ED ally in coup plot storm

PRESIDENT Emmerson Mnangagwa’s Belarusian business broker Alexander Zingman has said his arrest in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) last month was triggered by “false security reports” that he had flown to the central African country to plot a coup against President Félix Antoine Tshisekedi’s government.

Zingman, an alleged arms dealer whom the Zanu PF leader appointed Zimbabwe’s honorary consul to Belarus in 2019, flew to Harare soon after his release yesterday, where he told journalists that his DRC trip and private meetings with former President Joseph Kabila in Zambia before flying to Lubumbashi were purely for business.

He was arrested and detained for 12 days together with his business partners Paulo Persico and DRC national Moisi Kapende.

This story is for NewsDay subscribers.