Chronicle Editor
Chronicle Reporter
A MAN was recently found dead along a railway line in Emkhandeni suburb, Bulawayo with authorities suspecting he was a victim of a robbery gone wrong.
The man, Cedric Jaraga was found with multiple stab wounds all over his body amid suspicion that his assailants had thrown him on the railway track with the hope that he would be run over by train thereby covering up the crime.
Police sources have confirmed the incident.
“We received a report from residents from Emakhandeni that they had noted a lifeless body of a male adult along the railway track. Our officers attended the scene and upon searching the body found his identity particulars and his next of kin has since identified the body,” said the police in a statement.
Further investigations revealed that Jaraga was part of 60 protestors that were arrested by authorities in July, following a number of protests that rocked Bulawayo.
“Jaraga was part of the group of 60 protestors that were taken to Bulawayo Central Police station for embarking on illegal gatherings. They were held for several days without trial and subsequently released with the assistance of the Zimbabwe Peace Project and were meant to appear in court for trial.
“As it stands we are now not sure whether Jaraga’s death is linked with the arrest or it was a robbery gone wrong as is being described by the police,” said the source who declined to be named.
Security forces also continued to commit arbitrary arrests, violent assaults, abductions, torture and other abuses against opposition politicians, dissidents and activists.
Police have so far arrested prominent journalist Hopewell Chin’ono and Transform Zimbabwe Party leader Jacob Ngarivhume after they called for nationwide anti-corruption protests.
During 2020, unresolved cases of abductions and abuses, including torture, of government critics escalated without the abductors being brought to justice. In the last year, over 70 government critics were abducted and later released by unidentified men suspected to be state security agents.
During 2020, authorities still failed to do justice for cases of abductions and torture committed in 2019. Unresolved cases where there has been no accountability include the abduction by unidentified persons on September 14, 2019, of Dr. Peter Magombeyi. Dr. Magombeti was then-leader of the Zimbabwe Hospital Doctors Association (ZADHR) who had organized a series of protests to demand better salaries for public health workers. Released after four days, he fled the country a week after his release.
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