Staff Reporter

Government notes with concern the growing tendency to peddle false allegations of human rights abuses designed to soil the image of the country and to solicit undeserved international sympathy, Home Affairs and Cultural Heritage Minister Kazembe Kazembe has said.

Minister Kazembe said this in a press statement yesterday while dismissing latest abduction allegations of MDC-Alliance Vice President, Tendai Biti by five armed men. In the statement, Minister Kazembe said that the falsehood went viral on social media with Government being falsely accused of orchestrating forced disappearances and abduction of political opponents to silence the opposition.

“The MDC-Alliance took a long time to respond to the false news before its Spokesperson, Fadzai Mahere, issued a Statement dismissing the fake news.

“The abduction narrative follows the same template used before in the staged disappearances of activist and medical doctor Peter Magombeyi and that of MDC-Alliance youths, Joana Mamombe, Cecilia Chimbiri and Netsai Marova. These reports always surface on the eve of global summits or the periodic reviews of Western imposed sanctions,” said Minister Kazembe.

He noted that Biti’s fake abduction claims coincide with growing calls for the unconditional removal of sanctions against the country, following UN Rapporteur, Professor Alena Douhan’s report, whose findings, Biti disputed.

Meanwhile the Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP) has confirmed that no report of Biti’s alleged abduction has been made at any Police Station by Biti or his party. The law enforcement agencies said that they will work tirelessly to unearth those behind peddling of such fake news and ensure that perpetrators face wrath of the law.