Netsai Marova
Netsai Marova is a Zimbabwean youth campaigner for the Movement for Democratic Change, who was abducted for two days at an anti-government protest in May 2020.[1]
As a student at Chinhoyi University of Technology, Marova highlighted the vulnerable position of women students there in 2017.[2] She has been mentored by MP Joana Mamombe, a fellow Chinhoyi student, and has in turn provided similar support to young girls in Mabvuku.[3]
On 13 May 2020 she and two other women, MP Joana Mamombe and fellow youth activist Cecilia Chimbiri, were abducted by masked assailants at a Harare protest against the government's failure to provide for the poor during the COVID-19 pandemic. Two days later, the women were found, badly injured and traumatised, by the side of the road sixty miles from Harare. They reported having been tortured and repeatedly sexually assaulted.[4] The three women were then charged with "communicating falsehoods" for their claims to have been abducted, tortured and held incommunicado by unidentified people. In August 2020 they appeared at court,[5] and had their trial postponed until September 15.[6]
References
- Shingai Nyoka, 'Tortured Zimbabwe abductees' may face prosecution, BBC News, 19 May 2020. Accessed 30 May 2020.
- Zachariah Mushawatu, Higher education in a failed economy – Students at risk, University World News, 3 March 2017. Accessed 26 August 2020.
- Linda Mujuru, Youngest Woman in Zimbabwe’s Parliament Works to Boost Youths’ Civic Engagement, Global Press Journal, 2 November 2018. Accessed 26 August 2020.
- Jason Burke and Nyasha Chingono, Zimbabwean MDC activists 'abducted and sexually assaulted', The Guardian, 17 May 2020. Accessed 30 May 2020.
- Mandla Ndlovu, 3 abducted MDC ladies back in court, Bulawayo, 26 August 2020. Accessed 26 August 2020.
- Gerald Ncube, State piles more misery on MDC Alliance female activists, Zimbabwe Daily, 26 August 2020. Accessed 26 August 2020.