HARARE – A Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC) activist injured when police raided a private event in Harare on June 16 and arrested her and 78 others has undergone an operation to fix a fracture on her left leg, doctors said.
The operation on Tambudzai Makororo carried out at Parirenyatwa Hospital in Harare was “successful,” said Dr Norman Matara of the Zimbabwe Association of Doctors for Human Rights.
“She received the operation on Monday. It all went well. The outcome is very positive,” Dr Matara told ZimLive.
The doctors had sounded the alarm after prison authorities initially appeared reluctant to allow Makororo to undergo the operation.
They warned that she had a 21-day window for the procedure after which she may never heal from the injury, allegedly inflicted by police.
The rights doctors wrote to prisons: “She suffered a fracture of the left tibial plateu during her arrest on June 16. She had a backslab applied by one of our doctors to try and stabilise the fracture and reduce pain and inflammation.
“Our specialist orthopaedic surgeon has advised us that she urgently needs surgery to stabilise the fracture she sustained.
“The standard of care for such fractures is to do surgical management within 21 days of injury to obtain good long-term outcome and prevent permanent disability.”
The authorisation from the Zimbabwe Prison Service came just in time and doctors now say she should make a full recovery.
Makororo and 77 others including former Harare senator Jameson Timba are due in court on Wednesday for routine remand after they were denied bail by Harare magistrate Ruth Moyo on charges of holding an unauthorised gathering.
Police had initially arrested Timba’s 18-year-old son, Shaun, with the group but he was freed on $100 bail.
Lawyers for the group say their arrest at Timba’s private residence was baseless and have filed appeals at the High Court for their release on bail.
