NEWS FLASH: During the Zimbabwe election campaign, an opposition leader was kidnapped and later discovered dead.

 

 

According to his party, an opposition activist in Zimbabwe was found dead after being abducted while canvassing for by-elections.

This is the third instance in recent weeks that the Citizens' Coalition for Change (CCC), the country's main opposition group, has condemned, accusing the governing Zanu-PF party of waging a massive intimidation campaign against its members.

The CCC reported at the end of October and the start of November that one of its MPs and a former MP had been abducted in Harare, tortured, and then found nude and injured in the case of the former, and with his head shaved in the case of the latter.

The body of Tapfumanei Masaya, who was taken in broad daylight by armed men last Saturday in Harare, was discovered on the outskirts of the city on Monday, according to the CCC.

"We urge the police to investigate this horrific act and bring those responsible to justice," the party wrote on X (previously Twitter).

The police confirmed the discovery of a body but failed to verify its identification, which they claimed had still to be ascertained.

President Emmerson Mnangagwa was re-elected in contested elections in August.

Parliament has since declared vacant the seats of 15 elected CCC MPs, who denounced the decision as “fraudulent”, and by-elections are scheduled for December to fill them.

Tapfumanei Masaya was campaigning for a CCC candidate in Mabvuku, a suburb of Harare, when he was forced into a vehicle, according to his party.

The “illegal” and “fraudulent” cancellation of the elections for our MPs “led to (his) death”, the CCC wrote on social networks. In August, CCC leader Nelson Chamisa, 45, was defeated by President Mnangagwa, 81, in general elections that also gave Zanu-PF a majority in parliament. 

According to international observers, these elections failed to meet democratic standards. The forthcoming by-elections could hand Zanu-PF, which has been in power since independence in 1980, a two-thirds majority in parliament, which is needed to amend the Constitution. A majority in parliament is required to modify the Constitution.

According to some observers, Zanu-PF may use this to allow Mr Mnangagwa, who came to power following a coup that deposed President Robert Mugabe in 2017, to stay in office beyond 2028.

Africanews is the source.