Zanu PF thugs attack Mugabe's ally

Suspected Zanu PF supporters on Friday night allegedly stormed Harare South MP Shadreck Mashayamombe's house where they bashed his relatives and stole goods as well as cash.

Mashayamombe, one of the leading figures in the G40 faction that was fiercely loyal to former president Robert Mugabe, is receiving treatment after he was allegedly tortured by the army during the military takeover of government last month.

A member of the MP's family confirmed Friday night's alleged attack, claiming four men stormed the house, indiscriminately beating up people and demanding that they reveal the former Zanu PF Harare commissar's whereabouts.

"There were five people in the house and they were all tied up by three men armed with knives and metal rods while one man in a suit holding a gun gave commands," the family member who refused to be named for security reasons revealed yesterday.

"They broke into the MP's bedroom, took away suits and pairs of shoes.

"They also demanded money from one of the MP's nieces who runs a tuckshop and walked away with almost $800."

They also took away cellphone handsets before driving away in a Honda Fit vehicle whose registration number was supplied to the police, the source said. Police allegedly arrived at the house five hours after the attack.

According to the family member, the men were demanding "money which they said the MP stole with the help of Mugabe."

Mashayamombe yesterday accused Zanu PF Harare youth provincial chairman Godwin Gomwe of spearheading the attack. "This is not the first time he has attacked my brother. In 2014, he attacked him accusing him of undermining then first lady Grace Mugabe," he said.

At the time, Mashayamombe was a member of the Gamatox faction that backed former vice president Joice Mujuru.

The faction opposed Grace's ascendancy that Gomwe and other youth provincial chairpersons supported.

Gomwe was not picking phone calls yesterday.

"The president [Emmerson Mnangagwa] has called for peace and I implore Gomwe and others to heed his call,"

Mashayamombe said. "We are appealing to the leadership to protect people from people who masquerade as soldiers."

Mashayamombe refused to disclose where he was, but close family members revealed that he was in neighbouring South Africa receiving treatment after an alleged attack by soldiers.

He was picked up at the Rainbow Towers Hotel where MPs held a joint sitting to initiate a process to impeach Mugabe.

Mashayamombe was reportedly picked while going to his car and taken to a secluded place where he was allegedly tortured through electricity shocks before he was dumped in Goromonzi.

He was hospitalised for three weeks before doctors referred him to South Africa.

Before he was seized, soldiers, some of them later arrested for extorting businessman Joish Shar, had visited his house and took four suits as well as four pairs of shoes.

The soldiers allegedly force-marched his wife to open a safe at his car sales business where they took away $40 000 cash and 6 000 litres of fuel meant for command agriculture.

Mashayamombe yesterday refused to comment on the issue.

"What I can only confirm is that some four men came and attacked my relatives who were later treated at Parirenyatwa Hospital on Friday night, the rest ask the person who told you," he said.

Prominent members of the G40 faction are now scattered all over the continent after they fled Zimbabwe following the military takeover. At least four ministers that were close to Mugabe have since been arrested.