MUTARE, Zimbabwe—In recent months, several opposition political activists in Zimbabwe have been abducted by suspected state security agents; tortured and jabbed with an unknown substance.
Mysteriously, the injections appear to have no immediate impact on the victim and fears abound that President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s regime is infecting people with some toxin which might be killing them slowly.
Opposition party, Citizens Coalition for Change, which is led by Nelson Chamisa, has gone public to accuse state security agents and the ruling party, Zanu PF, of carrying out the injections.
“We are not aware what the substance is but experts in one of the cases indicated that it could lead to a deadly cancer within five years if not drained out [of the body] in time,” Promise Mkwananzi of the Citizens Coalition for Change—often called the CCC—told The Daily Beast.
Though Mnangagwa came to power with promises of sweeping political, social and economic reforms, he is now seen as a worse leader than his predecessor, Robert Mugabe, a despot who was removed from power in a military coup in 2017. Many Zimbabweans who celebrated Mugabe’s ouster are now regretting supporting the military coup.
And Chamisa has rejected the results of the Aug. 23 2023 general elections—which were controversially won by Mnangagwa— alleging massive rigging by the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission.