Dr Peter Magombeyi has sent a letter of resignation as president to Zimbabwe Hospital Doctors Association Secretary-General.
Magombeyi, who has been in South Africa for medical treatment said he is resigning from the top position for personal reasons.
“I do not intend to inconvenience you with this news, and I hope you will accept my most sincere apologies in making Friday, the 24th of January 2020 my last day as the President of the aforementioned association,” Magombeyi says in the letter.
“I know this is unexpected, but am happy to assist the association in the replacement process to help alleviate the transition.”
Magombeyi resigns after facing challenges due to clashes between his association and the Zimbabwe government over doctors’ incapacitation.
Doctors, which he leads, went for over 100 days on industrial action citing incapacitation.
A splinter group, which has been claimed as government-sponsored, emerged during his leadership as doctors diverged on the way forward amid the claims.
Magombeyi himself, in September last year, went missing for 4 days in an alleged abduction, amid the clashes, and only resurfaced after doctors launched a demonstration in Harare.
Government officials, in response, claimed the strike to be initiated by a few individuals within the doctors and fired over 200 doctors following the industrial action.
The government officials also dismissed Magombeyi’s abduction as fake while at the same time police agents blocked him from going to seek medical treatment in South Africa.