Former Masvingo Urban legislator Tongai Matutu has published a long list of eminent opposition politicians he claims were at the forefront inviting “hurtful” sanctions on Zimbabwe.
Last week, the former opposition legislator made headlines after stating that the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) crafted sanctions fully conscious they would hurt ordinary Zimbabweans.
Posting on his Twitter handle at the weekend, Matutu “named and shamed” both living and deceased individuals as well as organisations whom he said successfully petitioned for sanctions.
Wrote Matutu, “This is the full list of people and organisations who participated in the sanctioning of Zimbabwe. These people deserve jail time; I too should be arrested for the part I played. However, as long as we don’t have the Patriotic Act and the PVO amendments, we shall continue to suffer.”
He fingered Citizens’ Coalition for Change (CCC) leader, Nelson Chamisa, his erstwhile sidekick Tendai Biti, former Speaker of Parliament Lovemore Moyo, Morgan Komichi, Tapiwa Mashakada, David Coltart and Eddie Cross.
Others include National Peace and Reconciliation Commission (NPRC) commissioner and former MDC top official Obert Gutu, jailed MP Job Sikhala, unionist Peter Mutasa, top CCC official Tabitha Khumalo and Douglas Mwonzora, president of MDC.
Former Kwekwe Central opposition MP turned Zanu-PF apologist, Blessing Chebundo, also features on the alleged list of shame.
Organisations alleged to have called for the embargoes include Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Union (ZCTU), Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition (CiZC), Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR), and National Endowment for Democracy.
“This is the full list of people and organisations who participated in the sanctioning of Zimbabwe. These people deserve jail time, I too should be arrested for the part l played. However as long as we don’t have the Patriotic Act & the PVO amendments, we shall continue to suffer,” Matutu said.
Others named were Vanguard Africa, ZimRights, Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, Progressive Teachers’ Union of Zimbabwe (PTUZ) and Amalgamated Rural Teachers’ Union of Zimbabwe (ARTUZ).
In its response to Matutu’s previous utterances, CCC said the politician was trying to endear himself to President Emmerson Mnangagwa.
Matutu’s ?tell-all apology” type of letter implicated CCC leaders as having been at the centre of America’s Zimbabwe Democracy and Economic Recovery Act (ZIDERA) and argued the party was just a re-branded MDC.
He claimed the MDC, which at the time was under the presidency of Morgan Tsvangirai, would fake abductions to get international sympathy while justifying imposition of sanctions since the early 2000s.
Matutu, who addressed a letter to the Justice Ministry, called on government to set up a commission of inquiry on the matter, bring to book all he said were involved, and promised to share documents, bank statements, recordings, and photos as evidence of the part he played in sanctioning of some of Zimbabwe’s political and business elites.
Matutu dumped Tsvangirai for then party deputy Tendai Biti’s People’s Democratic Party (PDP) in 2014, before making a comeback in 2016. In 2020, he quit the party again, now under leadership of Chamisa, to join the ruling ZANU PF, from where he has been launching scathing attacks and criticism of his former benefactors. – NewZimbabwe/Agencies
