CIO quiz MP over Facebook post

By The NewsDay | Feb. 14, 2013 | 2 Min read

CHIREDZI — MDC-T’S Zaka West MP Festus Dumbu yesterday claimed that he was summoned to the Central Intelligence Offices in Chiredzi on Tuesday and interrogated over an alleged anti-Zanu PF Facebook post on his wall.

Dumbu told NewsDay he was only released after a three-hour grilling by four female CIO officials.

He, however, denied posting the message which read “Mabasa eZanu neCIO”, saying it was posted on his wall by a fellow MDC-T supporter whose identity he could not disclose. The message, according to Dumbu, was posted by one of his followers on his wall in response to inquiries over flyers which were distributed in the town on the eve of MDC-T youth leader Solomon Madzore’s rally at Tshovani Stadium.

Several MDC-T supporters posted messages on the MP’s Facebook wall denouncing the flyers as offensive, Dumbu said.

The alleged offensive flyers read: “Red card to (Morgan) Tsvangirai, (Tendai) Biti for president, Themba for MP.”

The party members suspect the flyers were distributed by CIO operatives and Zanu PF activists to cause animosity between the MDC-T leader and his secretary-general. “I was called to answer over the message on my Facebook wall. I spent three hours there, but I tell you, it was like five years,” Dumbu said.

“That place is horrible. I told them that it is not me who posted the message, but they could not believe me.

“They released me after I stuck to my guns and ordered me to post a retraction.” Dumbu said he was accompanied by his lawyer Amos Hamandishe, personal aide Victor Nyahuma and an MDC-T councillor Stanley Themba.

Keep Reading

“I can confirm that my client was called to the CIO offices,” said Hamandishe. “I accompanied him to the offices, but I was left at the reception when they took him into a private room.

“He was later released after three hours and was instructed to retract the message on his Facebook wall.”