Reports of the enforced disappearance and torture of a political activist in Zimbabwe are gaining prominence among rights-focused organisations.
Development Diaries reports that an activist with Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC), Nelson Mukwenha, was allegedly abducted by security forces on 26 August, 2023.
It is understood that Mukwenha was part of the crowd that stopped alleged security personnel from abducting CCC spokesperson Promise Mkwananzi during a press conference.
Mukwenha was reportedly picked up at his home in Highfields, Harare, later that evening by suspected security officials. After being tortured, he was thrown into a jungle in Mapinga, a suburb of Harare.
Several rights organisations, including Amnesty International (AI), have condemned the enforced disappearance and torture of Mukwenha.
‘Everyone, regardless of their political outlook, should be able to freely express themselves and participate in peaceful activism without the fear of abduction or harm’, AI’s Deputy Director for Southern Africa, Khanyo Farisè, said.
The human rights situation in Zimbabwe has deteriorated as the government has continuously failed to take meaningful steps to uphold rights and ensure justice for serious past abuses primarily committed by state security forces.
Investigations into arbitrary arrests, torture, kidnappings, and other atrocities against activists and politicians in opposition have made little headway, according to findings by Human Rights Watch (HRW).
There have been credible reports of wrongful or arbitrary killings of civilians by security forces, instances of torture, harsh and dangerous prison conditions, arbitrary detention by security forces, and political prisoners or detainees, a 2021 report by the United States Department of State shows.
Development Diaries calls on the Zimbabwean authorities to begin a thorough investigation into Mukwenha’s disappearance and torture and bring perpetrators to book.
Also, the government must pass into law the Independent Complaints Commission Bill to establish an independent complaint mechanism, as provided by Zimbabwe’s constitution, to receive and investigate public complaints against the security services.
Photo source: ZW News
