An opposition activist in Zimbabwe was found dead after being abducted while campaigning ahead of by-elections, his party announced on November 14.
This is the third incident in the space of a few weeks denounced by the Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC), the country’s largest opposition group, which accuses the ruling Zanu-PF party of conducting a vast campaign of intimidation against its supporters.
In late October and early November, the CCC announced that one of its members of parliament and a former member of parliament had been kidnapped in Harare, tortured and then found naked and wounded in the case of the former, and with his head shaved in the case of the latter. The CCC said on Monday that the body of Tapfumanei Masaya, kidnapped in broad daylight by armed men last Saturday in Harare, had been found on the outskirts of the capital.
“We call on the police to investigate this heinous crime and bring the perpetrators to justice,” the party said on X (ex-Twitter). The police confirmed that a body had been found without confirming its identity, which they said had yet to be established.
Contested elections in August returned President Emmerson Mnangagwa to power. 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 deputies “led to (his) death”, the CCC wrote on social networks.