Activists Josphat Ngulube took the time to  speak to SABC from his hiding place in South Africa and explained the circumstances leading to his current situation. Ngulube called on AU President Cryil Ramaphosa to send a proper delegation to Zimbabwe which he says must include a head of state.

His 23-year-old niece was last week abducted, sexually assaulted and badly beaten by men looking for him.

The incident appeared to be an escalation of a wave of arrests and abductions of President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s opponents and their families by state security agents.

Noxolo Maphosa was walking to a butchery near Pick n Pay (Hyper) in Bulawayo at about 10AM when she noticed four men walking behind her.

“I called my friend and told her there were men following me. Just as I ended the call, they grabbed me from behind and took my phone. They forced me into a white Izusu pick-up truck,” Maphosa said in a video statement.

She was blindfolded and driven to a house where she was interrogated about the whereabouts of Ngulube, her uncle who was jailed for seven years in 2019 accused of burning a Zanu PF vehicle during fuel price riots in January of that year.

Ngulube is out on bail pending appeal against conviction and sentence.

Watch video downloading below.