Youths aligned to President Emmerson Mnangagwa descended on Gaika Mine in Kwekwe with machetes demanding that people vacate the mine and let Zanu PF legislator for Mbizo Vongaishe Mupereri take over.
A number of people have been hospitalized with major injuries. Mupereri is an ally of Mnangagwa and has been on a rampaging spree in the midlands province. He enjoys the protection of the president and he does not hide it.
The mine grab has gone ahead even after the High Court has ordered the Ministry of Mines to stop granting mining rights to a Zanu PF legislator. Justice Nicholas Mathonsi also ordered the police to conduct investigations at Gaika Mine. This came after Carel Hendrick Meyer, the manager at Gaika Mine, approached the courts seeking an interdict on the illegal activities that violated property rights. The foiled violent takeover of the mine resulted in the death of a passer-by. Meyer in his affidavit averred that during the late afternoon of March 2, 2018, a violent altercation broke out between unlawful occupiers of the Gaika pit.
The youths descended on the mine and started chopping people with machetes and throwing explosives into the pits. Those injured are believed to have been hospitalized at Kwekwe hospital.
It is election season in Zimbabwe and it is known that Kwekwe is one of the hotbeds of violence. Kwekwe is the constituency that Mnangagwa contested and lost to Blessing Chebundo. He used thugs to intimidate people a trend that he has kept even today.
IT IS THINGS LIKE THESE WHICH SHOW OUR CURRENT ADMINISTRATION HAS FOCUS IN WRONG PLACES AND SEEMINGLY SMALL ISSUES LIKE THIS ARE AMPLIFIED IN THE “GENUINE” INVESTOR SPHERE WHEN IT COMES TO US ZIMBABWEANS TRYING TO ATTRACT INVESTORS ONTO OUR PRIVATE LIMITED BUSINESSES. THERE IS NOTHING THAT SCARES AWAY INVESTORS MORE THAN BLANTANT DISREGARD OF COURT ORDERS…IT ESSENTIALLY MEANS ONCE THINGS GO WRONG IN THEIR INVESTMENTS..THERE IS NO RECOURSE. POLICE ARE CULPRITS TO COLD FEET TO EXERCUTE AND ENFORCE ORDERS.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VYKhzY6tyuw