ZimLive editor, Mduduzi Mathuthu, has been summoned to the Criminal Investigations Department's Law and Order Section of the Zimbabwe Republic Police for an “interview” for an undisclosed case, just a few days when some unidentified men raided his home in what is widely seen as an attempt to kidnap him.
In a tweet, Mathuthu said, “Early tomorrow I must submit myself to CID Law and Order in Bulawayo, the crew that in July 2020 abetted the abduction and torture of my nephew Tawanda Muchehiwa. We reported that abduction and still await outcome. The people they urgently must be seeking are Tawanda's abductors.
“My family has had a rather unfair share of abuse at the hands of state institutions. You sleep with one eye open, for they can come anytime. They say it's a New Dispensation but the only new thing is the intensification of restrictions of constitutionally-guaranteed rights.”
Mathuthu said the last time he went to Law and Order Section of the ZRP was in 2001 when he was a Daily News reporter. Mathuthu noted that he was “grabbed from the office in town for reporting that a crowd walked out on Joseph Msika. To stop lawyers finding me, they locked me up in Esigodini. Prosecution, then fairly independent, declined to pursue.”
In a letter signed by a Manjengwa written to Mathuthu’s lawyers, Ncube Attorneys, the CID indicated that “this station is investigating a case where Mduduzi Mathuthu is a suspect and we want him for some interview. May you treat this issue as a matter of urgency.”
Mathuthu’s lawyers are worried about attempts to kidnap their client.
In a letter to the CID, dated May 31, the lawyers said, “We have it on good authority that on Friday 27 May, 2022, seven men glad in civilian attire unlawfully intruded at his place of board and demanded to see him. These unknown persons refused to identify themselves serve for only one who identified himself as Nyanete.
“We have been made aware that police have distanced themselves from such actions. Our client is worried and rightfully so. It is an open secret that his nephew Tawanda Mucheyiwa was kidnapped during broad day light by character who are similar to those that visited his house. We are unable to let this go without proper probing.”
Tawanda was kidnapped and brutally tortured in 2020 by suspected state security agents.
Police spokesperson, Paul Nyathi, told NewsHawks that he is not aware law enforcement agents are looking for Mathuthu. He was quoted as saying, “I have contacted the Officer Comamnding Bulawayo, but we are not aware of that.”