EX-Bulawayo Deputy Mayor Demands US$500 000 From MRP Over "Shona Vulture" Statement
Former Bulawayo deputy mayor Tinashe Kambarami has written to the Mthwakazi Republic Party (MRP) demanding US$500 000 compensation, an apology and a retraction of a “defamatory” statement.
Kambarami accuses MRP of describing him as a “Shona vulture” which had brought Bulawayo to its knees.
Through his lawyers, Masamvu and Da Silva-Gustavo, Kambarami who was recently reinstated as ward 3 councillor after the courts ruled in his favour, wrote a letter dated August 24, stating that he was aggrieved by the messages that MRP circulated on August 21, on its Facebook page. Read the letter seen by NewsDay Zimbabwe:
On Sunday August 21, 2022, through your Facebook page styled ‘Mthwakazi Republic Party — MRP Network — Information, you falsely and unlawfully accused our client in a widely published post of, inter alia, conniving with the chamber secretary for the City of Bulawayo to bring Bulawayo to its knees.
In the context of the post, this defamatory allegation was exacerbated by the shocking insinuation that our client is a “Shona vulture” and is a conduit of the Shona 1979 grand plan and the code xxx by Citizens Coalition for Change which outlines measures to Shonalise Bulawayo’
HOT DEALS:
itel A70 - (128GB, 3GB RAM) $89,
itel A70 - (256GB, 4GB RAM) $99
itel P40 (128GB, 4GB), (6000mAh) $99
itel P40 (64GB, 4G), (6000mAh) $93
Cash on Delivery in Harare & Bulawayo. Tinotumira kwamuri inosvika.WhatsApp: 0783 450 793
The allegations are also, to your knowledge, false. Your false publication is compounded by the fact that through releasing it on a public platform, you knew full well that the contents thereof would be widely read and/or shared given our client’s high public profile.
Please ensure that this written undertaking is received by us within 24 hours of your receiving this letter; failing which our client reserves the right to acquaint yourselves with the diverse legal proceedings.
While a public apology and retraction will go some way towards ameliorating the hurt and the assault on our client’s reputation and his dignity, our client also requires financial compensation in the form of damages. To this end, our instructions are to demand from you, as we hereby do, payment of the sum of US$500 000 within ten (10) days of your receipt of this letter. Should this sum not be paid within the time prescribed, we have instructions to institute legal proceedings against you without further notice to you, except as required by law.
The lawyers noted that the allegations were defamatory, hurtful, and deliberately intended to humiliate Kambarami as well as tarnish and undermine his reputation.
Kambarami notes that MRP’s statement was shared on various Facebook, Twitter and WhatsApp pages with over 500 platforms, which warrants an immediate apology and retraction.
MRP leader Mqondisi Moyo told NewsDay Zimbabwe that Kambarami and other “Shonas in Bulawayo are beneficiaries of the 1979 Shona grand plan and code xxx and they are the conduits.”
