A Zimbabwean doctor, Peter Magombeyi, who was abducted last month in the country’s capital, dumped a few days later outside Harare and hospitalized in South Africa, is now receiving treatment from a safe house.
According to Dr. Tawanda Zvakada, acting secretary general of the Zimbabwe Hospital Doctors’ Association, Magombeyi is “recovering well”.
Zvakada declined to reveal Magombeyi’s ailment and safe house in South Africa, noting that his life is still in danger.
The Zimbabwean government has distanced itself from the abduction though civic society leaders claim that he was allegedly seized by state security agents.
Magombeyi is leading a crippling strike by doctors demanding salary increases and improved working conditions, including reasonable drug supplies at state hospitals.
At the same time, the Zimbabwe Hospital Doctors’ Association says it is preparing to file papers in the Supreme Court challenging a recent ruling by the Labor Court compelling doctors to go back to work.
Zvakada says their lawyers are set to file the case as soon as possible, a move that will overturn last Friday’s Labor Court ruling compelling the doctors to return to work. Independent Labor expert, Davies Ndumiso Sibanda, says doctors and government should resolve this issue amicably without involving the courts.
He says the Labor Court ruling will be rendered useless if doctors file a Supreme Court appeal.
