By Brighton Mutebuka
This account is derived from the clarification that I sought from Chamisa in light of the huge controversy generated by Jealousy Mawarire’s alleged leaked audio & pictures. This is a rebuttal being published in the public interest.
Background to the leaked call
I must make it clear that from the beginning, Nelson Chamisa was reluctant to get himself drawn into the gutter politics of commenting on failed sting ops by those he considers proxies of the regime desperate to engineer his exit from the Zimbabwean political scene.
His position is that sometime in July 2021, Zimbabwe’s multi-awarding Journalist Hopewell Chin’ono created the impression that he had long ceased to support ED’s so-called “First Dispensation,” which had become thoroughly discredited by that time as it’s mask / veneer of being reformist & a break from Mugabeism continued to slip.
He endeared himself to Nelson Chamisa, Zimbabwe’s biggest opposition leader through refashioning himself as now being one of the regime’s fiercest critics primed to render his assistance to help topple the regime.
Introducing Ben Muneri Into The Equation
According to Chamisa, on several occasions, Hopewell consistently pushed him to meet a young, dynamic, upcoming & apparent self made businessman called Ben Muneri.
Chamisa did not agree to that meeting straight away. He stalled, but Hopewell was undeterred, throwing in a sweetener by claiming that this young man was a committed supporter of his movement and had shown an interest in supporting party activities – and had the kind of profile his party should be attracting.
In the end, Chamisa reluctantly acceded to Hopewell’s persistence, and the meeting took place at Hopewell’s house in Chisipite, in Harare.
At that meeting, there were only 3 people. Hopewell, Ben & Chamisa. The picture with Chamisa in it was taken by Hopewell, and the one with Hopewell’s dogs Shabba & Buju was taken by Chamisa.
The appeared to unfold very well from Chamisa’s perspective, as Ben seemed to be polite, personable & very open to developing ties further. This was then followed by regular phone calls, updates & the deepening of ties.
Introducing The Leaked Phone Call
To disarm Chamisa, Ben started presenting himself as not only a self made man, but one who was very well connected.
In one of the now regular phone calls between them, Ben purported to have been approached with a message from ED wanting to explore whether Chamisa was open to lowering the political temperature in the country.
Throughout that phone call, Chamisa was relaxed, spoke openly, positively & with intent – keeping all his options on the table while also trying to have a read on the pulse of what was being relayed.
Nothing turns on the colloquial speaking style he displayed. It is cultural, respectful, inviting & harmless banter that is a hallmark of his engagement.
What is clear is that he did not want ED to feel rebuffed – which would then have potentially triggered political tensions in the country as ED was clearly uneasy & felt blindsided about Chamisa’s next steps.
That is really what it is, a storm in a teacup which has been sensationally weaponised by Jealousy Mawarire in a coordinated political operation meant to demoralise Chamisa’s political base by continuing to cast him as having been corrupted by the regime to acquiesce to CAB3 / Agenda 2030.
Chamisa is not naive. He knows that the audio has been weaponised to cause maximum political damage.
He is confident that his base will see this for what it is – a desperate sting op by the regime & it’s acolytes pursuant to decimating his nascent political Ark in progress.
Connecting The Dots – Does Hopewell Incriminate Himself In The “Sting?”
At some point, it later emerged that Ben actually had extensive ties with the First Lady & that Hopewell had always known but withheld this from Chamisa – it now turns out strategically so.
By then, Ben had started to have access to other party officials like Ostallos and even supported a few party initiatives perhaps via his “Hot Plate” establishment.
There was then the alleged infamous State House meeting which Hopewell attended and was hosted by ED, the First Lady & perhaps George Charamba, amongst others.
Hopewell relayed back to Chamisa that nothing of note had taken place. However, Ben’s account as relayed to Chamisa paint a completely different picture.
Ben alleged that Hopewell had stunned ED, the First Lady & even Charamba by demanding the Harare’s Mayoral Office as his compensation for his “services,” whatever those were.
He allegedly proposed that ED could facilitate this via Douglas Mwonzora’s outfit, which was then infamously roped in under the guise of “rational disputation.” He was allegedly going to run as an independent & undertook to “clean Harare’s mess!”
The proposal was apparently given short shrift & Hopewell was ghosted until his ambitions had died a natural death.
As Hopewell has now confirmed via Jealousy Mawarire, who himself is a shadowy character with alleged long running ties to FAZ in recent times & the Zim intelligence fraternity for a long time, that he has got a close relationship with the First Lady, also an ex-operative, (they never really retire), the spotlight is now on him & his character beyond this incident.
It is clear that Chamisa’s confidence was betrayed profoundly & there was a clear breach of trust, with the urge to conclude that espionage activities took place irresistible.
The cumulative effect of the choreographed invitation & introduction to Ben at his house, the staged pictures, the lengthy & strategic retention of those pictures for nearly 5 years, the concealment of the deep ties to the First Family, the retrieval of those images & sudden deployment in combination with the audio bears the classic tell tale signs of a counter intel sting op.
Hopewell’s alleged ties with the First Family have been laid bare, together with his clear collaboration with Jealousy Mawarire of the choreographed 2013 court case charade which brought down the GNU government & forced through elections without any reforms having been implemented, which, as fate would have it, accelerated Robert Mugabe’s demise.
With this alleged disclosure, it is no longer possible for Hopewell to maintain the charade that he is a credible regime opponent.
This necessarily invites a re-examination of all his activities, not only from that period in question, but before as well.
The fact that it would reasonably appear that Hopewell was perfectly at ease to “laundering” the weaponised “material” & allowing Jealousy to exploit it by falsely claiming that the Audio was recent & stunning evidence of Chamisa conspiring to betray millions of Zimbabweans who believe in him is quite damning. There is no comeback from this.
What’s significant is that during this period, Hopewell effectively became “embedded” in CCC, and had unrestricted access to the entire party leadership, was very active in fund raising and sensitive electoral processes & strategies, including “map polling.”
If, as appears, he was an infiltrator or the regime’s proxy, it means that he would have been able to relay, in real time sensitive elections related challenges, including areas where there was a shortage of Polling Agents & shared this with his alleged handlers.
This also has to be examined in light of the alleged close relationship with ZEC Chairperson, Priscilla Chigumba – with his quickness in attributing the “loss” to the absence of Polling Agents & V11s & urging the opposition to “move on” also coming under microscopic scrutiny.
It will be remembered that while he claimed to be supporting CCC at this crucial time, he regularly fiercely criticised it in the name of democratic accountability, including Nelson Chamisa, while appearing to foment trouble between Chamisa & Biti through using his huge X account effectively as the latter’s mouthpiece.
There is also a similar script deserving of re-examination – how he also appeared to actively drive a wedge between Job Sikhala while he was in prison, through leading fund raising efforts while publicly accusing Nelson Chamisa & CCC of neglecting him & his family. That clearly alienated Sikhala from the CCC base, which is unfortunate.
The whole CCC implosion, the Tshabangu saga, which led to ED engineering a two thirds majority via captured MPs, weaponised claims of bribery by ED & alleged financial impropriety all need revisiting.
His own claims of being viscerally opposed to Agenda 2030 also warrant forensic examination, as is the nature of his relationship with Jealousy Mawarire & Ali Naka / Victor, the Russian sponsored Troll Merchant with deep ties to the several intelligence agencies.
In the end, there is no place to hide for him. He will have to account to our people.
It is inevitable that many will conclude that the alleged behaviour is not only dangerous, but it is consistent with what is expected from a political merchant prepared to sell his soul to the highest bidder, a person devoid of a conscience, integrity and humanity, with callousness the dominant currency – and virtually everything and everyone expendable!
If true, how cold & calculating would one have to be – to constantly fiercely criticise Chamisa while in the background one is clandestinely & surreptitiously undercutting him through working in aid of a ruthless regime to make it even more powerful, in an environment where the disparity in their respective arsenal is incomparable!
Given how damning the evidence appears to be, it would appear that the inescapable conclusion is that Hopewell played a crucial role from the very beginning, to set up Chamisa for an almighty fall, for the ultimate benefit of propelling the very Agenda 2030 that he has been pontificating about ad nauseum!
Lessons From This Debacle
@nelsonchamisa
has to prioritise establishing a formidable, exceptionally thorough, professional vetting & intelligence unit to restrict access, weigh risks to infiltration & reputational harm, identify potential threats & neutralising them putatively.
A thorough security review & assessment should be made – through a credible instrument, of Hopewell Chin’ono’s role in CCC’s implosion, his ties / tentacles & in the Tshabangu saga. Any recommendations that emerge from this should be implemented swiftly.
It goes without saying that this is not a good look & some in his base will feel let down & disaffected. Given this development, it is important to rally the base & reassure them that lessons have been learnt going forward.
If there is any silver lining, it is that this is 5 years old, so it is effectively stale, recycled propaganda that is being weaponised to try & bring him down. The relationship with Hopewell is long dead, and so is CCC.
The potential blindside involves lingering plants still within the ranks of the new movement, party officials who still retain links or ties in spite of the existential concerns cited above.
Another potential area of ongoing concern revolves around how to effectively deal with the menace of digitals breaches of security / privacy via clandestine recordings.
In this context, the deployment of technology through using secure devices with bar unapproved recording of conversations is crucial!
The worst that can happen is failing to learn the harsh lessons arising from this incident. Outside of this, this will be seen for what it is, a desperate ongoing attempt to disembowel Nelson Chamisa’s rebuilding work which has failed spectacularly.
This will blow over in the next few days, and parity will be restored, but it should never be allowed to happen again! Ultimately, all parties encounter challenges, what matters is how they are dealt with moving forward!
There is clearly no explicit reference to Agenda 2030 content in the audio – which is obviously heavily edited, as it is 5 years old. It’s general exploratory chitty chatter – with the script being an amateurish version of Ari Ben Menashe’s infamous saga!
The best response that
@nelsonchamisa
and his movement can muster is returning to the people & marching forward with the task at hand, not only opposing Agenda 2030 but also reconnecting with the base & reinvigorating the ongoing struggle for a genuine & all encompassing democratic transition!
Desperate political gimmicks are best ignored! One last thing – had Chamisa been as corrupt as they had been alleging, there can be no doubt that we would have been recipients of sensational video footage by now, all surreptitiously recorded, of him receiving the corrupt loot! Now that is something worth acknowledging in our “zvigananda” riddled society!
11:26 PM · Mar 29, 2026
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