HIGH Court on Thursday granted an urgent court order allowing the Zimbabwe Hospital Doctors’ Association (ZHDA) to march from Parirenyatwa Group of Hospitals to hand over their petition to Parliament over the alleged abduction of Peter Magombeyi.
In a judgment handed down by High Court Judge, Justice Clement Phiri, police was ordered not to interfere with the doctors’ march today.
The judgment has also justified doctors’ position that they are not supposed to notify the police under provisions of the Public Order and Security Act, hence its interference yesterday was illegal.
Magombeyi was allegedly kidnapped by unknown assailants from his Budiriro home, Harare, on Saturday. His family filed an urgent chamber application with the High Court on Sunday, seeking an order compelling the State to account for the whereabouts of the ZHDA president.
High Court Judge Justice Edith Mushore on Monday ordered whoever was holding the ZHDA leader to immediately release him or bring him to the High Court within 48 hours and for the Home Affairs and State Security ministers to determine his whereabouts.
Justice Mushore granted the order after hearing arguments from lawyers representing the Magombeyi family.
Meanwhile, medical doctors and nurses on Monday staged a protest in Harare and served a petition on President Emmerson Mnangagwa, expressing concern over the abduction of Magombeyi, advising him that they had withdrawn their services in protest against the ill-treatment of the ZHDA leader.
Foreign Affairs minister Sibusiso Moyo is on record saying government had deployed security agents to search for Magombeyi.
Moyo insisted that government’s hands were clean, but expressed reservations over the timing of the abduction.
“Following this barbaric act, government immediately activated its security agencies to make sure that Dr. Magombeyi is found and safely returned to his home,” Moyo said.
The march, scheduled to begin at Parirenyatwa at 1pm, will end at Parliament Building in Harare where the doctors are expected to hand over their petition to the Speaker of Parliament, Jacob Mudenda.