ZIM court orders authorities to ascertain whereabouts of missing medical doctor

as doctors, nurses and lawyers stage protest

By Court Reporter

HIGH Court Judge Justice Edith Mushore on Monday 16 September 2019
ordered who ever is holding Dr Peter Magombeyi, the leader of Zimbabwe
Hospital Doctors Association (ZHDA) to immediately release him or
bring him to the High 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 habeas corpus 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 14 September 2019.

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 16 September 2019
staged a protest in Harare and served a petition of President Emmerson
Mnangagwa expressing concern about 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advised him that they had withdrawn their services in protest against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 High Court, human rights lawyers expressed solidarity with the
protesting medical practitioners and condemned the pervasive practice
of abductions and enforced disappearances.