Nick Masiyiwa (MDC-T): “Itai Dzamara was my close comrade. He never wanted to associate with the devils, not even to greet them. Here the young brother of the kidnapped man dines with the same people accused of kidnapping the brother, with hard traits that they are the ones. I am failing to get this.” – 4 May 2016.

By Dr. Masimba Mavaza| In international human rights law, a forced disappearance (or enforced disappearance) occurs when a person is secretly abducted or imprisoned by a state or political organization or by a third party with the authorization, support, or acquiescence of a state or political organization, followed by a refusal to acknowledge the person’s fate and whereabouts, with the intent of placing the victim outside the protection of the law.[1]
According to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, which came into force on 1 July 2002, when committed as part of a widespread or systematic attack directed at any civilian population, a “forced disappearance” qualifies as a crime against humanity and, thus, is not subject to a statute of limitations. On 20 December 2006, the United Nations General Assembly adopted the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance.
Often forced disappearance implies murder. The victim in such a case is abducted, illegally detained and often tortured during interrogation; killed, and the body hidden. Typically, a murder will be surreptitious, with the corpse disposed of to escape discovery, so that the person appears to have merely vanished. The person committing the murder has deniability, as nobody provides evidence of the victim’s death.
“Disappearing” political rivals is also a way for regimes to engender feelings of complicity in populations. That is: the difficulty of publicly fighting a government which murders in secret can result in widespread pretense that everything is normal.
In every abduction, the abducted must have caused a danger to the authority. Must hold serious information which will be dangerous if it is in wrong hands. The abducted must be a serious threat to the authorities. Most abductions are done during the war or near election times. This then brings us to a very important question.
What danger was Itai Dzamara pausing to the government and its people? Would Itai Dzamara be such in a position to cause headache to the system? Would he be such important more than bigger fools like honourable Job Sikhala or Morgan Tsvangirai himself? What would a government achieve by abducting a useless silent lunatic in a park holding a placard?
Itai was not in anyway a threat to as much as a fly. He could not have been abducted by the government. Zimbabweans did not know Itai until the so called abduction. Itai was a failed little journalist who was engaged in the park politics. Probably so mentally bankrupt that his office was the park.
His disappearance raised his profile. The strategy was to be abducted by himself and blame the government; Get publicity help the family with the money which will be realised from the gullible charities and declining political parties who choose to gain ground on the poor soul. To make the plan work the brother has to be romped in to give a face to the drama. This stupidity got a lot of buyers so the nation became confused.
The Reality is the issues surrounding Dzamaras disappearance is a fallacy and a farce. The government of Zimbabwe had neither will zeal nor reason to abduct a useless activist.
Dzamara has become a fund raising name with badges bearing his name being sold and scarfs T shirts all on sale. He has become a campaigning strategy and the idiots in the opposition have gladly grabbed the campaigning opportunity. This issue is now a dog’s breakfast
This madness must now come to an end Dzamara must come out. We say to the opposition. PLEASE BRING BACK DZAMARA!
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