Police says a dozen National Youth Service graduates were “persons of interest” after they appeared in a viral video calling for the fall of President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s government, amid rising tensions ahead of protests called for October 17 by war veteran Blessed Bombshell Geza.
In a statement on Tuesday, national police spokesperson Commissioner Paul Nyathi said:
“Reference is made to a video that has gone viral on social media platforms, in which some members of the Zimbabwe National Youth Service Graduates Association are engaged in an unsanctioned gathering. These members are persons of interest.”
The warning comes as Geza a former Zanu PF central committee member and vocal critic of Mnangagwa has urged citizens to join what he calls the “Million Citizens March for Zimbabwe’s Future” on Friday.
The protest call has cast a shadow over Zanu PF’s annual conference in Mutare, which runs from October 13 to 18.
In the video which has gone viral the spokesperson for the Zimbabwe Youths Service Graduates flanked by nine others, some wearing uniform said the 2017 military coup was meant to “restore the dignity of black people, fight corruption and stop those abusing President Robert Mugabe’s powers for personal gain.”
“Now to our horror, the conditions that led to the military’s 2017 Operation Restore Legacy have returned twenty-fold. As trained graduates of the youth service, we call upon Zimbabweans to join us in fighting corruption,” the speaker declared.
“We are encouraged that the vice president (Constantino Chiwenga) has called for the arrest of these corrupt individuals. We are giving law enforcement 24 hours to act. If it fails, we will go into the streets — all Zimbabweans must reaffirm that Zimbabwe does not belong to one person but to all of us”, he added.
