HARARE – A doctors’ union leader who was reported missing last Saturday has been located in Nyabira, a village 34km northwest of Harare, colleagues said.
Dr Peter Magombeyi sent a message to a doctors’ WhatsApp group at 10.19PM on Saturday to say he was being abducted by three men. His phone became unreachable shortly after.
His disappearance caused widespread disruption in hospitals after some nurses and senior doctors joined an ongoing strike by junior doctors over low pay. Doctors staged marches in Harare, Bulawayo and Gweru rallying under the slogan, ‘No Peter No Work’.
Colleagues are convinced that Magombeyi was seized by state security agents in an attempt to break a doctors’ strike which began on September 3.
Dr Mthabisi Bhebhe, the secretary general of the Zimbabwe Hospital Doctors Association, which Magombeyi leads, told ZimLive on Thursday night that he had spoken by phone with his missing colleague.
“It’s him. We spoke briefly. He told me he was in the bush and that it was dark. He didn’t know where he was at the time. It’s not easy to do a diagnosis over the phone but he sounded fine,” Bhebhe said.
When he asked him where he was, Bhebhe said Magombeyi told him: “We’ll talk when I get to Harare.”
Bhebhe said he was not in doubt that Magombeyi did not voluntarily end up in Nyabira, which is on the road to Chinhoyi from Harare.
Efforts are underway to reach Magombeyi and take him to Harare.
