Biti was never abducted

The MDC Alliance on Tuesday said its vice president Tendai Biti was being tailed by known Zanu-PF thugs, as it denied social media speculation that he had been abducted at gunpoint.

Spokesperson Fadzayi Mahere said Biti was safe, rejecting as "fake news" a report in an online paper that the human rights lawyer and Harare East MP had been abducted.

The report alleged that five armed suspected state agents bundled Biti into an unregistered white Isuzu twin cab and drove off at very high speed to an unknown destination.

"He was not abducted, nor did he go missing," Mahere said. "He was trailed by a suspicious vehicle yesterday (Monday) and a police report is to be made."

In a separate statement Tuesday, the MDC Alliance said Biti was being shadowed by a vehicle driven by Zanu-PF activist Taurayi Kandishaya, also known by the alias Alex Gakanje, a reported henchman of deputy minister of national housing, Yeukai Simbanegavi.

"Vice president Tendai Biti is being trailed by a vehicle driven by Gakanje of Zanu-PF, who is working with Yeukai Simbanegavi. They blocked an access road to his home and are constantly parked at his office. He is making a police report on the matter," read the statement.

Police spokesman Assistant Commissioner Paul Nyathi said: "The ZRP has checked with all police stations and no report of alleged abduction or kidnapping of Tendai Biti has been received. The police is currently monitoring the situation."

Gakanje, accompanied by Zanu-PF youths, last month tried to prevent the MDC Alliance from holding a press conference at Biti's law firm, before they were led away by police.

The MDC Alliance says its leaders have been targeted in rural outposts in recent weeks, with party leader Nelson Chamisa caught up in skirmishes that left several of his vehicles damaged in Masvingo and Manicaland.