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Blessings Chidakwa in KADOMA
NON-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) that are cooking up figures of people who died during last month’s MDC-Alliance-instigated violence were exposed after a man they claimed to have been shot dead  by security officers appeared before a Kadoma magistrate yesterday.

Tinashe Kaitano (20) was convicted of arson for setting alight a zanu-pf administrative district office here.

Kaitano was convicted together with MDC-Alliance Kadoma District chairperson and Ward 2 Councillor Michael Gore.

Gore incited violence which led to destruction of property.

The Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum and Amnesty International recently released a list of alleged victims of the fatal shooting, including Kaitano of Ward 2.

They claimed Kaitano had been buried at a cemetery in Kadoma.

Inquiries by The Herald with the City of Kadoma Housing and Community Services director Mr Aaron Masembura showed that no one with a similar name had been buried at Rimuka Cemetery after the violence.

“There is no Tinashe Kaitano in our register for Rimuka Cemetery,” he said.

President Mnangagwa has queried the figures being claimed by foreign media houses who feed from the anti-Government NGOs to set an agenda against Zimbabwe on the global stage.

He challenged relatives of those alleged to have been killed by security forces to bring evidence, and the Kadoma revelation pokes holes into the misleading  narrative.

Meanwhile, Kadoma magistrate Mr Tinashe Gwazemba remanded Kaitano and Gore in custody for sentencing tomorrow.

Kaitano and Gore were charged together with businessman Wellington Maketa and Elphigio Mapiriyawo.

Maketa and Mapiriyawo were acquitted after the State failed to prove beyond reasonable doubt that they were involved in the violent protests.

Convicting Kaitano and Gore, Mr Gwazemba said public violence is a crime of serious nature.

He said witnesses who testified in court could not have grudgingly lied against the pair.

Mr Gwazemba said Kaitano was positively identified closing shops in Rimuka, barricading roads and uprooting road signs.

Gore threw stones at the zanu-pf Kadoma district party offices.

Ms Gracious Chaminuka prosecuted.