“Chiwenga kidnapped opposition activists”

In an opinion piece published in the Zimbabwe Independent, former Higher Education Minister Professor Jonathan Moyo claims soldiers led by Constantino Chiwenga kidnapped key opposition and civil society activists and gave them money to mobilise their supporters to march against former President Robert Mugabe.

Below is an excerpt from Moyo’s opinion piece in the Zimbabwe Independent:

It is now known beyond disputation that the demonstration was organised by Chiqwenga from a Harare hotel to sanitise the coup and make it appear like a “popular uprising”, after some key opposition and civil society activists were kidnapped by soldiers and taken to Chiwenga’s hotel room where he gave whiskey and all of them money for consultation fees and to hire kombis and mobilise their supporters after telling them he wanted “a demonstration against Mugabe to force him to resign.” 

The demonstration that Chiwenga wanted, to threaten a “Gaddafi like lynching” of Mugabe, was music to the ears of the activists whose mantra had always been that “Mugabe must go”.

Some activists such as Linda Masarira have since publicly confirmed knowledge of this. There are also now various Zanu-PF documents, including minutes from various organs of the embattled party, which show beyond doubt that it was ZDF that led the mobilisation for the November 18 Harare demonstration. 

zim mail, zimbabwe independent