Wednesday, December 3, 2008 will never be the same again for the family of Jestina Mukoko-- a female rights activist and Director of Zimbabwe Peace Project (ZPP), a Non- Governmental Organization involved in the monitoring and documentation of politically motivated violence. Mukoko, who once worked as a broadcaster at the state-owned monopoly, Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation (ZBC) before turning to human rights activism, was abducted around 5.a.m. at her Norton home, about 45 km West of the capital Harare on that fateful day. About 15 men wielding guns pounced on her home after threatening the gardener at the gate, gained entry and bundled Jestina, who was coming from her bedroom still clad in a nightgown and without her spectacles. They drove away. Mukoko’s teenage son reportedly raised the alarm with human rights groups.
Today is the fifth day since the rights activist, journalist and mother was abducted. Her family, colleagues at ZPP, members of the civic society, relatives and friends wear heavy hearts as they try to come to grips with Jestina’s disappearance. Nobody knows the motive of the kidnappers, where they came from and what they might have done to the rights activist. But he major suspicion from those close to her is if the intention was robbery, why was the person taken and not property.
What is however clear is that Zimbabwe has become a very unsafe haven for dissenting voices. Since the birth of the firebrand opposition political party, the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) in 1999, the country has witnessed abductions, torture and murder of opposition political activists, human rights activists, journalists and in worst cases, innocent civilians, including children. The state has become severely repressive and brutal to any voice deemed to be in disagreement with the establishment.
This sate of affairs has intensified particularly prior, during and after the March 29 harmonised and June 27 presidential run-off elections respectively. In May, an MDC activist Tonderai Ndira was abducted from his home in Mabvuku suburb, in the capital of Harare only to be found a few days later brutally murdered. Recently MDC made an appeal to regional blocs, the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) and the African Union (AU) to have 16 of their activists, whose whereabouts are still unknown released. These cases are just but a glimpse of the kind of human rights abuses Jestina’s organization monitored and documented.
Today she has become the target and those close to her are very worried. Speaking in a somber mood at a press conference Sunday in Harare, ZPP Chairperson, Munyaradzi Chaumba, expressed deep concern on Jestina’s safety.
“At the moment we are concerned about Jestina’s well-being. Her location is still a mystery and this means she is vulnerable and prone to torture.
“We are appealing to individuals particularly those in the law enforcement agencies with any information on Jestina’s whereabouts to come forward,” said Chaumba.
A lawyers’ human rights watchdog, the Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR), has visited all police stations in and around Harare but nothing has materialized so far. Civic organizations have approached SADC chairperson, South African President Kgalema Motlanthe and AU chairperson, Tanzanian President, Jakaya Kikwete through their embassies in Harare to assist as regional leaders in securing Jestina’s release. There are also reports that Jestina’s abduction would be tabled before a European Union (EU) council of ministers’ meeting in Brussels, Belgium Monday.
In opening remarks last Thursday at a media conference workshop on media law reform when news had just filtered that Jestina had been abducted, National Constitutional Assembly (NCA) chairperson, Dr Lovemore Madhuku said that journalists and other civic organizations for that matter should realize that the state has to be confronted directly if there has to be any meaningful change.
“We can make a big statement if journalists organize themselves and go to police Commissioner General Augustine Chihuri’s office to demand that he explain her whereabouts.
‘We must employ some political force of sorts. It must not be the issuing of statements. It’s completely useless.”
But as abductions, torture and murder of differing voices to the status quo continue, one might ask, when will people courageously take heed of Dr Madhuku’s words and take action against a regime notorious for it’s unwavering suppression of citizens and ensure that justice for human rights defenders like Jestina is guaranteed?
