Tsitsi Dangarembga Petitions Parliament of Zimbabwe for Removal of Health Minister Obadiah Moyo

July 03, 2020

On June 19, 2020, Zimbabwe Health Minister Obadiah Moyo was arrested on corruption charges for engaging in an illegal 60 million dollar contract with the firm, Drax Consult, to procure coronavirus test kits and medical equipment.

According to the Zimbabwe newspaper, The Sunday News, Drax Consult “was merely a consulting company with no experience in the manufacture or supply of drugs and medicinal products.”

Obadiah Moyo was released on bail and is set to appear in court on July 31.

On June 26, Tsitsi Dangarembga petitioned the Parliament of Zimbabwe for Moyo’s removal from position of health minister. She was supported by human rights lawyer, Beatrice Mtetwa, and human rights activist, Jestina Mukoko.

Petina Gappah tweeted the following video from The Post on Sunday in support of the women:

Great initiative from Tsitsi Dangarembga, supported by Beatrice Mtetwa and Jestina Mukoko. In a normal country any person accused of abuse of office would immediately be suspended if only so that he does not interfere with witnesses, some of who may be people he supervises. https://t.co/2jXjMgN5FV

— Petina Gappah (@VascoDaGappah) June 26, 2020

In the video, Dangarembga explains:

We are here outside Parliament to present the petition to have Obadiah Moyo, the Minister of Health, fired because of his incompetence over the COVID issue and many other issues leading up to that. Also, currently the issues concerning corruption. We wanted to hand it to the Clerk of Parliament, who was not available, but we were able to hand it to somebody else.

Petinah Gappah’s tweet in support of Tsitsi Dangarembga, Beatrice Mtetwa, and Jestina Mukoko was joined by similar encouraging replies from private citizens.