Mnangagwa unleashes CIOs

PRESIDENT Emmerson Mnangagwa says he has unleashed the dreaded Central Intelligence Organisation (CIO) agents to track down and bring to book people who peddle fake news about him.

This comes after messages circulated on the social media suggesting he has extended the current Covid-19 lockdown, which turned out to be fake.

In an interview with the state broadcaster ZBC, Mnangagwa said the culprits, if caught, will be jailed for a maximum of 20 years.

"I have seen that on social media I am supposed to have made a statement to extent the lockdown and that is absolutely nonsense. I have never made that statement," Mnangagwa said.

"We have now a law which punishes those who produce fake news and I have asked the CIO to make a trace to who did this one to say the president has made a statement when I have not, so that when we catch this person it must be exemplary and must go in for at least at level 14, which is 20 years imprisonment," he said.

"That way I think we need to demonstrate that we do not want false news circulated especially when you are telling false news about the president."

This comes at a time the nation is fighting to control the spread of the new omicron variant of Covid-19 which has seen cases spiralling over the past two weeks.