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Former Zanu PF Youth Leader Facing Charges of Inciting Public Violence


Godfery Tsenengamu
Godfery Tsenengamu

Former Zanu PF youth leader, Godfrey Tsenengamu, has surrendered himself to the police in Harare after he was placed on the Zimbabwe Republic Police’s list of the most wanted people in the country.

Tsenengamu, who was sacked by President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s ruling party early this year for making what Zanu PF secretary, Obert Mpofu, described as “his intransigence and continued disparaging of senior party members”, is facing charges of inciting public violence.

In a tweet, police said, “The ZRP confirms that Godfrey Tsenengamu is in police custody and will appear in court on 10th October 2020 in relation to incitement to commit public violence charges as defined in Section 187(1) (a) as read with section 37 of the Criminal Law Codification and Reform Act, Chapter 09:23.”

He allegedly used social media and other platforms to incite people to join an anti-corruption protest in July this year, which was organized by Transform Zimbabwe party and other organizations.

In some of his tweets, Tsenengamu wrote, “… ‘Bad Apples, Detractors, Terrorists, Dark Forces & Rogue Zimbabweans’. Be extra vigilant. In March 1983 some Zimbabweans were referred to as 'bugs & cockroaches’ and we all know what followed.”

He was referring to remarks allegedly made by Mnangagwa during the height of the Gukurahundi atrocities in Matabeleland and Midlands provinces in the 1980s where the Catholic Commission for Justice and Peace and other organizations said an estimated 20,000 people were killed by the Five Brigade, a crack military unit that was trained by North Koreans. The unit was deployed in 1983 by then Prime Minister Robert Mugabe to flush out so-called dissidents in the two regions, which were opposition PF Zapu strongholds.

In another tweet, Tsenengamu said, “History has many brutal, arrogant, selfish, repressive & violent rulers who thought that they were untouchable but circumstances forced them to taste their own medicine. Their systems & instruments haunted them. When in power be sober.”

He once accused some top Zanu PF officials of allegedly engaging in corrupt activities, noting that they were directly linked to Zimbabwe’s economic decay.

Tsenengamu and his attorney were unavailable for comment.

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