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A member of the newly formed political party in Zimbabwe, Citizens’ Coalition for Change (CCC) is living in fear after receiving several death threats from Zanu PF members.
Simbarashe Chivombo is an active member of the largest opposition party in Zimbabwe, the Citizens Coalition for Change led by Advocate Nelson Chamisa, and is also part of the Citizens Coalition for Change Europe Assembly structures.
Chivombo said his life is in danger after receiving numerous death threats from Zanu PF thugs led by one Godfrey Gomwe.
Currently based in Germany, he said coming back home is risky as the thugs have successfully gathered all the information about him including his place of residence in Glen-View 8, Harare.
One of his key duties as an active member of the Citizens’ Coalition for Change is to manage the CCC Europe Assembly’s social media platforms.
“My role as a member is to manage our social media platforms in the CCC Europe Assembly. We have 6,454 followers on our Twitter, 3600 followers on the Europe Assembly Facebook page and 6500 followers on our CCC Germany Facebook page. I am responsible for creating content for the platforms and moderating the Twitter section. I also post, share and tweet the content.”
He was identified as the person behind the CCC Europe Assembly social media pages after he hosted one of the Twitter spaces that was aimed at promoting democracy and encouraging young people to register to vote.
“Our Twitter Spaces are not recorded for security reasons and usually take place on Friday and Saturday evenings from 7pm to 9pm Zimbabwean time. During Twitter Spaces, we sometimes introduce people with their positions, names, and places they come from. We have a program where we encourage people, especially young people from the community I come from, to register to vote. I believe that the Zanu-Pf people have managed to identify me as the person behind the Twitter handle and relate it to the Zanu-Pf structure (cell group) in my community at Glenview 8,” Chivombo told this publication.
He is passionate about a democratic and progressive Zimbabwe where human rights, the rule of law and equal treatment of all citizens are respected.
And that has caused more problems for him as Zanu PF views any democracy champion as a threat to its existence.
“I received occasional threats during the Twitter spaces, but they weren’t as consistent as they are now. Every time we have a Twitter Space, I get death threats. I never knew these people would be looking for me, but surprisingly, during one of our Twitter Spaces on September 10, they called me by my full first and last name and also mentioned my address in Zimbabwe.
“They said that they know me and that I might be hiding behind the name CCC Europe, but they will find me and deal with me. When I return to Zimbabwe, my life will be in unbearable danger.
“Godwin Simbarashe Gomwe and his youth political thugs are after my life in my neighbourhood in Glenview because of my political affiliation and my active role in educating at-risk young people about the importance of voting and political awareness.”
Millions of citizens of Zimbabwe have left their country for either greener pastures or political reasons.
Journalists, opposition members and human rights activists in Zimbabwe are under threat from the regime in Harare. The majority have either been abducted, tortured, imprisoned and some had been disappeared because they belonged to the opposition or they were advocating for democracy in Zimbabwe.
A documented example is that of Itai Dzamara, a journalist who stood up to Zimbabwe’s authoritarian regime under the late President Robert Mugabe and vanished.
Dzamara was one of the most outspoken critics of Robert Mugabe before his disappearance.
Ironically, Dzamara was taken from a barber-shop near his Glen View home on 9 March 2015, the same neighborhood Chivombo grew up in.
He has not been seen since his abduction.
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