HARARE – Foreign Affairs Minister Sibusiso Moyo on Monday freshly denied that state security agents were behind the recent abduction, torture and sexual abuse of three MDC female activists.

The three, including Harare West MP Joana Mamombe, were likely victims of a “third force” or willing participants in a “stage-managed theatre”, Moyo claimed in an astonishing statement, even as he chided western diplomats for “jumping to conclusions.”

Moyo said authorities were “investigating all aspects of the allegations”, adding: “The government will await the outcome of the investigation before drawing any conclusions. Investigations will be conducted with the prime objective of exposing and prosecuting the perpetrators, if any, or exposing the involvement of a possible third force.”

The regime has sent out several spokesmen since the May 13 abductions from the main police station in Harare, and all denied that the security services were involved in the abductions which have led to calls for a United Nations probe.

Hopes for a transparent investigation are fading.

Deputy information minister Energy Mutodi, who was later sacked, claimed on Twitter that the three women who remain in a hospital in Harare were prostitutes, injured after they demanded to be paid in United States dollars for sexual services.

Ndavaningi Mangwana, the government spokesman, tweeted that the reported abductions were “a diversionary tactic, a poorly-choreographed attempt to throw a curve ball at the system.”

“You can’t fool people by playing the same scene many times over and expect to successfully pull wool over their eyes. You have been seen a mile away,” he wrote on May 15.

It was a theme which Moyo returned to in his statement, as he appeared to accuse the three activists of faking an abduction to put Zimbabwe in a tight spot ahead of two regional summits.

“Although the government has refrained from drawing its own hasty conclusions, it is difficult to ignore the glaring similarities which exist between this recent alleged incident and several such allegations in the past, which have all borne similar hallmarks of stage-managed theatre designed to soil the image of the government and indeed the nation and to divert attention from the ongoing implosion and ever-shifting allegiances within some political formations in the opposition,” Moyo said.

“As has been the case with past alleged abductions, the current dramatic episode just happened to coincide with major international and regional events — the convening of the SADC Troika summit and the presence in Harare of several regional Heads of State and the impending SADC Council Ministers virtual meeting.”

Rights groups say over 50 people have been abducted from their homes, usually at night, over the last 12 months. Most were beaten and dumped. The previously government blamed what it called a “third force” in those abductions, but no-one has been arrested or charged.

In a joint statement last week, the heads of missions from the European Union, the United States and the United Kingdom demanded a “swift, thorough and credible investigation into the abduction and torture” of Mamombe, Cecilia Chimbiri and Netsai Marova.

“The perpetrators of heinous acts of this kind and other human rights violations need to be identified and prosecuted. The Zimbabwean Constitution prohibits enforced disappearances, torture, violence against women, and cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment,” the heads of mission said.

Moyo, in his statement, accused the diplomats of jumping to conclusions.

“It is most disconcerting to note some sections of the media and some within the diplomatic community appear to have already concluded that the Zimbabwean government was responsible for the alleged abuse,” Moyo said.

“Surely, they would better serve the cause of justice by allowing the law to take its course and to await the outcome of the investigation rather than jump to conclusions or wantonly ascribe culpability.”

The three women have told journalists that they were arrested at a roadblock after participating in a May 13 anti-government protest in Warren Park.

Lawyers failed to locate them until they were found two days later in Bindura, badly beaten and tortured.

The women said they were taken from the police station by unidentified men and blindfolded before being driven for an hour out of Harare, and into the bush. They were thrown in a pit and forced to eat each other’s faeces, and also had guns shoved into their privates, they said.

Political analyst Alex Magaisa said Moyo’s denials, flying in the face of what was already publicly known, were “disingenuous and embarrassing.”

“The cost of this statement is higher than any intended gain,” Magaisa said.