Thousands of people are forcibly ‘disappeared’ in Southern Africa

On 9 March 2015, five men burst into a barber shop in Harare’s Glen View suburb, grabbed activist Itai Dzamara, bundled him into a white truck with concealed number plates and drove off. Two days earlier, Dzamara had publicly called for former president Robert Mugabe’s resignation. To date, Dzamara’s fate remains unknown, and the Zimbabwean government has been silent on his whereabouts, despite repeated demands for an investigation. 

Dzamara is a victim of enforced disappearance, which is a crime under international law whereby authorities take someone away and then deny it or refuse to acknowledge their fate or whereabouts. It is a cruel tool of repression that exposes victims to torture and even death, leaves families in anguish as they struggle to trace their missing loved ones and instils fear in anyone who might demand answers. 

Dzamara’s case is one of thousands of unresolved cases of enforced disappearances across Southern Africa. 

Today, as we mark the 14th International Day of Victims of Enforced Disappearance, we join all families of the disappeared to remember everyone who has vanished without a trace at the hands of unnamed and unaccountable perpetrators. We also demand action to prevent future enforced disappearances and to find justice for everyone affected. 

All Southern African countries that have not yet done so must urgently ratify and implement the International Convention on Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance without reservation. 

Only five of the 15 Southern African countries have ratified it, underscoring the lack of political will in the region to end this human rights violation. 

Enforced disappearances cast a long shadow over Southern Africa. 

In Mozambique, journalist Ibraimo Abú Mbaruco was forcibly disappeared in 2020 while reporting on the war in Cabo Delgado and remains missing. In Tanzania, the family of Oriaisi Pasilance Ngiy’o still awaits information on his fate and whereabouts after police shot him in the legs and loaded him into a car during a protest for Maasai land rights in 2022. 

In 2021, Comoran authorities held Inssa Mohamed, known as Bobocha, in secret detention for months before trial, leading United Nations experts to condemn his enforced disappearance and demand proof of life. 

Just last month, Zimbabwean security agents forcibly disappeared four people and allegedly tortured them in custody ahead of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) summit in Harare. They were the latest of dozens of other enforced disappearance cases in Zimbabwe since Dzamara was taken in 2015. 

Meanwhile in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, armed groups, particularly Allied Democratic Forces(ADF)  militants, have abducted or forcibly disappeared thousands of people in the country’s east over the past 10 years. But the ADF is hardly the only perpetrator — 10 people were forcibly disappeared last August in the flashpoint city of Goma after an army massacre there. 

None of the above countries have ratified the convention, perpetuating a culture of fear and silence around enforced disappearances and leaving victims’ families with little hope for justice or confidence that authorities will find their loved ones. 

Even countries that do not have recent known cases of enforced disappearance must ratify the convention to prevent future disappearances within and beyond their borders. 

For instance, Inssa Mohamed’s enforced disappearance in Comoros took place after Madagascar unlawfully extradited him. If Madagascar had ratified and implemented the convention, authorities there would have been bound to adopt and enact safeguards before sending him to Comoros, where he was at risk of enforced disappearance. 

Moreover, migrants face a high risk of enforced disappearance because of rigid migration policies including pushbacks, expulsions and detention. With more Southern Africans on the move looking for work or fleeing climate disasters, now is the time for every country in the region to protect them by ratifying the convention.  

Still, ratification alone is not enough. 

Zambia ratified in 2011, but multiple people have been forcibly disappeared there since then, including four then-opposition members in 2016 and journalist Humphrey Jupiter Nkonde, who went missing and was found dead in 2019. 

Lesotho’s 2013 ratification also did not prevent Makarobo Mojakhomo’s enforced disappearance after police arrested her in 2018. 

That’s why, after ratification, governments must pass national legislation, develop and effectively implement plans for preventing further enforced disappearances and set up independent and impartial investigative bodies to achieve justice for victims and their families. 

Importantly, justice measures must not overlook cases that took place before ratification, like the case of Nokuthula Simelane, a 23-year-old abducted by South African Security Police in 1983, more than four decades before South Africa acceded to the convention in May this year. 

State authorities must also specifically protect human rights defenders, who not only demand justice for the disappeared but are often at risk of being forcibly disappeared themselves. Such protections could include creating safe channels for reporting disappearances, providing legal and financial support and ensuring physical safety. 

Regional bodies like the Southern African Development Community could also establish a dedicated task force to monitor and report on cases of enforced disappearance within the bloc. 

But the true power to end enforced disappearances lies with the people. Civil society movements, grassroots organisations, human rights defenders and activists must continue to document violations, support victims, mobilise people and hold governments accountable to breathe life into international legal documents. 

As we commemorate International Day of Victims of Enforced Disappearances, we must remember that the thousands of people who have vanished are not just statistics. They are human beings like Itai Dzamara, with families, dreams and unyielding spirits. It’s time Southern African governments honoured them by ratifying and implementing the Convention. 

Nkanyiso Mtolo is a country campaigner in Amnesty International’s East and Southern Africa Regional Office.