Student Activist Abducted

09/02/11

A student activist Archford Mudzengi was this afternoon abducted by suspected ZANU-PF youths in Mbare following suspicions that he had gone to fuel the disturbances currently engulfing Mbare. ZANU PF youths have virtually made Mbare a no go area as violence intensifies ahead of possible elections this year. Mudzengi is alleged to have been beaten up then detained by the road side before being taken away.

The last week has seen political turmoil with the MDC-T offices in Mbare being raided and trashed by ZANU-PF youths. Women and children suspected to be supporters of the MDC have been displaced from Mbare and are now in hiding fearing further victimization. The violence is fast evolving into political chaos as ZANU-PF youths are now on the rampage carrying out ruthless attacks on opposition members. So intense is the level of unrest that the usually silent Joint Monitoring Implementation Committee JOMIC held a crisis meeting and provincial chairpersons of the three parties to the global political agreement have called for calm. According to the MDC-T spokes person Nelson Chamisa, more than 1000 families have been displaced from Mbare and the surrounding areas in the past two weeks. The Student Solidarity Trust demands the immediate release of Archford Mudzengi and that the perpetrators of these abductions be prosecuted. The trust is concerned about the rate at which political unrest is unfolding in the country and the risk this poses to students who have been viewed as sympathetic to the opposition in the past.