By Enyichukwu Enemanna
Family of prominent Zimbabwean government critic who has remained missing since March 2015 after his abduction by suspected state agents is still seeking answer on his whereabouts almost a decade later.
The journalist turned human rights activist, Itai Dzamara disappeared March 9, 2015, while having a hair cut at a barbershop in his neighbourhood of Glennorah.
State agents have been fingered for his sudden disappearance.
Before his disappearance, Dzamara had been protesting outside the parliament building calling for the government of then-President Robert Mugabe to respect human rights and boost the moribund economy.
His wife, Sheffra Dorica Dzamara however says the family wants to know what has happened to him.
She expressed dissatisfaction that authorities are not providing answers on what has happened to him.
“It’s almost 10 years without knowing where Itai is,” she said. “I don’t want to lie, it’s painful if I think about it and no one can tell what happened to him. He disappears from Zimbabwe and there is silence about it”, VOA quoted her as saying.
“It’s really painful if I look at the kids,” she said.
“The first one was 7 and the other one was 2 – they are now grown up. They now ask: ‘Where is our daddy?’ and no one can explain what happened to him?”
“It’s really painful,” she added, “because I have no answers.”
Sheffra Dzamara said she is the family’s sole breadwinner and that it is difficult for the family to survive on roughly $300 a month.
Charles Kwaramba of the group Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights said he got a court order in 2015 for police to search for Dzamara. But, he added, police have ignored the order.
“The investigation into Itai Dzamara’s disappearance is virtually dead,” Kwaramba said.
“We have not received any reports or indications that the police are still pursuing any investigation into the matter. Previously we used to receive from police what they were doing, how they were doing it, the places they were going to, how they were conducting their search. But that stopped a long, long time ago.”
Amnesty International has said it believes Dzamara is a victim of enforced disappearance.
Lucia Masuka, head of Amnesty in Zimbabwe, said the government of President Emmerson Mnangagwa should make an effort to find the missing activist.
