Pictures: Mahere Says "Journalists Heavily Beaten By ZANU Thugs In Gokwe Ahead Of Chamisa's Rally"

Opposition Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC) spokesperson, Fadzayi Mahere has said four journalists were this Thursday “heavily beaten by ZANU PF thugs” in Gokwe ahead of a rally to be addressed by Nelson Chamisa.

Among the journalists assaulted is Technomag’s Toneo Rutsito. Mahere said:

ALERT: There’s been an escalation of violence in Gokwe ahead of a rally to be addressed by Change Champion in Chief, @nelsonchamisa. Journalists Tongai Mwenje, Toneo Rutsito, Pellagia Mpurwa and Chelsea Mashayamombe have been heavily beaten by ZANUPF thugs. Toneo lost a tooth.

Tongai Mwenje is SportBrief’s founder and Managing Editor; Toneo Rutsito is the Funder and Editor of Technomag an online technology magazine, Pellagia Mupurwa is a journalist with Technomag while Chelsea Mashayamombe is an Editor at ZimDaily.

Politically motivated violence has been on the rise in recent months raising fears that the 2023 elections might be violent as was the case in 2008.

Commenting on the report, CCC vice president, Tenda Biti who is also a former Minister of Finance and Economic Development during the Government of National Unity (GNU) equated the assault to “crimes against humanity.” He said::

The implosion of violence in Hwedza & Gokwe in the last few days is simply unacceptable. The attack on our members, on journalists doing their job & on innocent bystanders are all crimes against humanity.

He added that it is unimaginable that some people are behaving that way “42 yrs after independence.”

Pindula News