Jaws dropped over the weekend as it emerged that an opposition Member of Parliament and two activists who had been reported missing were found badly beaten and tortured.
The three women went missing last Wednesday while in police custody. They had been arrested in Harare for partaking in what the police said was an illegal demonstration.
They were found a few kilometers outside Harare where they had been dumped after allegedly being subjected to two days of horrendous treatment.
It seems their rights were violated in the most despicable ways as they were sexually assaulted and reportedly made to drink each others urine and to eat their faeces.
According to doctors treating the trio, as of Tuesday they were still too traumatized to fully speak about their ordeal and understandable so judging from what they have apparently gone through.
It’s extremely unfortunate that our state security organs seem to believe in violence, terror, torture and abductions rather than dialogue or simply arresting people without having to beat or torture them.
Over the last couple of years, Zimbabwe has made international news for all the wrong reasons and violation of human rights.
In 2018, as election results were still being announced, the army was unleashed to deal with protesters. Six people were killed and dozens were seriously injured.
In January 2019, 17 people were killed following protests over fuel price hikes.
One could go on and on to list all the evil deeds of our regime, which excels at instilling fear in masses instead of dealing with matters at hand.
Many families in Zimbabwe are struggling to put food on the table and when they speak out, they are brutally dealt with.
As for the economy, it remains in free fall as the local currency continues to depreciate against major currencies. This was further worsened by the introduction of a new 10 Bond note on Tuesday. History has taught us that new notes in Zimbabwe mean higher inflation and we just have to brace ourselves for the worst as the new 20 Bond note is also set to be introduced next month.
If there is one thing our government never grasped from the past it is that printing new money does not solve our economic problems but instead makes the situation worse.
At the rate at which things are going, we will soon be poor millionaires again!
With regards to Covid-19, as of Tuesday, the country had 46 confirmed cases, including 18 recoveries and four deaths.
Meanwhile, President Mnangangwa extended the country’s lockdown indefinitely while the situation will be assessed at two weeks interval. This means that wearing a mask in public remains mandatory.
