Standard Newspaper
18 March 2012
A church service will be held on Tuesday in Bulawayo for Paul Chizuze, a human rights activist, who has been missing for almost six weeks. Chizuze was last seen on February 8 this year and close friends and colleagues say it was highly unlikely for him to disappear, raising fears that he may have been abducted.
Education minister, David Coltart, who in the past has worked closely with Chizuze, said they did not have any factual evidence regarding what may have happened to the activist, but their searches and campaigns have so far drawn a blank.
“It is not in his character to just disappear,†Coltart said. “As a human rights activist one fears that someone wanted to prevent him from speaking about something.â€
Those wishing to attend the service have been asked to bring a candle, a Catholic church tradition, symbolising the shining of light where there’s darkness.
“It’s symbolic – we want to shed light where there’s darkness,†he said.
An extensive media and social media campaign was launched in the hope that this could yield results in the search for the missing activist, but this has so far not yielded anything.
Chizuze’s disappearance has raised concern as it has shades of the disappearance of another activist, Patrick Nabanyama 11 years ago.Nabanyama was Coltart’s aide during the 2000 elections and he has since been declared dead.