Harare East legislator Tendai Biti has accused the government of committing espionage against former Vice President Kembo Mohadi who resigned recently out of shame.
Speaking in the National Assembly, Biti said there needs to be a policy that protect private citizens from state interference of private communication.
“What happens if the State itself is committing espionage against private citizens and I refer to the recent incident where the entire private communication of the Vice President of a country was interfered with against the laws of the country and then used?
“What happens when the state is the rogue element and is committing that espionage? What protection do members of the public and Executive have?”, queried Biti.
Biti’s comments followed claims by Gokwe-Chireya legislator Torerayi Moyo who had said something needed to be done to individuals who were committing espionage and cyber espionage, through a tendency of sending political, military secrets and national intelligence to other countries,
The Zimbabwean government stands accused of using CIO intelligence to hack Mohadi’s phone and selling the information to news agencies in a bid to force him out of the Presidium.
In a statement following his resignation, Mohadi indicated that he was a victim voice cloning by his political enemies who were seeking to blackmail him into resigning.
“Despite the noise in digital media ecologies, I wish to clearly state that I am innocent and a victim of political machinations being peddled through hacking and voice cloning…
“I 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,” he said.
Mohadi became the first Vice President in the history of independent Zimbabwe to resign from office.
He also became the second person from Zapu to leave the office of Vice President while still alive. The other one is Phelekezela Mphoko.
