CCTV footage has emerged showing the abduction of activist Tawanda Muchehiwa in Bulawayo in Zimbabwe. He was abducted in broad day light in July and was reportedly tortured for three days.
The footage shows the abductors emerging from a white bakkie then forcing Muchehiwa into the same vehicle which then sped off. The captors accused him of involvement in the planning of anti-government protests.
Zanu-PF’s President Emmerson Mnangagwa has accused civic organisations and the opposition of staging the abductions to discredit his government. Edmond Kudzai is a Zimbabwean journalist who obtained the CCTV footage told SABC News that it is authentic.
“The footage is authentic, there’s a Nissan bakkie there an mp300. They’d removed the registration plates from the back of the vehicle. The number was caught I think it’s camera 2 of the CCTV footage. They managed to get the contact details of the person who owns the vehicle and they spoke to him and he said he had no idea the car had been leased to a car hire company so then he got in touch with Impala car rentals and the proprietor said yes the vehicle was hired by one of our regular customers. Impala car rental would know the name of that individual.”
Kudzayi speaks to SABC News in the video below:
Concern over a deteriorating political and economic crisis
Western diplomats in Zimbabwe have expressed deep concern over a deteriorating political and economic crisis in that country. Heads of mission from the United States, Britain, Germany, Canada, the Netherlands, Norway and Poland have released a statement – saying President Mnangagwa’s initial promises of uniting the country and reforming the economy have not materialised.
They have urged Harare to stop using the COVID-19 pandemic to curtail freedoms.
Activists say the government is abducting, torturing and arresting critics, including a freelance journalist and opposition politician who have spent more than a month in detention over anti-government protests.
The Zanu-PF government denies the claims. – Additional reporting by Reuters
