taken by suspected state security agents on March 9, 2015, while getting a haircut in his Glen Norah neighbourhood in Harare.
Before his disappearance, he had been staging protests outside the parliament building, urging the government of then-President Robert Mugabe to uphold human rights and tackle pressing economic issues.
Speaking to VOA, Sheffra Dorica Dzamara, Itai Dzamara’s wife, said the family wants to know what happened. She said:
It’s almost 10 years without knowing where Itai is. I don’t want to lie, it’s painful if I think about it and no one can tell what happened to him. He disappears from Zimbabwe and there is silence about it.
It’s really painful if I look at the kids. The first one was 7 and the other one was 2 – they are now grown up. They now ask: ‘Where is our daddy?’ and no one can explain what happened to him.
It’s really painful because I have no answers.
Sheffra Dzamara, the family’s sole breadwinner, struggles to make ends meet on approximately US$300 a month.
Charles Kwaramba, from Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights, said he obtained a court order in 2015 for the police to search for Dzamara.
He added that while they initially received updates from the police on their investigations, these reports ceased “a long, long time ago.” Said Kwaramba:
The investigation into Itai Dzamara’s disappearance is virtually dead. We have not received any reports or indications that the police are still pursuing any investigation into the matter.
Previously we used to receive from police what they were doing, how they were doing it, the places they were going to, how they were conducting their search. But that stopped a long, long time ago.
In some instances, we would meet with officials from the police. But that stopped a long time ago. … The state has completely abdicated that responsibility.
This week, Commissioner Paul Nyathi, the Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP) spokesperson, told VOA he could not comment on Dzamara’s case.
Lucia Masuka, head of Amnesty International in Zimbabwe, urged President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s government to take action to locate the missing activist. She said:
Enforced disappearances are deployed as a strategy to silence activists, to silence those expressing dissent in this country, and the case that comes to mind is that of Itai Dzamara, well known for speaking out, against corruption, for speaking out against bad governance, and for leading peaceful protests.
The High Court had issued an order for authorities to investigate the case, bringing the perpetrators of this enforced disappearance to account and ensuring that the families of those affected secure justice in all such cases.
This call comes as the world commemorates the International Day of the Victims of Enforced Disappearances which is observed annually on August 30.
This day was established by the United Nations to raise awareness about the global issue of enforced disappearances and to honour those who have been forcibly disappeared.
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