BY OBEY MANAYITI
CONTROVERSIAL street pastor Talent Chiwenga, who was involved in a fatal road traffic accident in Masvingo on Wednesday, yesterday claimed the incident was planned by suspected State Security agents plotting to kill him.
Chiwenga, who rose to fame for his scathing attacks on President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s government, lost his wife and a church member in the accident near Chatsworth while on his way to Harare.
In a video clip shot from his hospital bed that went viral on social media yesterday, Chiwenga dared his pursuers, claiming he was not afraid of dying for the cause he was pursuing.
He also chronicled a spat of suspicious incidences just before the accident, leading him to conclude that the accident was not normal.
“I can assure you that this was not an ordinary accident,” he said, adding that the first suspicion was when a Zimbabwe Revenue Authority official took his passport ostensibly to inform some people that he was coming back from South Africa after lying that the scanner was not working.
Chiwenga said three cars, among them an unlicensed Toyota Avensis, were trailing him in Masvingo and they all came to the service station just to monitor his movements, raising further questions about the accident.
Chiwenga said while driving from Masvingo another vehicle encroached into his lane probably to cause a head-on collision, but he avoided the vehicle, leading him into losing control of it.
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He said at one point, he wrote to Mnangagwa advising him about people who were trailing him.
“I wrote a letter two weeks ago on May 27 to President Mnangagwa, to tell him that some people were chasing after me, they were stalking me and they were harassing me,” the cleric said.
“We received calls from certain members of the CIO [Central Intelligence Organisation] and another member of the military intelligence unit of the Zimbabwe National Army. They warned me that there were people after my life. Some of them even suggested that I should run away from the country.
“So the accident that happened was not a normal accident. The men wanted us to be involved in an accident.”
Chiwenga said he probably survived further attacks or shooting because his assailants thought he was dead.
He, however, said he was not afraid and if he survives, he would continue with his mission.
