News / Local
Police, MDC dismiss Biti abduction claims
11 Nov 2021 at 06:20hrs | Views
Both the police and the MDC-Alliance have dismissed social media reports that MDC-A vice president Mr Tendai Biti was abducted at his Harare home on Monday.
Social media stories had indicated Mr Biti was abducted at his Harare home by suspected State security agents on Monday night.
In a statement, national police spokesperson 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 are currently monitoring the situation."
MDC-Alliance spokesperson Ms Fadzayi Mahere described as fake news that Mr Biti was seized from his home by heavily-armed men who bundled him in an Isuzu pick-up truck and drove off.
The original social media reports cited MDC-Alliance secretary-general Chalton Hwende confirming Mr Biti's alleged abduction, but the party dismissed the claims.
Ms Mahere said Mr Biti was not abducted and was at no point reported missing.
"We confirm that VP Tendai Biti is safe," he said.
"We have verified that, contrary to reports in a fake news story published by an online paper, he was not abducted nor did he go missing."
Recently, the opposition MDC-Alliance party led by Mr Nelson Chamisa has been burning the midnight candle, fervently agitating for economic sanctions imposed by the United States and its allies to stay as the party appears unsettled by the prospects of their removal ahead of the 2023 national elections.
The attempts were manifested last month when Mr Chamisa and his retinue of hangers-on attempted to torch a violent storm in Masvingo to cast the Government in a bad light, but that ploy dismally flopped.
After failing to grab his desired attention ahead of the visit by United Nations special rapporteur Ms Alena Douhan, who was in the country on a 10-day fact-finding mission to assess the impact of the illegal sanctions, the MDC-A leader in cahoots with anti-Government civil society organisations have been preparing damaging dossiers to submit to the UN Special Rapporteur.
In a draft report to be submitted to Ms Douhan and gleaned by this publication, the MDC-A sensationally claims that Mr Chamisa escaped an assassination attempt last month and was banned from travelling around the country.
This claim was made while Mr Chamisa was touring the country and while claiming gun shots hit the car he was using. Forensic experts were not allowed to see or examine the car.
Presently, three MDC-A activists - Joana Mamombe, Cecilia Chimbiri and Netsai Marova - are facing charges of faking abductions and stand accused of employing a wide range of tactics to delay their trial since their arrest in May 2020.
They timed their antics to coincide with another international event so as to negatively spotlight the country.
Using the alleged abduction of the trio, MDC-A vice president Tendai Biti wrote a letter to the World Bank president David Malpass, claiming that the three were arrested, tortured and sexually assaulted by security forces.
But these remained just claims.
The anti-Zimbabwe stance taken by the MDC-A is in stark contrast to the collective national aspirations, which have seen other opposition parties, the Church and the business community calling for the unconditional removal of the illegal economic sanctions that have bled the country of billions.
During hearings of the US sanctions laws at the turn of the millennium, that country's former assistant secretary for African Affairs Chester Crocker is infamous for remarking that: "To separate the Zimbabwean people from Zanu-PF, we have to make their economy scream, I hope you Senators, have the stomach for what you have to do".
Since the illegal sanctions were imposed in 2001, Zimbabwe has lost an estimated US$42 billion, losing an estimated US4,5 billion in donor support annually for more than two decades.
The country also lost US$2 billion in IMF, World Bank and African Development Bank loans which could have helped in developing infrastructure, as well as losing commercial loans amounting to US$18 billion which could be extended to the private sector and other companies.
Zimbabwe experienced a $21 billion reduction in GDP over the past two decades.
Social media stories had indicated Mr Biti was abducted at his Harare home by suspected State security agents on Monday night.
In a statement, national police spokesperson 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 are currently monitoring the situation."
MDC-Alliance spokesperson Ms Fadzayi Mahere described as fake news that Mr Biti was seized from his home by heavily-armed men who bundled him in an Isuzu pick-up truck and drove off.
The original social media reports cited MDC-Alliance secretary-general Chalton Hwende confirming Mr Biti's alleged abduction, but the party dismissed the claims.
Ms Mahere said Mr Biti was not abducted and was at no point reported missing.
"We confirm that VP Tendai Biti is safe," he said.
"We have verified that, contrary to reports in a fake news story published by an online paper, he was not abducted nor did he go missing."
Recently, the opposition MDC-Alliance party led by Mr Nelson Chamisa has been burning the midnight candle, fervently agitating for economic sanctions imposed by the United States and its allies to stay as the party appears unsettled by the prospects of their removal ahead of the 2023 national elections.
The attempts were manifested last month when Mr Chamisa and his retinue of hangers-on attempted to torch a violent storm in Masvingo to cast the Government in a bad light, but that ploy dismally flopped.
After failing to grab his desired attention ahead of the visit by United Nations special rapporteur Ms Alena Douhan, who was in the country on a 10-day fact-finding mission to assess the impact of the illegal sanctions, the MDC-A leader in cahoots with anti-Government civil society organisations have been preparing damaging dossiers to submit to the UN Special Rapporteur.
This claim was made while Mr Chamisa was touring the country and while claiming gun shots hit the car he was using. Forensic experts were not allowed to see or examine the car.
Presently, three MDC-A activists - Joana Mamombe, Cecilia Chimbiri and Netsai Marova - are facing charges of faking abductions and stand accused of employing a wide range of tactics to delay their trial since their arrest in May 2020.
They timed their antics to coincide with another international event so as to negatively spotlight the country.
Using the alleged abduction of the trio, MDC-A vice president Tendai Biti wrote a letter to the World Bank president David Malpass, claiming that the three were arrested, tortured and sexually assaulted by security forces.
But these remained just claims.
The anti-Zimbabwe stance taken by the MDC-A is in stark contrast to the collective national aspirations, which have seen other opposition parties, the Church and the business community calling for the unconditional removal of the illegal economic sanctions that have bled the country of billions.
During hearings of the US sanctions laws at the turn of the millennium, that country's former assistant secretary for African Affairs Chester Crocker is infamous for remarking that: "To separate the Zimbabwean people from Zanu-PF, we have to make their economy scream, I hope you Senators, have the stomach for what you have to do".
Since the illegal sanctions were imposed in 2001, Zimbabwe has lost an estimated US$42 billion, losing an estimated US4,5 billion in donor support annually for more than two decades.
The country also lost US$2 billion in IMF, World Bank and African Development Bank loans which could have helped in developing infrastructure, as well as losing commercial loans amounting to US$18 billion which could be extended to the private sector and other companies.
Zimbabwe experienced a $21 billion reduction in GDP over the past two decades.
Source - The Herald
