THE ZIMBABWE
PEACE PROJECT
At the time of writing this report, Joanna Mamombe, an
MDC Alliance youth leader and Member of Parliament is
in prison. She and two others, Cecilia Chimbiri and Netsai
Marova were abducted and tortured by suspected state
security agents in May 2020 after being arrested for
leading a flash protest against hunger in Warren Park.
Following this, the three were then charged with ‘faking
their own abduction’
This is despite the existence of a strong footprint of state
security agents in their arrest, abduction and torture.
Following the horror incident, Mamombe was admitted in
hospital, suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder,
rendering her unable to attend a court hearing.
But the State, through Harare magistrate Bianca
Makwande, decided to remand Mamombe in custody for
two weeks pending examination of her mental health by
two government doctors.
Mamombe joins part of the growing number of political
and human rights activists who are victims of the capture
of the judiciary by the ruling party.
PERSECUTED:
Mamombe gets into
a prison truck as
she is being taken
to Chikurubi on
September 24
These include MDC Alliance deputy chairperson Job
Sikhala who was released from Chikurubi Maximum
Security Prison after weeks of pre-trial detention and his
bail bid being frustrated several times. Sikhala’s ordeal is
similar to that of journalist Hopewell Chin’ono, Transform
Zimbabwe leader Jacob Ngarivhume, and MDC Alliance
youth leader Godfrey Kurauone.
The four, who have all be charged with inciting violence,
spent up to, between 30 and 45 days each in prison, and
their ordeal, which includes ill-treatment, being
transferred to the maximum section of the prison, delays
in bail hearings and judgement, all point to a judiciary
that has become a weapon to silence dissent.