Professor Jonathan Moyo‚ one of former president Robert Mugabe’s staunch loyalists‚ claims that Zimbabwe is now in the hands of the “most feared people” in the country’s history.
Moyo‚ the former higher education minister‚ has been in hiding in self-imposed exile since the military intervened last year to remove Mugabe from power.
“Right now the cabinet is led by the most feared people in the history of this country‚” he said in an interview on BBC’s HardTALK show that was broadcast on Thursday.
Zimbabwe is set to hold general elections in 2018 on a date yet to be announced. Moyo believes that the poll will not be free and fair.
“He (President Emmerson Mnangagwa) cannot hold free and fair elections‚” he said‚ arguing that there was no history of democracy if the bullet came before the ballot‚ compromising constitutionalism.
Since Mnangagwa came to power‚ most politicians that were aligned to Mugabe have been arrested on various corruption charges but later released due to a lack of evidence.
Mugabe’s former finance minister Dr Ignatius Chombo‚ who was abducted on the night of the coup‚ is however still facing corruption charges.
Chombo successfully applied this week to have his bail conditions relaxed.
Initially he was instructed to report three times a day to the nearest police station‚ but under new conditions set by Harare magistrate Josephine Sande‚ the former minister will have to report once a day to police between Monday and Friday.
Meanwhile‚ Zanu PF Youth League leader Magura Charumbira‚ who famously booed former first lady Grace Mugabe during a rally in Bulawayo‚ died in a car crash on Monday.