Police ignore court order over Mukoko abduction

By Violet Gonda
11 December 2008

The 22 abducted political and civic activists, including Zimbabwe Peace Project director Jestina Mukoko, are still missing.

We were not able to contact Alec Muchadehama, the lawyer representing the missing MDC activists, but lawyers representing Mukoko say the police are completely ignoring a court order. The courts had ordered the police to thoroughly investigate Mukoko’s abduction, report at 10am at the High Court every day with an update on their investigations, and put advertisements in both the electronic and print media. But none of this has happened.

Rights lawyer Beatrice Mtetwa said instead of implementing the court order the police were more interested in going to the burial of Elliot Manyika, the ZANU PF political commissar who died in a car crash at the weekend. The lawyer was told that they couldn’t carry out the provisions of the court order because they were busy with Manyika’s burial.

She said she will be reporting to the High Court on Friday and every day, until the police prioritise their search for the missing civic leader.

The lack of sincerity from the police in investigating this case also came out in the fact that they turned down a march by ZimRights, who had planned the protest in support of Mukoko. The "Return Jestina Mukoko Now March" was supposed to take place on Friday.

However calls for the release of the prominent human rights defender have continued, with the latest call coming from the South African ruling African National Congress party.

A statement by the party’s national spokesperson Jessie Duarte said: “The ANC urges the government of Zimbabwe, as a matter of urgency, to try determine the whereabouts of Jestina Mukoko, Broderick Takawira and Pascal Gonzo of the Zimbabwe Peace Project.”

The party’s women’s league also expressed concern about the disappearance of women in Zimbabwe.