HARARE-CHITUNGWIZA: MDC leader Nelson Chamisa on Saturday attended the burial of talented footballer Kelvin Tinashe Choto, a 22-year-old man shot at by the military during fuel protests on January 14, before declaring: “Change is nigh!”

Chamisa said President Emmerson Mnangagwa had “crossed the line” by deploying troops to quell protests over a 150 percent increase in the price of fuel which he decreed, before leaving on a five-nation trip to Eastern Europe.

“We have lost a young and promising life. Kelvin was not a politician, he was not an activist, he was not partisan. He was an exceptionally talented footballer set to go for trials in South Africa after getting an emergency travel document only last week,” Chamisa told mourners.

“Kelvin was targeted by callous soldiers who put a bullet through his head as he stood by the gate after buying a mango just outside his very own home in which he tendered for his young wife and seven-month-old baby”.

Vowing to “confront” Mnangagwa in the coming days, Chamisa said the Zanu PF leader led a “sick government” which had declared open war on its citizens.

Before the family of Kelvin Tinashe Choto knew he had been killed, social media in Zimbabwe was circulating a photo of his battered body lying on the reception counter of a local police station. Angry protesters had left him there.

Teammates mourn slain footballer

Chamisa holds Kelvin Tinashe Choto’s young daughter

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