Zimbabwe: Zanu-PF Factionalism - Suspected State Agents Abduct Mnangagwa Critics' 73-Year-Old Mother, Dump Her Along Highway

Suspended Zanu PF member Godwin Gomwe's 73-year-old mother was on Friday night abducted and dumped in Norton, NewZimbabwe.com has learnt.

According to Gomwe, his mother was dragged into a Toyota GD6 without number plates, by six suspected State security agents who were looking for his brother, Gifford, at around 8pm.

Gifford, just like his elder brother Godwin, is a vociferous critic of President Emmerson Mnangagwa's plot to extend his rule beyond the constitutionally permissible two five-year terms. Also, Gifford contested in Zanu PF primaries to choose a 2023 candidate for Zvimba West against Justice Minister Ziyambi Ziyambi and incumbent legislator Mercy Maruva-Dinha. Besides expulsion which he resists, Gifford recently had his car and rural house vandalized for his stance.

The suspected Central Intelligence Organisation (CIO) operatives broke down doors, threatened to kill Gomwe's mother and burn down her Budiriro 5 house.

Recorded calls between Gomwe and the abductees indicated that they were taking her to their Zvimba rural home, where they sought to have her point out Gifford's whereabouts.

Gomwe, who was suspended from the ruling party for criticising Mnangagwa and siding with a faction against the party's 2030 Agenda, can be heard in a recorded call begging the abductees to release his mother.

She had neither eaten nor taken her medication from the time they forcibly took her from their Budiriro home, according to the audios.

A roadblock pitched at an area known as Carina, along the Harare-Bulawayo highway, became a stumbling block for the abductees who felt they could get in trouble with police officers manning the checkpoint.

As a result, the suspected State agents pushed out the senior from the vehicle a few metres from a Norton roadblock, made a U-turn towards Harare and disappeared. Gomwe's mother then approached police officers manning the block for assistance.

"These six men were instructing my mother to share information about Gifford's whereabouts but did not tell her why they wanted him," read a statement by Gomwe after she was eventually found.

"After she was dumped, she walked about 50 metres to the Carina roadblock where I got a call from the Sergeant heading the block to come pick her up."

An abduction and unlawful entry report has been filed at Budiriro Police Station under RRB number 6414038.

Gomwe and nine other party members, who were suspended for challenging a faction in favour of keeping Mnangagwa in power beyond the constitutionally mandated 2028, are yet to be reintegrated.

Read the original article on New Zimbabwe.