YOUTH Minister Tino Machakaire has demanded an apology from former Mt Pleasant constituency representative, Fadzayi Mahere, following allegations that she defamed him on her social media handle.
The demand arose after Mahere posted on her X account accusing the minister of being corrupt and deceitful.
In a letter from Machakaire’s legal representatives, Prichard Attorneys, the minister issued Mahere a 24-hour ultimatum to retract her statements and apologise.
“We hereby demand as we are instructed that you comply with the following within 24 hours of receipt of this letter: public apology: You shall issue a sincere, profuse and unconditional public apology to our client, acknowledging the harm caused by your nefarious allegations.
“The apology must be both in print and digital media. For avoidance of doubt, you shall cause an apology to be published in one of the most circulating newspapers in this country and publish the same apology by posting it on your x handle @advocatemahere.
“Retraction: You shall unconditionally and retract the posts you made on your x handle by stating the following: ‘I do hereby retract unconditionally, the posts that I made regards to Honorable Machakaire wherein I tainted him to be corrupt, liar, dishonest and that he uses public funds to acquire luxury vehicles,” the letter reads.
The letter added that the allegations were posted on Mahere’s handle with significance audience of approximately 844 000 followers.
“Your post contains a “quasi-innuendo” or innuendo pointing to the sting of defamation or “sting pointing imputation” as against our client. By saying “we need new leaders” you impute that our client was involved in the USD$ 8 million tax evasion that you referred to and that he was involved in the dropping of charges against certain individuals against some officials.”
“It is difficult to fathom why you would cherry pick our client from the pool of public officials in the country to answer your specious questions. You have already “convicted” our client of the allegations you placed against him despite without even him answering. “