Sex scandal involving Zimbabwe's vice president rocks country
An online publication ZimLive has in recent days published audio recordings of phone conversations it claims are of Mohadi apparently soliciting sex from several women.
Harare
One of Zimbabwe President Emmerson Mnangagwa's deputies engulfed in a raging sex scandal on Thursday refused to resign saying he is a victim of hacking.
Vice-President Kembo Mohadi has been under pressure to step down after voice recordings of him allegedly organising to have sex with four different women, some of them married, surfaced online.
Gender activists petitioned the Zimbabwe Gender Commission to investigate the allegations against Mr Mohadi while the opposition called for his resignation.
"Despite growing impatient because of days of weird character assassination, l wish to categorically state that the allegations being levelled against me are not only false, but well-choreographed to demean, condescend, and soil my image as a national leader and patriot," the VP told journalists in Harare.
"Despite the noise in digital media ecosystems, l wish to clearly state that l am innocent and a victim of political machinations being peddled through hacking and voice cloning."
He added: "lf anything is going to happen, it is going to be the president who is going to determine my future."
Civil society organisations argued claims that one of the women involved in the scandal was Mr Mohadi's security aide raised questions about abuse of office.
"The allegations evidently implicate a culture of abuse of office and power by public officials for sexual advantage," the Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum and Women and Law in Southern Africa- Zimbabwe said in a joint statement.
"A failure to make a public stand and ensure that there is accountability would be to severely undermine the fundamental values and principles that public officials stand upon and that which the public draws on for confidence in its government."
Mr Mohadi was appointed VP three years ago after the coup that toppled long time ruler Robert Mugabe.
Previously, he had served under Mr Mugabe in various security portfolios since the 1990s.
Zimbabwe’s other VP is Retired General Constantino Chiwenga, who led the 2017 coup as then army commander.
