Government yesterday told the diplomatic community that it was investigating the alleged abduction of three MDC Alliance officials, indicating the State’s prime objective was to expose and prosecute the perpetrators or reveal the involvement of a third force.

Responding to the diplomatic community’s concerns over the abduction, torture and sexual abuse of Harare West legislator Joanah Mamombe, Cecilia Chimbiri and Netsai Marova, Foreign Affairs minister Sibusiso Moyo said the government was equally worried.

He further said some media organisations and the diplomatic community had concluded that the government was responsible for the alleged abuses.

Moyo, however, said government would not ignore glaring similarities which exist between recent alleged abductions, which he claimed had hallmarks of a stage-managed theatre designed to soil the State’s image and divert attention from squabbles in the main opposition MDC Alliance.

The three MDC Alliance activists claimed that they were arrested at a roadblock before being abducted at Harare Central Police Station by State security agents, who went on to dump them in Bindura after subjecting them to torture and sexual abuse.