Demanding evidence from Al Jazeera could be an attempt to look good

Emmerson Mnangagwa

Dear President Mnangagwa,

So the news is out there that the Government of Zimbabwe has written to Al Jazeera demanding evidence. At least that breaks the silence, but the demand is a bit suspect. My view is that the Government must have first demanded evidence from the people who are seen in the documentary saying that this is what was happening.

Al Jazeera’s role here was to expose what was happening by getting evidence from the people who knew this is what was happening, so those people who gave the information are the ones in the know. Why can the Government of Zimbabwe not take a cue from the British Government which has said it will investigate its citizens who are involved? A good number of Zimbabweans are featured in the video, but we have not heard that Government has demanded answers from them, who are the ones who implicated the President. In my view, which is shared by many, Al Jazeera played its part to bring out the information as part of its investigative journalism, and those implicated should demand answers from those who implicated them in the first place, and Al Jazeera

Government should have suspended Eubert Angel pending investigations if it is sincere about wanting to know the truth. Government should also have questioned Auxilia Mnangagwa and Henrieta Rwushaya who were allegedly called by Eubert Angel and heard talking to him over the phone in the documentary. As this is a serious issue, Eubert Angel who claimed to have called decoys should be pressed to identify the decoys he called and phone records should have been verified to establish what phone numbers he called and the owners of the telephone lines he called be established. If the Government of Zimbabwe is not willing to do that, it is my hope that the United Kingdom Government can in their investigations of Eubert Angel demand the establish the phone numbers called by Eubert. Professor Jonathan Moyo who is very familiar with the voice patterns of Auxilia Mnangagwa and Henrieta Rwushaya has already publicly challenged the so-called decoys’ voices to sound like them.

Also worrying is the fact that while Eubert Angel said they were actually investigating the Al Jazeera team and the country’s Intelligence was involved, the Central Intelligence Organisation has disowned the claim. Another person involved Cleopas Chidodo has since made an apology that he falsely implicated former First Lady Grace Mugabe, and Eubert Angel and his team should consider following suit as lies have short legs.