Moreblessing Ali. Photo: Family handout
The mutilated body of an opposition activist in Zimbabwe has been found two weeks after she went missing. Moreblessing Ali, who worked for the Citizens Coalition for Change party (CCC), was reported missing on the 24th of May. Her remains were discovered in a well near the capital Harare on Sunday. She was 44.
Police had said that her ex-partner Pius Jamba was a suspect in her disappearance. A friend of Ali’s had reported her being dragged out of a bar and into a car by Jamba. Police have previously said they were treating Ali’s disappearance as a case of suspected domestic abuse. Police have not been able to locate Jamba since Ali disappeared.The CCC has claimed that Jamba is a political operative for ZANU-PF and was acting on behalf of the party in an attempt to silence a vocal critic, something ZANU-PF has denied. Ali’s family have accused authorities of attempting to cover up ZANU-PF’s role in Ali’s disappearance and murder. “They are just trying to conceal and protect something from the public,” a lawyer working on behalf of the family said in a statement. ZANU-PF has denied any involvement in her murder. In an open letter to her family, a spokesperson called on Ali’s family to ignore “the malicious, unscrupulous, and scandalous attempts to manipulate her death by opposition elements.”