Prominent Harare-based legal practitioners have issued urgent demands for retractions and apologies from social media commentator Reason Wafawarova following a series of posts alleging the existence of a US$20 million “Matebeleland cabal” linked to Zimbabwe’s constitutional reform agenda.
Two separate law firms, Dube, Manikai & Hwacha (DMH Legal) and Mtetwa & Nyambirai, have written to Wafawarova on behalf of their respective clients, accusing him of publishing false and defamatory claims on social media platform X.
DMH Legal, acting for senior partner Canaan Dube, dismissed the allegations as “false, malicious and grossly defamatory.”
The firm said Wafawarova falsely claimed that Dube, alongside constitutional law expert Professor Jonathan Moyo and Advocate Thabani Mpofu, had received US$20 million to “sanitize” a presidential term extension agenda.
The lawyers further accused Wafawarova of misrepresenting Dube’s background by linking him to Matabeleland, describing the claim as both false and calculated to damage his reputation.
In a letter dated April 1, 2026, DMH Legal demanded that Wafawarova immediately retract the statements, delete the offending posts, and publish a retraction on the same platform within 48 hours, warning that failure to comply would result in legal action.
A second letter, dated April 2, 2026, from Mtetwa & Nyambirai, acting on behalf of Advocate Thabani Mpofu, raises similar complaints.
The firm said Wafawarova escalated the allegations by claiming Mpofu had been hired by Dube to produce a legal strategy paper outlining how presidential term limits could be altered without a referendum.
According to the letter, Wafawarova alleged that Mpofu was part of a US$20 million scheme involving multiple actors tasked with advancing the purported agenda through Parliament.
Mtetwa & Nyambirai described the claims as baseless, defamatory, and harmful, arguing they portray Mpofu as a corrupt and unethical legal practitioner willing to subvert the Constitution for financial gain.
The firm said the posts had exposed their client to public ridicule and damaged both his professional and personal reputation, including casting doubt on his integrity and principles.
“Your posts were intended to characterize, and were understood to mean that our client is a charlatan who is prepared to subvert the supreme law of the land for tainted monetary gain,” the lawyers stated.
“Your posts clearly conveyed to every reasonable reader that our client is not a worthy professional in that he is greedy, is motivated by money as opposed to principle and honesty, teamed up with other allegedly similarly afflicted persons to subvert the Constitution of Zimbabwe for financial gain, is a hypocrite who does not walk his public talk and is unworthy of public trust as a professional.”
The lawyers have given Wafawarova 24 hours to retract the statements, issue a full and unreserved apology, and confirm compliance, failing which legal proceedings may follow.
The controversy comes amid heightened public debate over constitutional amendments and allegations of efforts to extend presidential term limits beyond 2028, an issue that has drawn sharp political and legal scrutiny.
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