Picture with Itai Dzamara; Open Space ZW launches January Campaign


By Jean Claude    
       
In a bid to complement efforts by various human rights groups in Zimbabwe, also at regional and international level, Open Space Zimbabwe has dedicated the month of January to bring to attention the issue of missing Itai Dzamara. Dzamara has been missing since March, 9, 2015 after a bravely lone protest and not much effort has been done by the government of Zimbabwe to bring him back, put the issue to closure or proffer a roadmap to establish the whereabouts of his disappearance.
The campaign dubbed Picture with Itai Dzamara will be encouraging members of the public to post a picture with Itai or post a picture for Itai tagging Open Space Twitter and Facebook handles (@OpenSpaceZW) https://twitter.com/OpenSpaceZW  and Occupy Africa Unity Square handle at https://twitter.com/OccupyAUS (@OccupyAUS) the latter organization has been founded by Itai Dzamara before his shocking abduction.
 The campaign will have different days in which the attention will be drawn towards tagging the ministers, members of parliament, journalists, government officials, ministries, embassies, Csos, international organisations, human rights organisations, citizens, churches among other. Each day will have a dedicated targeted audience to demand the action towards the missing human rights activist. 
The hashtag being used is #BringBackItaiDzamara and #OpenSpaceZW. Citizens are also being encouraged to be innovative during this campaign period to demand sustainable action on Itai Dzamara, be it online or offline and make sure the messages of the campaign reach the targeted government officials or departments to take action.
Forced disappearance is a challenge in many countries in the world, including Africa, concrete actions need to be taken to avoid such gross human rights abuse. The campaign is therefore expected to re-mobilize citizens to put more pressure on the government of Zimbabwe to provide answers on Itai Dzamara disappearance.
In a twitter response following the launch of the campaign one of the prolific Zimbabwean Activist Dirk Fray noted that, “The police has never been genuine. They gave that same appeal for information, like in 2015. Their ‘investigations’ haven’t moved an inch. Never have. The family had to get a High Court order and then they gave a report. Which was basically, “we asked, no-one saw him.” Dirk Frey has been with Itai Dzamara during the spirited campaign on Mugabe Must Go and Occupy Africa Unity Squire campaigns that saw the renowned activist abducted in what is being suspected to be military intelligence.
The brother to the missing activist Dr. Patson Dzamara and the family once petitioned the President of Zimbabwe Emmerson Mnangagwa. "To date, nothing has been done to assist us as a family to at least come to a place of closure. Even though Itai Dzamara openly opposed the former government and some of its policies, his security and right to life remains a direct and unquestionable responsibility of the government," said Dzamara.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Day of the African Child; Global Foundation for Public Speaking (GFPS) Hailed

Image
By Julia Portia This year‘s Day of the African Child was themed “Leave No Child Behind for Africa’s Development.” The theme builds on the momentum created by the commemorations of the day in 2017; which was themed “The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development for Children in Africa: Accelerating Protection, Empowerment and Equal Opportunity.” The pinnacle is poised on mainstreaming of children‘s rights in all developmental programs by the Member States, that is through Agenda 2030, Agenda 2040 and Agenda 2063 respectively.   In 1991, the Assembly of Heads of State and Government of the then Organization for African Unity (OAU)   instituted the Day of the African Child (DAC) in memory of the 16th June 1976   student uprising in Soweto, South Africa. At that time, students marched in protest against the poor quality of education they received and demanded to be taught in their own languages. It was a hive of activities at West Gate Shopping Center, with at least 1000 students
Read more

Uniform prices go up yet again

By Mugove Tafirenyika Prices of school uniforms have gone up once again ahead of the beginning of the first term for the 2019 calendar year on Tuesday. Confederation of Zimbabwe Retailers president Denford Mutashu told the Daily News yesterday that the price increases were a result of the steep cost of accessing foreign currency on the black market required to import raw materials. Despite being a major producer of cotton, Zimbabwe is importing fabric, especially from the Far East, due to capacity constraints at key textile plants such as David Whitehead Textiles Limited in Chegutu. “We have noticed that prices of uniforms have increased dramatically first before Christmas and now they have increased again. We were told by the manufacturers that they are sourcing foreign currency on the parallel market and that is worrisome,” said Mutashu. “Getting foreign currency on the parallel market is triggering the price hikes because it attracts a huge premium,” he added.
Read more

Doctors Snub Hearing, Meet First Lady, Vow To Continue With Strike

Image
 The striking doctors who were scheduled to undergo hearings at their respective working places today have snubbed the process insisting they will only turn up once their grievances have been met. By Lovejoy Mutongwiza  The strike, which has crippled Zimbabwe’s public health system, entered day 35 today amid concerns that more patients remain stranded and dying in hospitals as they are failing to acquire medical help. Zimbabwe Medical Doctors Association (ZMDA) spokesperson, Dr Mthabisi Bhebhe told 263Chat that despite numerous calls for them to attend the hearing, they are staying put because the government is failing to address the critical issues at hand. “None of our members attended the hearings today, they were all in the comfort of their homes because they are on an industrial action. They cannot go to work when their issues are not met. “The problem is that the government is failing to attend to our moist critical demands which range from improved work
Read more