Sybeth Musengezi who filed a High Court case challenging President Emmerson Mnangagwa‘s legitimacy says his life is in danger as he constantly receives death threats over the case.
Musengezi who claims to be a ZANU PF youth member is challenging the ascendancy of President Mnangagwa to the leadership of the party in 2017 following the demise of the late veteran leader Robert Mugabe saying the rise was unconstitutional.
He filed his challenge last year, but Mnangagwa’s lawyers have been pressing him to drop the High Court case while some ZANU PF activists promised to take unspecified action against him.
Musengezi last month filed another urgent High Court application seeking to stop Mnangagwa from calling and presiding over ZANU PF’s elective congress slated for October before the case he brought before the court is finalised.
Sources in the party believe Musengezi is a product of an alleged alliance between former G40 members and Vice-President Constantino Chiwenga in a bid to frustrate Mnangagwa’s bid to contest in 2023 elections, allegations which Musengezi has refuted.
Musengezi told NewsDay on Sunday that death threats escalated ahead of the court sitting on Wednesday this week. He said:
Yes, in recent weeks, I’ve seen a number of unmarked vehicles parked just outside of my yard. Sometimes they park when I’m not there and my colleagues would call me to say there is a vehicle or vehicles without plates parked at home.
I personally confronted those people and they just drive off. I can’t really say I’m safe because I don’t know what these people are up to, but if anything is to happen to me, obviously it is people linked to the case.
I have received threats since I launched the legitimacy application last year, with people trying to intimidate me to withdraw and at one point, was arrested and detained for 10 days on a spurious charge to try and force me to withdraw the matter. So, after realising that threats and detention have failed, they have resorted to intimidation tactics.
He said he would not be shaken by threats since he was doing the right thing for the country.
Musengezi is not only opposed to Mnangagwa’s rise to power, but he also does not want him to contest the 2023 presidential elections saying he is too old, at 80, to lead the southern African country. In a Twitter post seen by Pindula News, he said:
Mnangagwa turned 80 yday (15 September). Some Cdes are saying since he wants 5 more years as ‘president’ let’s give him. This means he’ll finish his 2nd unproductive term when he is 86. For me it’s a big NO Considering our economy, it’s very foolish to let someone this old determine our future
Musengezi’s lawyer Nqobani Sithole of Ncube Attorneys confirmed the death threats which are said to have escalated since September 21, 2022 date,” Sithole said.
Meanwhile, ZANU PF political commissar Mike Bimha claimed not to know who Musengezi was.