Will Munyaradzi Shoko and Phionah Riekert ever be arrested despite Mugabe’s disguised dislike of violence

Following what is now proving to be another of Mugabe’s election lies that he does not tolerate election violence by his supporters, one would have expected to read in the media that self-confessed Zanu PF terrorists Munyaradzi Shoko and Phionah Riekert who, as correctly reported in The Herald of 24 July 2017, have been arrested. The two admitted that the video which circulated globally in which they beat up opposition supporters forcing them to chant slogans in praise of Grace Mugabe, popularly known as Amai Disgrace Mugabe, was indeed authentic.

To make matters worse, The Herald also correctly reports that the Minister of Home Affairs Ignatius Chombo, who as the minister responsible for law and order in the country, wrote a letter which has circulated globally confirming that Shoko and Riekert’s terrorist group was indeed affiliated to Zanu PF.

And this is the same Ignatius Chombo, a minister in charge of the police, who not too long ago obstructed the course of justice by claiming the MDC-T had burnt its own vehicle, instead of pushing for the matter to be investigated by the police. How does he expect Zimbabweans and the international community to gain confidence in Zanu PF leadership?

This is the same corrupt Ignatius Chombo who has reinstated thieving Councillors and council officials around the country who would have been noticed to be abusing their authority by the MDC-T. This is the same Chombo who vast ill-gotten wealth was exposed through his divorce with his former wife, and Mugabe never got interested.

SADC, the African Union, the United Nations must never buy Mugabe’s lies that he is against violence, given his previous well documented practice of pardoning violent criminals who have been convicted by the courts as in the case of Kizito Chivamba and Elias who were convicted after their attempted murder of Patrick Kombayi which incident left him crippled to his death among many other cases; and the case of Joseph Mwale who he shielded from facing justice after he murdered Talent Mabika and Tichaona Chiminya in some of the previous pre-election violence cases.

Justice Rita Makarau needs to stand her ground and ask the right questions about the pre-election violence and lies by Mugabe and his gang.

Zimbabweans must not allow themselves to be governed this way. Let us shake off the fear and go in our numbers to vote out this repressive regime of Robert Mugabe.