Harare - Partson Dzamara, brother to missing Zimbabwe activist Itai Dzamara, has lashed out at authorities for failing to properly investigate the matter and reiterated their family’s belief that he was abducted by government forces.
Addressing a demonstration this week to mark 17 months after the disappearance of Itai, Partson said the family had no doubt in their minds that Itai was abducted by the government of President Robert Mugabe and called on him to account for his actions and those under his command.
Demonstrators at Africa Unity Square in the capital Harare, wary of the possible police retaliation, deployed young children armed with flowers and pancakes.
Anti-riot police retreated to their waiting trucks as the children approached them to hand over the flowers and the pancakes.
“Police have been harassing us for simply asking them to account for the disappearance of our brother but we want to believe that love will win this war for us, that is why we have brought these children,” Partson said.
“We are trying to demonstrate that we mean well and want to show our love for the police by having these children give them flowers.”
Jestina Mukoko, an activist who was also abducted and kept incommunicado for two months, said it was painful for children to just wake up one day and find themselves without a father because of other people.
“I have been through this, with the police denying any knowledge of my whereabouts, only for me to emerge from Matapi police station. If he (Itai) is dead, he must have died a very painful death because I know how brutal they are and what they do to inflict pain,” she said.
She said it was important for Itai’s family to know where he was, and whether he was dead or still alive, so that they could bring closure to his case.
“Someone has got to know that even in death we still deserve dignity and those who took Itai must account for their actions,” she said.
Former Zanu PF member, Acie Lumumba, who now leads the opposition VIVA party, said Zanu PF had become a terror organisation as it relied heavily on the use of violence and fear to achieve its political ends.
He said what had happened to Itai Dzamara should never happen to anyone again in the country.
African News Agency