David Coltart Blog
Bulawayo
24th September 2019
Zimbabweans can be forgiven for thinking that they must be with Alice in Wonderland because our legal system and law enforcement is so increasingly and utterly bizarre.
About 10 days ago a medical doctor, the President of the Zimbabwe Hospital Doctors Association, who was representing doctors in salary negotiations with government, Dr Peter Magombeyi, was abducted and disappeared for 5 days. He was found by police last Thursday night dumped in the bush disorientated and suffering from loss of memory. Initially although he was the victim he was denied access to his lawyers and fellow medical practitioners who had been looking for him.
Since he was allowed to leave the police station in the early hours of last Friday morning he has been hospitalized. Senior doctors have reported that although he has not suffered major external physical injuries his body and blood samples show that he has been tortured, and possibly injected with an unknown substance. There is one report this evening put out by a credible Zimbabwean journalist that he has been poisoned.
Whatever the case his medical team has recommended that he be transferred to a South African hospital so that he can receive more specialized observation, diagnosis and treatment. This morning Dr Magombeyi’s legal team got wind of news that the police intended to prevent him from leaving the country, even though he is the victim of his own disappearance and torture, not the accused.
An urgent application was brought before the High Court by Dr Magombeyi’s father, Kingstone Magombeyi, against the Commisioner of Police seeking an interdict preventing the police from stopping his transfer to a South African hospital. The Commissioner of Police was represented by a government lawyer who consented to the order.
This evening when the medical team tried to assist Dr Magombeyi to be discharged from the hospital he is in to catch a flight to South Africa, they were barred by police backed by Riot Police from leaving. The police were in clear contempt of the High Court order but resolutely refused to allow Dr Magombeyi to leave.
The Commissioner of Police has now filed an urgent application seeking to overturn the order granted by consent this morning, using, bizarrely, the Constitution to justify his claim and equally bizarrely asserting that the government lawyer had no right to consent to the original order. I have attached some of the court papers filed this evening which are in legal terms at least utterly bizarre.
The affidavit of the officer in charge of police Law and Order section, Michael Chibaya, is particularly astonishing. It is attached below. In paragraph 3.2 Chibaya states under oath that the Respondent’s son – the “Respondent” is Dr Magombeyi’s father Kingstone Magombeyi in whose name the High Court order was obtained- i.e. Dr Mgombeyi, “underwent medical examination and the government doctors indicated that he is unfit to travel”. In the next paragraph Chibaya states that Dr Magombeyi “is being given security for his own personal safety and it will be prudent that if he is to go to South Africa for medical examination that he be given security by the State and in the mean time no such arrangements have been made.” Unwittingly the police officer confirms that Dr Magombeyi has been tortured because why else would he be unfit to travel? But of course it is not the State’s prerogative to decide whether he is fit enough to travel or not, that is up to Dr Magombeyi, his family and his own medical team. And the “security concern” is simply risible – Dr Magombeyi is not an accused person and once again it is his decision whether he needs State provided “security”, whatever that means.
It goes without saying that Dr Magombeyi is the victim in all of this. In all the papers I have managed to read the police have not said that he is accused of anything – something I suppose they would be reluctant to say on oath because it would just be so ridiculous. If Dr Magombeyi is not an accused person then it follows the police have no right to interfere with his liberty, one of the most fundamental Constitutional rights. And they certainly have no right to prevent him from seeking the medical treatment his doctors believe he should receive.
So why is the regime doing this? I don’t know but can only speculate. It has been the regime’s contention that either the disappearance was “fakeâ€, namely that Dr Magombeyi organised for himself to be abducted, tortured and dumped in the bush, or that the disappearance was the work of a “3rd Force†which presumably, according to this line of propaganda, abducted Dr Magombeyi against his will in a bid to embarrass Mr Mnangagwa as he was about to leave for the UN. As absurd as these allegations are, even if they were true neither constitute a crime committed by Dr Magombeyi. It is pertinent to note that he hasn’t released a single statement since his abduction to suggest any motive even if he did abduct himself. In other words it isn’t a crime to disappear oneself, self flagellate or get lost in the bush. It certainly isn’t a crime to be abducted by a 3rd Force.
Although the regime hasn’t decided which of these stories it is going to stick with, both of the stories have become increasingly problematic in the face of medical evidence which shows that Dr Magombeyi has suffered severe trauma. Right from the outset the claims of the regime were ludicrous – for example given their silence regarding nearly all of the other 50 disappearances this year, does their assertion that the disappearance of Dr Magombeyi was “fake†mean logically that all the others were “real†and committed by state agents?
But there is no doubt that the news that Dr Magombeyi needs certain further tests in South Africa has
alarmed the regime even further . If expert medical opinion in South Africa reveals that Dr Magombeyi has been tortured, electrocuted or even poisoned (or injected with other substances) that will be deeply embarrassing to the regime.
It appears that the regime, confronted by a decision between the devil and the deep blue sea, has now decided that it must prevent Dr Magombeyi from traveling to get this further medical diagnosis and treatment. That has resulted in the utterly bizarre events of today where a victim is treated as if he is a common criminal.
This is a regime which is increasingly paranoid and unhinged. It has dug itself into a deep hole. In seeking to exculpate itself from the crimes against humanity it is alleged to have committed in recent months, which systematic disappearances by the State are, it has spun a propaganda yarn which is increasingly untenable and deeply embarrassing to Mr Mnangagwa who will have to face the international media in New York if this goes horribly awry with South African doctors leveling serious allegations against his government.
What is worrying however is the report this evening that Dr Magombeyi may have been poisoned and that he needs urgent medical attention for this. Equally troubling is the report that critical evidence of what may have been injected into his system may be lost if there is any further delay. So both medically and forensically it is critically important that he be allowed to travel to South Africa.
The international community must flex its muscles, particularly the South African government . Having gone to Court Dr Magombeyi has exhausted his domestic remedies against a regime which has scant regard for the rule of law and constitutionalism. It appears his life may depend on a robust demand being made by the international community.
Mr Mnangagwa himself must be left in no doubt about the severe consequences of this barbaric conduct demonstrated by his government today. In short the international community must speak out to compel the Mnangagwa regime to allow Dr Magombeyi to seek urgent medical treatment in South Africa.
