By Staff reporter
Hopewell Chino’ono and Jacob Ngarivhume feel their opposition allies especially MDC-Alliance leader, Nelson Chamisa have betrayed them as they languish in remand prison, a source had said.
The two were arrested on allegations of inciting the public to illegally overthrow the ZANU-PF government. Currently, the duo is, in remand prison.
The source said Ngarivhume, leader of Transform Zimbabwe and Chin’ono; a self-styled journalist revealed their ordeal to Transparency Zimbabwe Spokesperson, Justin Makota when he paid them a visit at Harare Remand Prison, that none of the leaders from the opposition party had visited them at the remand prison.
“I feel dejected. The opposition leaders should be at the forefront denouncing my arrest. Surprisingly, the opposition is aloof. Chamisa has not even issued a mere statement condemning my arrest. The diplomatic and the international communities have done better in as much as condemning my arrest is concerned.
“In all what we have been doing, Chamisa stands to benefit more than anyone else. He should be at the forefront, but he chose to go on leave. He doesn’t want to be accountable,” Chin’ono is reported to have said.
Ngarivhume on the other hand told Makota that, “Our Cdes who still enjoy freedom are not doing enough to mobilise resources for the event. Where the resources have been donated, they are not being directed to the 31 July demo business. Individuals are now converting the money to own use,” Ngarivhume reportedly said.
The source said Ngarivhume revealed to Makota that his wife could not even visit him in remand prison because she had no fuel to do so a sign that the organizers were failing him and misappropriating funds.
This is not the first time that Chamisa has come under fire for neglecting his supporters. Last year, MDC-Alliance Vice Chairperson, Job Sikhala was arrested in Masvingo on subversion charges and remanded at Mutimurefu Prison. Whilst he was in the remand prison, Chamisa attended Provincial Executive meeting in Masvingo, but failed to visit Sikhala and this irked Sikhala and his supporters. MDC-Alliance Vice President, Tendai Biti and others actually confronted Chamisa over this.
In August 2018 and January 2019, Chamisa again could not visit protesters who had been arrested and instead called them ‘Stupid.’
In the MDC-A National Standing Committee meetings, where the demo issue would be discussed, Chamisa was always slippery to pronounce a date for demonstrations, despite pressure to do so by his lieutenants. He had to eventually evade the issue by taking a sabbatical, a move that invited onslaught from his supporters who saw the gesture as a sign of cowardice.
