Mnangagwa's adviser held hostage by Zanu-PF youths

SUSPECTED Zanu-PF youths Tuesday briefly held hostage President Emmerson Mnangagwa's co-adviser Shingi Munyeza at the Media Centre in Harare where he was set to officiate at the launch of think-tank, Zimbabwe Institute of Strategic Thinking (ZIST).

Munyeza, also a businessman and pastor, has in recent months been highly critical of Mnangagwa's leadership style, often accusing Zimbabwe's number one for rights abuses, failing to manage a deepening national economy and fostering national unity.

He is a member of the Presidential Advisory Council (PAC), a grouping of respected citizens that regularly meet and offer advice to Mnangagwa.

However, Tuesday, he was shocked when suspected Zanu-PF youths prevented him from speaking at the launch ZIST project.

According to Munyeza, the youths thought the think-tank was his personal project.

The youths threatened to be violent if the launch went ahead and Munyeza was left with no option but leave the Media Centre in a huff.

"They thought the project, ZIST, is mine and they did not want me to speak. I was just a guest of honour," Munyeza told NewZimbabwe.com.

"They accused me of all sorts of things.

"They chased me down a flight of stairs. However, I won't be silenced by being targeted for saying the government has gone rogue and is waging war against citizens."

Munyeza said people's freedoms and rights are never negotiated with the oppressor.

"The struggle is a collective, no one is more important than the other. Diverse strategies must be implemented until everyone is free and territory taken must never be relinquished," he said.

Meanwhile, the ZIST said it is a strategic think-tank meant to end the numerous challenges facing Zimbabwe.

"The organisation's objectives is to create a platform for strategic thinking bent on building the nation, creating space for a pacified society, social cohesion and positioning our thinking towards economic growth and development," ZIST director Tinashe Muzamhindo said.

"President Mnangagwa and (MDC Alliance leader) Nelson Chamisa are at the centre of controversial Zimbabwean politics which is causing hardships to innocent people.

"The two parties have failed to stick together in unison and social and political cohesion. They are to blame for the failure to be organised in positioning their ideas towards harnessing tools for economic growth and development.

"Both leaders at the helm of Zimbabwean politics President Mnangagwa and Nelson Chamisa of MDC are not organised to be positioned for dialogue be it any understanding to lift up Zimbabweans out of poverty and suffering."

Muzamhindo added: "They keep on buying time which is now an expense for Zimbabweans who are further, the most impacted."