Since his arrest on 13 April, Wellington Masiwa has been in prison for illegally entering South Africa and for alleged fraud in Zimbabwe.
Zimbabwean opposition activists believe the South African authorities are colluding with Zimbabwe's ruling Zanu-PF party to extradite a vocal critic of the Zimbabwean government from South Africa to Zimbabwe.
Wellington Masiwa, aka Comrade Nyokayemabhunu, has been detained in the Johannesburg Correctional Centre since he was arrested on 13 April for illegally entering South Africa and for alleged fraud in Zimbabwe.
Before that, he was held and assaulted by unknown men in an unknown place, according to his legal representatives.
When he appeared in the Randburg Magistrates' Court on 30 April on an illegal immigration charge, his lawyers were surprised when an Interpol representative showed up and laid new charges against him based on an extradition request from the Zimbabwean government.
When the representative appeared in court at a later hearing in July, the crowd of opposition Zimbabwean citizens supporting Masiwa grew angry, suspecting new charges were being brought against him.
South Africa's justice minister, Mmamoloko Kubayi, is expected to rule this week on whether Masiwa is extraditable.
The extradition notice from Zimbabwe's deputy prosecutor-general, Nelson Mutsonziwa, certified that Zimbabwe wanted him returned to serve an 18-month sentence for defrauding a fellow Zimbabwean, Prince Kutivo, of $3,660 in a fraudulent property deal in Harare.
"This request is not being pursued for political reasons or any ulterior purpose," Mutsonziwa insisted.
However, there are many anomalies in the case which cast doubt on Mutsonziwa's assurances. For instance, another alleged fraud case against Masiwa has arisen. Masiwa says that he was arrested through a trap set by Zimbabwe's notorious Central Intelligence Organisation and sprung by a fellow Zimbabwean activist, Honest Sibanda.
This appears to be another name for Honest Shumba, who has formally charged Masiwa with cheating him of some R24,000, which he paid Masiwa in Harare in July 2024 for a couch which Masiwa never delivered.
Masiwa flatly denies the deal and says he was in South Africa when the transaction allegedly occurred.
Masiwa's attorney, Yugeshnee Govender, told Daily Maverick the prosecution had been unable to produce bank statements to prove Shumba paid this money into Masiwa's bank account. The Zimbabwean government has not mentioned the Shumba case in its request for extradition.
Masiwa, his lawyers and his opposition comrades believe the Shumba incident was invented to strengthen Zimbabwe's case for his extradition. They believe the real reason the Zimbabwe government wants him home is that he has been a strident critic of President Emmerson Mnangagwa, and particularly of his political manoeuvring to try to secure a third term when his second — and constitutionally, final — term expires in 2028.
Until shortly before his arrest, Masiwa was posting calls on X and other social media, calling on Zimbabweans to join a national shutdown on 31 March to protest at Mnangagwa's suspected plans to bypass or amend the Constitution so as to remain in power.
In an affidavit before the Randburg Magistrates' Court seeking bail — which has so far been denied — Masiwa said that before his arrest he had had a WhatsApp channel called Nyokayemabhunu News.
It had been "an important instrument in protest news in Zimbabwe". Masiwa said he was opposed to the campaign for the extension of Mnangagwa's presidential term, which had come to be known as "2030" by Zanu-PF.
'Illegal subversion'
"The extension is not in terms of the Zimbabwean Constitution," he said, insisting he had only advocated for peaceful means "to stop the illegal subversion of the Zimbabwean Constitution by the ruling party in Zimbabwe, Zanu-PF. It is for this reason that I have been declared an enemy of the state by the Zimbabwean government and Zanu-PF.
"Zanu-PF has called several press conferences to celebrate my arrest in South Africa and have indicated that they would want to charge me with terrorism for illegally attempting to remove a constitutionally elected government … which carries the death penalty."
The Progressive Zimbabwean Foundation, which says it represents numerous progressive forces and pressure groups, issued a statement in August expressing concern that Zimbabwe's request for the extradition of Masiwa was political rather than legal.
"The circumstances surrounding Cde Nyokayemabhunu's arrest and detention raise serious concerns about the separation of politics from the justice system, particularly in a foreign nation like South Africa," said the foundation's General Sithole.
He added that remarks by Zanu-PF's secretary for information and publicity, Chris Mutsvangwa, "further reinforces the notion that this is a political matter".
During a press conference at Zanu-PF headquarters in Harare on 8 May, Mutsvangwa said Zanu-PF was "very happy" that South Africa had taken steps to show that it was not prepared to tolerate Zanu-PF's critics using South Africa as a platform for their criticism.
Mentioning "Nyokayemabhunu" by name, he said, "Some people have got the mistaken idea that you can go and be hosted in South Africa and start shouting bad things about Zimbabwe and talking subversion.
"They have got a new comeuppance by South African laws. They are being told: 'Not here. We are a sister republic to Zimbabwe. We fought with Zanu-PF. We know each other. This is not your home.'"
Mutsvangwa said he hoped the legal action that South Africa was taking against Masiwa "is a signal to others who are spewing hatred and vituperation … about Zanu-PF and our leader that South Africa can't tolerate. It can't be a home for vitriol against Zimbabwe."
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However, South African Police Service Captain Willem van der Heever testified, in a court affidavit responding to Masiwa, that "the conviction in Zimbabwe has nothing to do with the political climate in Zimbabwe".
Van der Heever said he was Interpol's investigating officer in this matter, stationed at the Interpol extradition desk in Pretoria and that he had received Zimbabwe's request for extradition through Interpol and had obtained a warrant for Masiwa's arrest from the Kempton Park Magistrates' Court on the basis of it on 29 April.
Van der Heever cited deputy prosecutor-general Mutsonziwa's certificate stating that Zimbabwe was only seeking Masiwa's extradition to serve an 18-month sentence in the 2016 case for fraud against Kutivo.
Yet in his affidavit Van der Heever also cited Honest Shumba's alleged couch fraud complaint.
Govender told Daily Maverick that Masiwa and his legal team were waiting for Justice Minister Kubayi to decide whether Masiwa's case was extraditable. Govender said she believed the amount of the alleged fraud involved in this case was not great enough to warrant extradition.
Govender said Kubayi's ruling on this might be announced when Masiwa appeared in court again on 10 September. Masiwa said he fled Zimbabwe in 2017, fearing for his safety after being beaten by government agents after Mnangagwa ousted President Robert Mugabe in a coup.
Masiwa now lives in Gqeberha with his wife and is a granite cutter. He has applied for political asylum in South Africa, but his court cases have interrupted his application.
- Daily Maverick
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