Mnangagwa spokesman suspended from Twitter after threatening observers

President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s spokesman George Charamba has been suspended from Twitter after “a tirade of insults and threats against election observes” who have criticised the conduct of elections in Zimbabwe.

Journalist Hopewell Chin’ono confirmed the development on his Twitter handle.

After insulting and threatening Election Observers on his X (Twitter) handle @Tinoedzazvimwe1, President Mnangagwa’s spokesperson George Charamba’s X (twitter) handle has been suspended by X (twitter).

After insulting and threatening Election Observers on his X (Twitter) handle @Tinoedzazvimwe1, President Mnangagwa’s spokesperson George Charamba’s X (twitter) handle has been suspended by X (twitter). pic.twitter.com/eFoDZ02Rgr

— Hopewell Chin’ono (@daddyhope) August 25, 2023

The African Union (AU), Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) and Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) elections observer missions have discredited Zimbabwe’s ongoing elections citing that the plebiscite “fell short of the requirements of the Constitution of Zimbabwe.”

The observer mission, through Nevers Mumba as SADC Elections Observer Head, issued a bold preliminary preliminary report on Friday morning in Harare accusing the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) of breaching the Constitution through through a controversial delimitation exercise and failure to be transparent about the voters’ roll among other concerns.

The mission, however, admitted that the electoral environment is still calm and peaceful.

“The mission observed that the pre-election and voting phases of the 23-24 Aug harmonised election were peaceful and calm. However, the mission noted that some aspects of the harmonised elections fell short of the requirements of the Constitution of Zimbabwe, the Electoral Act and SADC principles governing democratic elections,” Mumba said.

SADC noted that the delimitation was a flawed and unconstitutionally executed process, ZEC failed ro release the Voters Roll on time for candidates to audit, and the fee charged for the voters’ roll was restrictive to candidates.