A few weeks ago, I received a call from Dr Tapiwa Shumba, Nelson Chamisa’s technical advisor.
He said to me he had instructions from Chamisa to sue me if we continued to publish false articles about him. I asked him which articles he was talking about and he said listed three particlular posts:
– We published that Chamisa had received a landcruiser from Tagwirei
– We published that Chamisa had been in talks with Khuphe
I asked them to serve me with the papers, but so far they havent.
I thought this was water under the bridge until yesterday, when I saw some attempts to link me link me with the Zimbabwe military. There was a seven tweet thread alleging that I am working with Valerio Sibanda to destroy the People’s President, Nelson Chamisa.
Specifically, there is a certain perception in the MDC Alliance that we are giving too much favorable coverage to MDC-T, Thokozani Khuphe and Khaliphani Phugeni.
I want to start by saying, I am very proud of the coverage that we have given to a number of specific issues over the past 2 months.
– Event leading to the Supreme court ruling
– The take-over of Thokozani Khuphe at the MDC and its impliacations
– The recall of the MDC Alliance MPs
– The lockdown and associated issues
– The fighting in Cabo Del Gado in Mozambique
– The Abduction of Joanna Mamombe, Cecilia Chimbiri and Netsai Marova
However, there has been some contentiojus issues we covered that included: – Naming of Mary Ndoro as a CIO agent by Tinashe Jonas
– Auxillia Mnangagwa Accident and
– Defection of Lynette Karenyi Kore to MDC-T
I am pleased that Gambakwe Media is providing a balanced platform for discussion on various issues that would otherwise would never have been covered by the mainstream media.
We are however, operating in a difficult environment, with limited resources and we would have wanted to do more.
Online media platforms are becoming more important in Zimbabwe and they will help to shape the future of our country. I look forward to the day when I will walk in first street to my office without the fear of disappearing or being harmed.
We are constantly facing threats of lawsuits and accusations of being paid off or being partisan or fake news, but the truth is that we are doing our best under very difficult circumstances.
When it comes to Chamisa, there is no one in Zimbabwe who has given more coverage to him than myself. In January 2018, I started to give Chamisa coverage when our analytics revealed that he was now more popular than Morgan Tsvangrai.
However, there is a new culture of intolerance that is starting to grow in the MDC Alliance, which the leadership is not addressing.
The culture of labelling opponents and name calling is taking root in the MDC. However, the biggest threat to the party is the rise of people around Chamisa who dont understand the necessary pillars of democracy such as a free press.
It is possible that in the future, when the MDC Alliance comes into office, we may end up with an similar instututions as the ones we have under ZBC.
In conclusion, I would like to say while we all love the MDC and Chamisa, we need to be careful to avoid creating a system that will not bring any real change in Zimbabwe. This is the reason why I continue to give coverage to as many people as possible, including people who have not had coverage before, like Thokozani Khupe.
