YOUTH Empowerment, Development and Vocational Training minister Tinoda Machakaire has ordered former Citizens Coalition for Change spokesperson Fadzayi Mahere to withdraw corruption allegations posted on her social media account following a heated online debate.
In a letter in the possession of NewsDay, Machakaire’s legal representative Method Ndlovu gave Mahere a 24-hour ultimatum to withdraw and retract the "derogatory" statements posted on her X platform.
Mahere questioned Machakaire’s alleged involvement in the US$8 million tax evasion scandal instituted by the Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission (Zacc) in relation to the importation of vehicles.
“Our instructions are as regards to your false, defamatory and malicious allegations [framed as questions] that you posted on your X handle @advocatemahere on several occasions which had an effect of malingering the corpus of our client.
“Your posts specifically and by innuendo alleged the following: that our client is corrupt to the core, that our client is a thief, that our client is a compulsive liar, that our client is dishonest, that our client bought luxury vehicles using public or taxpayers' (funds). The questions are leading in both form and substance given the manner you then end you post by saying “we need new leaders”.
“Your post contains a “quasi-innuendo” or innuendo pointing to the sting of defamation or “sting-pointing imputation” against our client. By saying “we need new leaders” you impute that our client was involved in the US$8 million tax evasion that you referred to and that he was involved in the dropping of charges against certain individuals and some officials.”
Ndlovu also questioned why Mahere cherry-picked his client from a pool of public officials in the country to answer the "specious" questions.
“You have already “convicted” our client of the allegations you placed against him without even him answering. Your words “we need new leaders” only entails that you have found by methods best known to you that our client was involved in the said antics (If they ever occurred).
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You have already found our client guilty despite you holding no judicial authority (actual or quasi). Your post on your X handle had 33 000 views, 80 reposts and 46 comments.These numbers will obviously be on the increase as you continue to post regarding the same issue,” he said.
Efforts to get a comment from Mahere were fruitless as she was not answering calls and had not responded to messages sent to her by the time of going to print.
