High Court Orders Govt to Look for Missing Doctors' Leader As State Medical Workers Down Tools
Elizabeth Magombeyi, a sister to Dr. Peter Magombeyi, filed an urgent application on behalf of her brother, seeking an order compelling the state to do all things necessary to determine the whereabouts of Dr. Magombeyi.
WASHINGTON — High Court Judge Justice Edith Mushore has ordered people holding Dr. Peter Magombeyi, the leader of Zimbabwe Hospital Doctors Association (ZHDA), to immediately release him or bring him to court within 48 hours and for Home Affairs and State Security Ministers to determine his whereabouts and set up a team of investigators to search for him at all places in Zimbabwe. Justice Mushore granted the order after hearing arguments from lawyers representing Dr. Magombeyi’s family and from representatives of the respondents, who include Home Affairs and Cultural Heritage Minister Cain Mathema and Minister of State for National Security in the President’s Office Owen Ncube, Zimbabwe Republic Police Commissioner-General Godwin Matanga and Director-General of the Central Intelligence Organisation Isaac Moyo. The hearing came after Elizabeth Magombeyi, a sister to Dr. Magombeyi, filed an urgent application on behalf of her brother, seeking an order compelling the state to do all things necessary to determine the whereabouts of Dr. Magombeyi, who was kidnapped by some unknown people from his home in Budiriro high-density suburb in Harare on Saturday. Justice Mushore ordered the team of investigators to furnish human rights lawyers Alec Muchadehama, Tinomuda Shoko and Paidamoyo Saurombe from Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights, representing the Magombeyi family, with a report of the progress of their probe. Hon. Mathema and Hon. Ncube were also ordered to advertise details about Dr. Magombeyi, the missing president of ZHDA, on all state-run print and broadcast media including ZTV, The Herald and The Chronicle, to determine his whereabouts. Meanwhile, medical doctors and nurses on Monday staged a protest in Harare and served a handed a petition to representatives of President Emmerson Mnangagwa, expressing concern over the abduction of Dr. Magombeyi and advised him that they had withdrawn their services in protest against the ill-treatment of the ZHDA leader. At the High Court, human rights lawyers expressed solidarity with the protesting medical practitioners and “condemned the pervasive practice of abductions and enforced disappearances.” Some political activists and civic society leaders have over the years been abducted by suspected state security agents. The government has denied any wrong doing.