FORMER Zanu PF activist Sybeth Musengezi, who challenged President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s ascent to power in court, says he has been visited by “strange” individuals at his home.
Musengezi filed a legal challenge in October 2021 against the Zanu PF central committee’s processes that led to Mnangagwa assuming the party leadership following the ousting of the late former president Robert Mugabe in a November 2017 military coup.
He argued that the processes and resolutions of the November 19, 2017, central committee meeting, which resulted in Mnangagwa’s appointment as acting president, were unlawful, null and void.
The case is still pending in court.
Musengezi claims that a group of armed men, identifying themselves as police officers from the Criminal Investigation Department (CID), stormed his house last Friday demanding to see him, but he was not at home.
He said when he spoke to one of the men over the phone, they did not disclose the purpose of the interview.
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Musengezi’s lawyers, Ncube Attorneys, wrote a letter to the police inquiring about the nature of the visit.
The letter, dated August 5, 2024, and addressed to the CID Harare Central officer in charge, was seen by the Zimbabwe Independent.
The lawyers stated they were ready to meet with the police along with their client on August 23, 2024.
“We continue to represent Sybeth Musengezi,” part of the letter reads. “Our client has advised us through a telephone conversation that on Friday 02 August 2024 at around midday, a group of armed men who identified themselves as CID Law and Order personnel visited his house demanding to see him.
“Fortunately, our client was out of Harare, but he was called on the phone from his house and spoke to one of the men who identified himself as officer Mangani, who said they had a message for my client and also wanted to interview him.”
The letter further reads: “We are instructed to enquire whether your office is the one looking for our client. If so we intend to accompany our client to your offices for such a meeting. We are able to arrange for such a meeting on 23rd August 2024 at 15:30 hours.”
Lawyer Nqobani Sithole told the Independent in an interview that they had written to the police to confirm if indeed the men who visited Musengezi’s house were police officers.
“We are not sure if indeed the men who went to our client’s house were police officers so we wrote to the police inquiring,” Sithole said.
“We have not yet received a response from the police. If they are police officers, we are ready to make our client available for the interview.”