No equality

Zimbabwe: Mnangagwa’s alleged rape cases shine light on treatment of women in politics

By Farai Shawn Matiashe

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Posted on August 17, 2022 13:11

 © Zimbabwe’s President Emmerson Mnangagwa speaks in a pre-recorded message that was played during the U.N. General Assembly, Sustainable Development Goals, at UN headquarters, in New York, Monday, Sept. 20, 2021. (UNTV via AP)
Zimbabwe’s President Emmerson Mnangagwa speaks in a pre-recorded message that was played during the U.N. General Assembly, Sustainable Development Goals, at UN headquarters, in New York, Monday, Sept. 20, 2021. (UNTV via AP)

A young woman living in Australia, Susan Mutami, took to a four-hour Twitter Space in July to reveal how she was allegedly raped by Zimbabwe’s President Emmerson Mnangagwa at a young age in Kwekwe, 215km from the capital of Harare, back in the 2000s. Oppositionists and activists say his government is not doing enough on equality and the protection of women’s rights.

Mutami, who further claimed that she was sexually abused by several other politicians, including former state security minister Owen Ncube, former foreign affairs minister Sibusiso Moyo and mines deputy minister Polite Kambamura, has since filed a police report with the Australian police.

Presidential spokesperson George Charamba has since refused to speak on these rape allegations against Mnangagwa and his cabinet ministers.

“The rape allegations are highly unlikely to have any material impact on Mnangagwa’s ambition to be re-confirmed as president of the Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front at the October congress and to contest for a second term as the president of the country at next year’s election,” Eldred Masunungure, a political analyst tells The Africa Report.

“He also does not seem bothered at all by the explosive allegations. For him, it is business as usual,”

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