from MARCUS MUSHONGA in Harare, Zimbabwe
Zimbabwe Bureau
HARARE, (CAJ News) – THE infighting bedeviling the Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF) has left a man languishing in prison.
Alfred Ngonidzaishe Machakaire (34) has been behind bars for almost a month for allegedly passing on some unpalatable comments against President Emmerson Mnangagwa and at the same time praising Blessed Runesu Geza, an erstwhile lieutenant of the country’s leader.
Geza, who has been declared wanted, has called on Mnangagwa to quit citing failure.
Machakaire, who resides in Gowo village under Chief Makoni in Inyati in Makoni District in Manicaland province, has spent days in both police cells and at Reshape Prison in Manicaland province after he was arrested on 24th February 2025.
The Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP) has charged him with “undermining authority of or insulting President Mnangagwa as defined in section 33(2)(a)(b) of the Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act.”
According to prosecutors, Machakaire was involved in a verbal altercation with Leonard Chidemo, the ruling ZANU-PF councillor for Ward 5 in Makoni North constituency in Makoni District.
The two allegedly quarreled in bottle store, where the accused reportedly said, “You Chidemo, down with Mnangagwa, I am Geza, on the 31st, the country will be fine, Mnangagwa is a vagina, you have caused the death of people in the country.”
Machakaire is one of several people arrested across Zimbabwe for allegedly undermining authority of or insulting Mnangagwa.
Many Zimbabweans feel that president Mnangagwa, who removed his predecessor Robert Mugabe by military coup, was deeply involved in corruption, plunder and looting of the country’s mineral resources and state entities to empower his cronies.
Under Mnangagwa, unemployment in Zimbabwe has reached an alarming 90 percent, hospitals do not have medicines, factories shutting down, roads dilapidated, the country does not have functioning stadia for international games while opposition activists are being arrested and detained without justice.
– CAJ News