A prominent critic of President Mugabe was abducted by a group of men as he sat in a barber’s chair waiting for a haircut, an episode that echoes dozens of similar kidnappings carried out by the Zimbabwean secret police in 2008.
Itai Dzamara, 36, the leader of a Harare protest group who has written to Mr Mugabe, 91, calling for his resignation, was snatched in a Harare township on Monday. He was handcuffed, bundled into a white pick-up truck with masked numberplates and driven off at high speed.
Such incidents were commonplace in 2008, when Mr Mugabe was in danger of being overwhelmed in elections by pro-democracy parties. Numerous activists were seized by secret police units and later murdered. Some were released, but only after enduring months of torture.
Mr Dzamara drew widespread publicity in October last year when he and about 50 colleagues founded Occupy Africa Unity Square, the name of a park close to Mr Mugabe’s office in central Harare where they held regular demonstrations against the government.
They were tolerated initially, but he was arrested after delivering a letter to Mr Mugabe’s office which held him responsible for the country’s economic ruin and said he was too old to rule. Shortly afterwards, a mob of youths loyal to Mr Mugabe’s Zanu (PF) party attacked the group in the square, and beat up Mr Dzamara. On November 7, at another demonstration, he was beaten unconscious by riot police, and sustained head injuries. It was the last meeting of the group.
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Messages on social media since Mr Dzamara’s disappearance have accused Mr Mugabe’s secret police of the kidnapping and raised fears that he has been murdered.
Morgan Tsvangirai, head of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change, said that in 2008 “many MDC activists were maimed, raped or murdered, and seven years later, no single arrest has been made”.
He added: “Today, in a similar script, Dzamara is abducted in broad daylight, and we fear the worst. It appears the leopard has remained faithful to its spots.”