Opinion / Columnist
Patson's complicity in Itai's whereabouts
01 Jun 2016 at 19:45hrs | Views
The stereotype perception that in all battles, as in wars, women seem to bear the brunt of such conflicts is turning out to be true after all if the current dearth of political gamesmanship by opposition parties and their mouthpieces is anything to go by. So desperate and pathetic has become their disinformation campaign against anything remotely associated with ZANU PF. To a great extent, one could be forgiven for thinking that the opposition derives morbid pleasure from inflicting harm to ordinary people in general and women in particular so long as such harm facilitates pursuit of their political objective of regime change.
Only recently, the media was abuzz about purported pictures depicting MDC-T activist Itai Dzamara in captivity. Such pictures, we were futilely made to believe, we leaked by the intelligence, whatever that is. No effort was made to authenticate the veracity of such pictures that, to all intents and purposes, may have been photoshoped with Patson posing as the model just as it could have been a scene from a drama or movie. Dzamara's brother, who has made a name and plenty money out of exploiting the whereabouts of his brother, took to the media arguing that, "Some individuals from within the evil establishment volunteered information regarding who abducted Itai Dzamara, why and where he was kept. Incontestable evidence was availed to us and I dare Mr Mugabe and his surrogates to prove me wrong. They can't because this is the truth."
From the foregoing, it is quite apparent that not only it Patson grandstanding, most probably as a prelude to a political career, but is fishing on behalf of the MDC-T which, bereft of any ideas on how to wrest power from ZANU PF, has taken an indecorous position to make Dzamara a policy or blueprint rescue measure. If the hooded ghost that fails to pass for Dzamara is all the evidence that Patson has to offer the nation, then I am quite pleased that he is not a lawyer because even innocent people would go to jail at a whim.
That he purports to be aware of the whereabouts of his brother may only point to him being an accessory, thereby necessitating an investigation, otherwise how does one reconcile the fact that he refuses to provide such a vital lead to the Police to execute their duty. Unless of course the allure of filthy lucre has gotten the better of him and, to be generous on one side, he fears that the return of Itai will herald a retreat from the limelight and funding to the obscurity of his normal life. On the other hand, and God forbid, Patson might be bidding his time until towards the 2018 elections when opposition parties and their surrogate (to use Patson's term) NGOs are awash with donor money, to claim a ransom under some ghost name similar to the pictures and evidence he has failed to produce.
As things stand, it behoves the Police to initiate measures aimed at extracting information about Dzamara's whereabouts from Patson since he refuses to volunteer such information. Could a person purporting to have knowledge about a pending investigation be compelled by law to cooperate with law enforcement agencies? I am curious to know because to me, there is no worse crime that that of some people peddling lies about the country and its institutions to its detriment in the community of nations, without a grain of evidentiary proof.
The order of Justice Mangota has not been violated. Neither have Police stopped searching for Itai and others whose whereabouts are not known nor the State trivialised Itai's case. On the contrary, the opposition is guilty of trivialising Itai's issue by politicising it so much that even a genuine enquiry is now perceived as having an ulterior motive.
Surely, all institutions accused of complicity in Dzamara's alleged disappearance are keen to have the issue of this husband, father and brother and MDC-T activist resolved. In any case, he never posed a risk which is the reason he was tolerated as part of the country's civil liberties.
The use of social media in the wanton soiling of reputations cannot be condoned much longer. Irresponsible citizen journalism has seen people riding roughshod on the reputations of others and as such, efforts to regulate its operations ought to be viewed in the spirit of enhancing social cohesion as opposed to censorship.
Only recently, the media was abuzz about purported pictures depicting MDC-T activist Itai Dzamara in captivity. Such pictures, we were futilely made to believe, we leaked by the intelligence, whatever that is. No effort was made to authenticate the veracity of such pictures that, to all intents and purposes, may have been photoshoped with Patson posing as the model just as it could have been a scene from a drama or movie. Dzamara's brother, who has made a name and plenty money out of exploiting the whereabouts of his brother, took to the media arguing that, "Some individuals from within the evil establishment volunteered information regarding who abducted Itai Dzamara, why and where he was kept. Incontestable evidence was availed to us and I dare Mr Mugabe and his surrogates to prove me wrong. They can't because this is the truth."
From the foregoing, it is quite apparent that not only it Patson grandstanding, most probably as a prelude to a political career, but is fishing on behalf of the MDC-T which, bereft of any ideas on how to wrest power from ZANU PF, has taken an indecorous position to make Dzamara a policy or blueprint rescue measure. If the hooded ghost that fails to pass for Dzamara is all the evidence that Patson has to offer the nation, then I am quite pleased that he is not a lawyer because even innocent people would go to jail at a whim.
That he purports to be aware of the whereabouts of his brother may only point to him being an accessory, thereby necessitating an investigation, otherwise how does one reconcile the fact that he refuses to provide such a vital lead to the Police to execute their duty. Unless of course the allure of filthy lucre has gotten the better of him and, to be generous on one side, he fears that the return of Itai will herald a retreat from the limelight and funding to the obscurity of his normal life. On the other hand, and God forbid, Patson might be bidding his time until towards the 2018 elections when opposition parties and their surrogate (to use Patson's term) NGOs are awash with donor money, to claim a ransom under some ghost name similar to the pictures and evidence he has failed to produce.
The order of Justice Mangota has not been violated. Neither have Police stopped searching for Itai and others whose whereabouts are not known nor the State trivialised Itai's case. On the contrary, the opposition is guilty of trivialising Itai's issue by politicising it so much that even a genuine enquiry is now perceived as having an ulterior motive.
Surely, all institutions accused of complicity in Dzamara's alleged disappearance are keen to have the issue of this husband, father and brother and MDC-T activist resolved. In any case, he never posed a risk which is the reason he was tolerated as part of the country's civil liberties.
The use of social media in the wanton soiling of reputations cannot be condoned much longer. Irresponsible citizen journalism has seen people riding roughshod on the reputations of others and as such, efforts to regulate its operations ought to be viewed in the spirit of enhancing social cohesion as opposed to censorship.
Source - Sambulo Vuma
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