THE ruling Zanu PF party has reportedly roped in State security agents as it battles to quell the growing discontent among its members against party leader, President Emmerson Mnangagwa, amid deteriorating economic conditions and endemic corruption.
Disgruntled Zanu PF members have taken to social media to
express dissatisfaction over Mnangagwa through fake Press statements purported
to have originated from within the party.
There has been an influx of Press statements circulating on
social media purportedly from the Zanu PF information department, with the
authors expressing various grievances emanating from issues happening in the
party.
Presidential spokesperson George Charamba said the issuance
of fake Press statements was threatening to “go out of hand”, adding that there
was an “insidious” hand in their production.
A fake statement purported to be from the Zimbabwe Defence
Forces also circulated on social media with theauthors complaining about
rampant corruption among army bosses which they said started from the “top”.
The latest fake statement dated February 21, castigates
Zanu PF Masvingo province members who mobilised for Mnangagwa’s third term bid
under the slogan, “2030 VaMnangagwa vanenge vachipo (Mnangagwa will still be in
office by 2030)”.
Dismissing the fake Press statement Charamba using his X
handle @dhonzamusoro007 called on the security officers to swiftly hunt down
the individual behind the statements so that they will “teach others a lesson”.
“There has to be a legal and technical remedy to this
tendency which threatens to go out of hand,” Charamba said.
“There is some insidious hand on social media which forges
or garbles statements for own political goals. We saw it with a recent Press
release by the Zimbabwe Defence Force. It is repeated today. The law can be
made quite quickly; technology is there to trace a post back to uploading
miscreant. Our security structures must act pretty fast so just one case is
made to teach the rest a lesson!!!!!,” posted Charamba.
Charamba was not picking calls when NewsDay tried to
contact him for comment.
But NewsDay is reliably informed that Mnangagwa’s third
term bid has reignited the factional fights between him and his deputy
Vice-President Constantino Chiwenga, with members aligned to the latter pushing
for Mnangagwa to step down.
Some Zanu PF members accused Mnangagwa of reneging on the
agreement entered into prior to the November
2017 coup, that ousted the late
former President Robert Mugabe, that he would serve one term and hand over
power to the former army general.
But Zanu PF director
of information Farai Marapira said police would be seized with the matter to
expose those issuing fake statements.
“On finding out who is behind the issue, I am sure the
police will be seized with the matter,” Marapira said.
“We have not yet made an official report on these
particular ones (statements), but a series of disinformation messages have been
reported so I am sure the police are going to find a way to start pushing for
these investigations. In due course, we will file a police report.”
Marapira distanced Zanu PF members from the fake
statements, but accused unnamed individuals of plotting to cause alarm and
despondency in the party.
“Disinformation is an issue of concern and it has become a
serious scourge,” Marapira said.
“It is used to push false messages to cause alarm and
despondency. We do not believe that any
normal Zanu PF members would be behind those statements because Zanu PF is a
party with systems and guidelines. If
anyone has anything to say they are free to do so since we have so many foras
for them to do so.” Newsday
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