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OBITUARY
Patson dzamara
April 6, 1986 – August 26, 2020
“Where is my brother Itai?”
It was the burning and painful question that prompted Patson Dzamara for the last five years of his life.
But the 34-year-old Zimbabwean activist, who was struggling to obtain the urgent treatment he needed for colon cancer, did not live for an answer. He died this week.
Itai was kidnapped in March 2015 after coordinating months of small but relentless daily sit-ins in the center of Harare, where he fearlessly held a sign that read “Failed Mugabe Must Resign.” Such public criticism of the aging autocrat was almost unthinkable, and Itai and his small group of fellow protesters were frequently attacked by the police.
Two years ago, Patson told me that he hadn’t been very political prior to the kidnapping of his journalist-turned-activist brother, who was detained by unidentified men who many, including Patson, believe were state security agents. The state denies its involvement and maintains that it has no knowledge of Itai’s whereabouts.
But Itai’s disappearance, and the information gap on his whereabouts that continues to this day, catapulted Patson into action and made him a target as well.
In his famous solo protest at Zimbabwe’s Independence Day celebrations in 2016, Patson stepped out in front of many ruling party officials, including then-President Robert Mugabe, holding a banner explaining his still unanswered question: “Where is my brother Itai?” .
The banner also read: “Independent but not free”, referring to Zimbabwe.
He was kidnapped by state security agents and later described how they had assaulted and interrogated him.
“This path was not his intention, but he was so enraged when his brother disappeared,” said Rufaro Kaseke, an activist and film producer who traveled with Patson to the United States in 2016. “We talked late into the night and every conversation of somehow it would get to Itai. “
As he continued to pressure the state of Zimbabwe to respond to his brother’s fate, Patson became known as a powerful voice of dissent, fighting for democratic reforms and against human rights abuse.
“When Itai was kidnapped, Patson stepped up and became the representative of the family. But he did not remain just the representative of the family, he became an activist in his own right, ”said Dirk Frey, who had protested alongside Itai.
This activism came at great cost.
When we met, Patson recounted one ordeal after another: arrests, detentions, physical assault. He also described being watched (he looked around nervously even while we were sitting in a hotel cafeteria) and an incident in which he was sure his car had been tampered with.
Given the apparent threats against him and the overwhelming difficulties of daily life in the country, his determination, his certainty of the possibility of a better Zimbabwe, was particularly surprising.
In a wave of pain on social media and beyond, Zimbabweans have recalled Patson’s humor, passion and bravery in standing up for the rights of Zimbabweans.
Nelson Chamisa, leader of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change Alliance party, of which Patson was a member of the national executive, said he was “devastated” by Patson’s death.
Patson, one of five children, of whom Itai was the oldest, grew up between the high-density suburbs of Harare and his rural home of Mutoko in Mashonaland East.
He wrote several books on leadership and was a motivational speaker and a committed Christian.
“He was a very loving and passionate person,” said Rutendo Mudzamiri, who is also a leadership coach. “He was extremely witty, funny, adventurous, he loved music and he just loved all people.”
Patson stepped in as a caregiver and guardian for Itai’s two young children. When we first met, he came straight from the school awards show and joked that the keynote speaker had been talking for so long that he “sounded like Mugabe.”
“Being in their lives as his uncle did a lot, both emotionally and materially,” Frey said.
“He was a smart person, intellectually, but he was also a quality guy. It was very modern, ”recalls Kaseke. “I remember walking through Bryant Park [in New York] with him, while marveling at the architecture. He said, ‘What’s stopping us from having an intersection like this?’ Patson had an idea, a vision for a modern Zimbabwe. “
Many hoped that Mugabe’s ousting in November 2017 by his deputy, Emmerson Mnangagwa, would herald positive progress for the country.
Patson took advantage of the moment to press again for answers about his brother and to call for an independent investigation into his abduction. But Patson also warned in an op-ed for the Mail and tutor that although the country had a different administration, “it is not a new leadership.”
Almost three years later, little hope remains as Zimbabweans grapple with dire crises on multiple fronts.
Patson’s own experience intersected with the country’s current health crisis. Public healthcare has effectively collapsed and private treatment is unaffordable for most Zimbabweans.
One crowdfunder raised more than $ 14,000 in the days after Patson’s diagnosis was announced last week, but died before enough was raised to cover the huge projected $ 28,000 treatment bill.
“Everything is broken and these are the results. We are struggling with healthcare, with mismanagement of healthcare funds, and Patson dies right on top of that, ”Kaseke said.
“This fight has literally eaten him up.”
Zoe Flood and Nichole Sobecki’s reporting in Zimbabwe were supported by the International Women’s Media Foundation.
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