Widow of slain CCC supporter says she never assumed the worst, thought husband was just struggling to get transport back home

MURDERED Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC) activist Tapfumaneyi Masaya’s widow Maria Zhuwawo (53) says she never assumed the worst when her late husband went missing, she thought he was just struggling to get transport back home from wherever he had been dumped.

Masaya, a Pastor at a local Pillar of the Word church, was last to leave their home headed for CCC’s door-to-door campaigns ahead of December’s by-elections.

Zhuwawo told NewZimbabwe.com she never assumed he would not return home when he left.

Besides that strain, she has also had to deal with being accused of having identified the wrong body by President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s spokesperson George Charamba.

Charamba first claimed CCC had killed its own for international sympathy, then that she had identified the wrong body.

“They told me the body we identified might not be my husband’s but now what boggles my mind is whether I would fail to identify the body of my own husband,” said a tearful Zhuwawo.

“I do not know what they mean by that.”

Masaya was abducted by suspected Zanu PF youths who were using vehicles that reportedly belongs to its candidate for Mabvuku Constituency Scott Sakupwanya.

He was forced into a vehicle identified by witnesses as having been used for Sakupwanya’s campaigns ahead of Zimbabwe’s August elections.

Added Zhuwawo: “After he was abducted together with a colleague he was doing door-to-door campaigns with we all waited for his return.

“His colleague came and described the vehicles that had taken them including that they had no number plates.

“When his colleague came back I anticipated that I would see him come back. At first, I even thought he had failed to find transport back home from wherever they had dumped him.

“On Sunday I waited but up till now, he is not home. I pray that God shows us his power.”

Masaya left behind three children.