Graduating Zim doctors refuse to be capped by Mnangagwa

The 2019 class of graduating medical students at the University of Zimbabwe are to boycott their graduation ceremony at which they were due to be capped by President Emmerson Mnangagwa.

This in solidarity with missing union activist Dr Peter Magombeyi, who many believe was abducted.

In a letter addressed to Mnangagwa, in his capacity as the university’s chancellor, the former students said they had resolved to boycott the graduation ceremony in solidarity with a "selfless individual who decided to put himself in the forefront in demanding  a fair living wage for the health profession".

The letter was copied to the dean of students at the medical school.

Their stance comes at a time when there is no word on the whereabouts of the doctor, despite government enacting its state security apparatus to look for him. But deputy minister of information Energy Mutodi, on his official Twitter account @energymutodi, accused doctors of being politicians and implied that the missing doctor would "sober up and find his way home".

The withdrawal from the graduation ceremony is the first direct resistance Mnangagwa has encountered from the doctors over the suspected abduction.

On Tuesday, doctors were barred from marching to his offices. However, on Thursday, with High Court clearance, they marched to parliament.

Meanwhile, Zimbabweans in New York have vowed to protest against Mnangagwa when he arrives in the Big Apple for the UN General Assembly later this week.