Harare (New Ziana) – The government said on Monday it was doing all in its powers to find opposition activist Itai Dzamara who disapeared without trace in 2015.

Reacting to a European Union (EU) statement that the government should ‘shed light’ on the disappearance, Ministry of Information, Publicity and Broadcasting Services permanent secretary Nick Mangwana said all investigative arms of the state, including the police and courts, were seized with the matter.

He said the government always wished for all the country’s citizens to be accounted for, and insinuations by the EU that authorities possibly had a hand in Dzamara’s disappearance were ‘unhelpful and misleading.’

The activist is a member of the main opposition Movement for Democratic Change, and went missing in 2015. All efforts by the police and other security arms to find him have been fruitless so far.

“Government feels very strongly that no Zimbabwean should disappear without a trace and empathises with the Dzamara family in their quest for their loved one’s safe return. To this government, every Zimbabwean counts,” Mangwana said.

“It is, therefore, diplomatically unhelpful and misleading to insinuate that government does not intend to shed light into Mr Dzamara’s disappearance as if it had a hand in it,” he added.

He said the government was open to engage the EU on this and any other matter of mutual concern through diplomatic channels.

New Ziana