Thomas Mapfumo has appealed to the international community to intervene in Zimbabwe and stop the country from sliding into a one party-state under President Emmerson Mnangagwa.
In a letter addressed to the US Congressional Black Caucus, African Union, Amnesty International, US States Department, European Union, United Nations, SADC, Black Lives Matter, and the ANC of South Africa, the United States-based Chimurenga musician claimed that corruption has become entrenched under the so-called New Dispensation.
He accused Mnangagwa’s family members and close friends including Cabinet members of milking the country’s coffers and parcelling national assets to the Chinese. Said Mapfumo:
It’s even more aggravating because his family members and close friends including Cabinet members are at the front of most of the corruption scandals that are milking the national coffers.
The President is breeding more corruption due to government lack of inertia to implement measures to criminalise corruption and have culprits processed through the criminal justice system.
The President has openly failed to condemn corruption because his hand is in most of the scandals so he finds it hard to condemn because his hands are tied.
Mapfumo also bemoaned what he considers the use of the legal system to punish critics, with some individuals languishing in jail without proper trial.
He implored the international community to use diplomatic pressure on Zimbabwe to force the government to avert a developing crisis in the country. Said Mapfumo:
It has also become clear that President Mnangagwa plans to have a one-party state in Zimbabwe.
He has invested in a number of mechanisms to harass members of the opposition, to infiltrate them using state resources and to disempower and intimidate them.
Free speech is now out of reach as many live in fear of being followed or abducted in the open.
It is a very dangerous environment now if one tries to belong or to identify with the opposition.