Chronicle Editor
Chronicle Reporter
A GARAGE owner in Mutare is in trouble with authorities after it emerged that they have been using the facility as an illegal meeting point for the opposition Citizens Coalition for Change.
The garage, Mupota haulage and tippers Tameside Cl, is located in the Nyakamete Industrial Sites in Mutare.
According to sources, the garage had since become the unofficial headquarters for the party in the province with the holding of a number of illegal meetings being held, this leading to complaints from neighbouring businesses who had since reported it to authorities.
“When authorities raided the garage, they found a lot of campaign material belonging to the CCC, these ranging from t-shirts, fliers and posters all which were destined to be distributed in the province.
“Police arrested the son of the owner of the garage, Archiebold Mupota for holding the unsanctioned meetings without police clearance and also inciting public violence among other charges,” said the source.
Investigations by this publication however revealed that the garage owner, Ellah Zhanera had actually rented out the facility to a consortium which was linked to the CCC and hence had nothing with convening the unsanctioned meetings.
“The truth of the matter is that Ellah Zhanera, inherited the facility from her husband. Since she was now 56-years-old she felt she could not operate the facility and hence rented it out to this consortium.
“It is this consortium which was involved with the CCC not her. Now her son was arrested in November 2022 for doing nothing and she is likely also going to be arrested but all she did was rent out the facility and they are not even involved with the opposition,” said the source who declined to be named.
It is further alleged that Zhanera had at one point been abducted by people suspected to be aligned with the ruling Zanu-PF party where she was tortured and forced to revealed the distribution points of the CCC material.
“During the torture she was accused of knowing the printing points of these materials but truth of the matter is she was not aware of anything, she was also sexually assaulted but she could not reveal anything because all she did was rent out the facility,” said the source.
The source further revealed that after her initial arrest authorities kept on threatening and extorting her for running CCC operations.
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