Staff Reporter

Former Government Cabinet minister Professor Jonathan Moyo has slammed the leader of the Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC) Nelson Chamisa for insinuating that the tragic death of Zimbabwean Elvis Nyathi in South Africa was caused by ‘bad governance in Zimbabwe’.

Writing on his Twitter handle yesterday, Prof Moyo said the gruesome murder of Nyathi was not as a result of "illegal" or "forced" immigration, as claimed by Chamisa, but  was due to Afrophobia.

“The gruesome lynching of Elvis Nyathi, a Zimbabwean stoned and burnt alive in South Africa is not a result of "illegal" or "forced" immigration, as claimed by political vultures in SA and Zimbabwe; it's Afrophobia, a dreadful South African hate crime not seen anywhere else in Africa!,” said Prof Moyo.

Prof Moyo’s was responding to Chamisa who had said that, “we mourn with the family of Elvis Nyathi, who like many compatriots was forced into economic refuge by a tragic failure of leadership in his country and the region”.

Prof Moyo, went further to state that people should not sanitize the brutal fact that Nyathi tragically died because of Afrophobia and this was negating  the SADC goal of regional integration.

“Political claims that Elvis Nyathi's gruesome murder highlights "forced immigration" as a sign of policy failure in Zimbabwe, sanitize the brutal fact that Nyathi tragically fell to Afrophobia, a hate crime; and even negate freedom of movement and regional integration as Sadc goals!,” said Prof Moyo.

The CCC leader was accused by many Zimbabweans of using the death of Nyathi to score cheap political goals against ZANU PF and the Government. Many Zimbabweans frowned on Chamisa for turning Nyathi's death political. Nyathi died at the hands of the members of a South African vigilante group that is pushing for the removal of foreigners from the South African soil.