by Staff Reporters

Preliminary findings of the ongoing probe into the alleged abduction and torture of the three female MDC Alliance youth assembly leaders have punched holes in the claim.

In a statement on the progress made so far on the on-going investigation into the alleged abduction and torture of Joana Mamombe, Cecilia Chimbiri and Netsai Marova, Home Affairs and Cultural Heritage Minister Kazembe Kazembe said Government wished to state categorically that it did not engage in or permit any of its Agencies and Institutions to use such methods as torture, forced disappearance or abductions.

“From the outset, Government wishes to state categorically that it does not engage in or permit any of its agencies and institutions to use such methods as torture, forced disappearance or abductions. As a matter of fact, these terms are alien to our culture and way of doing things, and we believe they are extrapolated from foreign environments where they are rife in order to generate negative sentiments against our Government for the benefit of the sponsors of regime change and their Trojan Horses that now permeate and polarize our society,” reads part of the statement.

According to Minister Kazembe, the investigations made so far revealed that there is very consistent contamination of the various crime scenes and the entire chain of evidence relevant to this case by MDC Alliance leaders, activists and several officials of foreign Embassies in Harare who gained access thereto ahead of the investigating authorities.

The probe reveals that the trio’s claim that they were allegedly dumped at a place not familiar to them does not hold water as investigations showed that Muchapondwa Business Centre, where the trio was “discovered” is not far away from Chimbiri’s homestead.

This, according to the investigation, makes it unsustainable for the trio to pretend not to know where they were, even the direction of Harare from there, at that material time.

Minister Kazembe further said investigations exposed that the three MDC officials would feign confusion and hysteria at the mere sight of a policeman.

To make the abduction story more questionable and unbelievable, the trio was not at liberty to be interviewed by the police but at the same time giving interviews to foreign diplomats and MDC Alliance officials.

However, Minister Kazembe said, when the trio was eventually interviewed by the police, their statements showed glaring signs of rehearsal and even possible coaching which may not stand up to rigorous cross examination.

Honourable Kazembe also said that when the trio was eventually “discovered” on 15 May 2020, they complained that they were tortured and severely beaten by their alleged abductors.

However, the investigations reveled that there was no relationship between the findings of the medical examination that was carried out on the three by a Government Medical Officer in the presence of two human rights doctors and the injuries they claimed to have suffered as a result of being subjected to torture.

The medical report showed that there was no evidence of any swelling, fresh lacerations, wounds or even fractures consistent with the kind of manhandling the trio claimed to have gone through.

According to Minister Kazembe, the inconsistencies in the trio’s statements only help to make the abduction story more unbelievable.

 For instance, the trio in their initial accounts did not deny that they took part in the flash demonstration in Warren Park prior to and leading to their alleged disappearance thereafter, only to deny their statement later claiming that they only went as far as OK Marimba to buy some groceries for some philanthropic purpose in Mamombe’s Harare West Constituency and thereafter drove back towards Harare CBD.

Moreover, the three first said they were arrested at a roadblock along Samora Machel outside the National Sports Stadium only to change later to say they were arrested at a roadblock at Harare Showground.

 The police who were manning the two roadblocks testified that they never saw the trio or witnessed the events they allege.

 Minister Kazembe further said that the most compelling discrepancy in the trio’s abduction story was in the analysis of the technical evidence available to the investigation concerning the trio’s movements from 12th May 2020 up to midmorning on 14th May 2020.

 This evidence, which is irrefutable, shows very clearly that the three converged somewhere in Harare in the morning of 13 May 2020, drove along Samora Machel Avenue to Warren Park where they spent just under two hours most probably participating in the demonstration, and then drove back together to Harare CBD via Rugare, Lochinvar and Harare Kopje.

The evidence does not place any of them on Samora Machel Avenue between Warren Park and Harare CBD or at either of the two roadblocks at National Sports Stadium and the Harare Showgrounds where they claim to have been abducted.

The investigations also showed that the trio visited Advocates Chambers in Old Mutual Building, where Nelson Chamisa’s private offices are incidentally located.

 During the presser, Minister Kazembe said it was also important to point out that the two doctors who are attending to the trio, namely Dr Nyamande and Dr Matara, were not ordinarily locally based. One is based in Switzerland and the other in the United States of America but both found themselves in Zimbabwe, at the victim’s bedside, at the opportune time.

According to Minister Kazembe, very critical questions arise as to whether this chain of events, including the presence of these doctors in Zimbabwe is coincidental or reflects premeditation and malicious choreography on the part of the victims, those who are helping them and the negative motives of the MDC Alliance.

Minister Kazembe further said the abduction story also had serious lack of clarity between fact and fiction and he pointed out that the MDC was usually in the habit of staging fake abductions and disappearances ahead of major international events in order to force Zimbabwe onto those agendas in a negative way.

The Minister gave examples of the previous alleged abduction and torture of MDC officials and activists such as Grace Gwinjeh, Samantha Kureya (Gonyeti), Evan Mawarire, and Peter Magombeyi as other cases which were stage managed to please MDC handlers.

He said the Government would get to the bottom of the alleged abduction and vowed that the investigators were determined to get to the bottom of this saga.

Kazembe also said the truth of the matter would ultimately be known  as the investigation were  continuing.

The MDC is currently embroiled in a leadership wrangle and the Chamisa faction is being accused by some people of stage managing abductions to attract sympathy from their supporters are who believed to be contemplating crossing the floor to Thokozani Khupe’s camp.