THE current wave of politically-motivated abductions and torture of opposition activists only serve to confirm that Zimbabwe is still far from being a democracy where divergence of opinion is considered healthy.
Surely, why would a political contestation be allowed to end in loss of life in this day and age, especially in a nation that claims to be the doyen of democracy?
The abduction and murder of CCC activist Tapfumaneyi Masaya of Mabvuku, Harare, early this week is a sad reminder to all citizens that no one is safe in this country anymore.
We say so on the basis that no arrests have been made despite the several police reports filed by the opposition before and after the August 23 and 24 harmonised elections.
Two weeks ago, CCC legislator Tafadzwa Ngadziore posted a live video on Facebook showing him being pursued by a man armed with a rifle.
Ngadziore was later found naked, severely beaten and injected with an unknown substance, about 50km outside the capital.
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Ngadziore’s abductors were positively identified as State security agents, but the case seems to have been left to die a natural death with the perpetrators allowed to commit similar acts.
Ngadziore’s case came a week after former CCC MP James Chidhakwa was also allegedly kidnapped, tortured and dumped outside Harare, with his dreadlocks having been shaved off.
Three years ago, three CCC female activists that included an MP, were arrested for allegedly faking their abduction and torture two years earlier.
The trio was acquitted of the charges in July this year.
If, indeed, these gruesome abductions are not State-sanctioned, why would law enforcers take long to investigate considering that they follow a similar pattern?
These acts are in stark contradiction to the principles of freedom, security and dignity that every democratic country should observe, and which our so-called second republic purports to subscribe to?
We once again remind our government that votes are not won by coercion, but through persuasion.
It’s a fact that Zimbabwe has been on the edge since the August polls where President Emmerson Mnangagwa was controversially declared the winner.
The opposition has recorded over 1 500 cases of violence against its members since the elections. If these are not heart-wrenching statistics for a country not at war, we then wonder what will.
Mnangagwa’s government has often accused the opposition of staging abductions to court global attention to push for regime change in Zimbabwe.
Would government still claim that Masaya staged his death to taint the country’s image? It’s our sincere hope that the authorities will immediately act and ensure that justice prevails before the situation degenerates into anarchy.