Mahere disowns her verified Twitter account

CCC spokesperson Advocate Fadzayi Mahere has publicly disowned her verified Twitter account in a desperate bid to wriggle herself from a messy defamation lawsuit that was filed by fellow lawyer Advocate Tinomudaishe Chinyoka.

Advocate Mahere's stunning denial of being the face behind the Twitter handle from which previous official CCC statements were issued, has raised questions not only about her integrity but also of the party she represents which presently operates Mafia-style, with no structures, and certainly no checks and balances.

However, her claims are exposed as Twitter requires account holders to among other things "provide a photo of a valid official government-issued identification document, such as your Driver's Licence or Passport", for a particular handle to be verified.

Adv Mahere is facing a US$100 000 million lawsuit from Adv Chinyoka, charges which emanate from a tweet she posted on March 10 alleging that the later had been suspended from the Petrotrade board for corruption.

"Corruption is killing us. They were appointed in June 2021. Before one year is up, they are facing allegations of corruption.

"Among the suspended are Advocate Tino Chinyoka and Lilian Timveos," she said in the tweet which is now the subject of litigation.

However, the usually litigious Adv Mahere's tweet was not factual as Adv Chinyoka is presently fighting the dissolution of the board he chaired.

"The defendant is Fadzayi Mahere, a private individual and lawyer — who controls an account on Twitter under the handle @advocatemahere," Advocate Chinyoka averred, in papers filed with the High Court in May.

In her defendant's plea submitted on June 6, Mahere denied Advocate Chinyoka's assertion that she "has/runs/controls" the @advocatemahere account.

Although she denies being the face behind @advocatemahere handle, she vehemently defend the tweet in the same plea, saying "the contents of the tweet were true".

Mr Chinyoka responded to Mahere's plea in replication papers filed Friday (July 8), describing Mahere as dishonest.

"And, as the Defendant goes on to admit publishing the statements complained about, the denial that the Twitter handle ‘@advocatemahere' belongs to her and the sanctimonious demand for Plaintiff to prove the fact is, in these unfortunate circumstances, facetious," Advocate Chinyoka claims in a blistering response.

"Demonstrating her propensity and propinquity for mendacity and perfidy, the Defendant confuses herself by claiming that a verified (Twitter) account requires further proof that it is hers."

However, Twitter has her digital footprints with pictures galore of herself in the company of other opposition functionaries.

This is not the first time that Adv Mahere has been locked in a legal battle with her case pending, again with a fellow lawyer Dr Petina Gappah at the High Court.