Lumumba does a Dzamara, family claims he was abducted

Former Zanu-PF Harare youth leader, Acie Lumumba's family and friends yesterday said he has gone missing and they feared he may have been kidnapped following his obscene insult of President Robert Mugabe on Thursday.

Police yesterday confirmed the former Zanu-PF politician who abandoned the party after making many damning allegations against its officials, could not be found.

Police spokesperson Charity Charamba told The Standard yesterday that police had launched a manhunt for Lumumba whom they believed had gone into hiding following his unprintable insult of Mugabe.

The youthful politician used the "F" word to insult Mugabe before threatening to go after his family should the State come after him.

His family and associates in his newly-formed party — Viva Zimbabwe — claimed that he had gone missing in a suspected case of kidnap. They said there were indications that he was picked up by officers from the Criminal Investigations Department soon after his party launch Press conference where he took the ugly pot-shot at Mugabe.

The party's legal secretary, Agency Gumbo, said they were searching for Lumumba.

"We do not know about his whereabouts and we are also looking for him. He was taken by the CID officers soon after the Press conference," said Gumbo.

"His personal assistant told us that he was going home on Thursday night and that was the last we heard of him."

Charamba said Lumumba had undermined the authority of the president in contravention of Section 33 of the Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act Chapter 9:23.

"He knew that he had committed a crime, that is why he went into hiding. Even if it wasn't the president, anyone insulted like that has the right to come and complain to the police," said Charamba.