Zimbabwean opposition leader Tendai Biti’s lawyer says he was arrested on Wednesday morning by the country’s police while trying to seek political asylum in Zambia.
Attorney Nqobizitha Mlilio told Journalists that Mr. Biti was arrested “on Zambian soil” at the border between Zimbabwe and Zambia.
As yet‚ there is no confirmation of the arrest‚ nor its basis‚ by the Zimbabwean police.
Police documents supplied by Mlilo‚ however‚ suggest that authorities were investigating Mr. Biti for “unofficially and unlawfully” declaring MDC Alliance leader Nelson Chamisa the duly elected president of Zimbabwe‚ in alleged violation of Zimbabwean electoral law.
He also stands accused of public violence for “acting in consent with his accomplices still at large while armed with firearms‚ ammunition‚ stones‚ alleged to have committed act of violence and proceeded to burn various vehicles and one bus at the ZANU-PF provincial headquarters”.
Mr. Mlilo said Mr Biti was “in hiding”‚ but that he had been assured that he was not wanted by the police
Mr. Biti’s attempt to seek political asylum in Zambia came after an alleged attempt on his life on Monday‚ during which Mr. Mlilo says a gunman in an unmarked silver Mercedes Benz opened fire on Biti’s car.
That incident occurred after the home of Mr. Biti’s elderly mother was repeatedly surrounded by unknown men‚ and his younger brother was allegedly abducted after dropping his wife and children at an undisclosed location.
Please LEAVE this man he is just a tin pot in ZIM Politics HE IS Not a factor just the way we regard HH in Zambian politics, we know he is already defeated before voting, the likes of SINKAMBA just adding numbers let he young man enjoy his freedom in VIC FALLS HE needs a holiday from zim politics
EMERSON IS FEARING HIS OWN SHADOW; NELSON IS ACTING DOUBLE H.
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President Elect Emmerson, kindly allow your people lick their loss wounds without disturbance. Loss is painful and victimization adds salt to injury. As long as Tendai and his counterpart Nelson have not prolonged their protests. Is it a form of public order act in Zimbabwe that goes beyond boarders? I did not support Morgan, I did not support Mugabe cling to power, I did not support the coupe d’ ta and I definitely do not support Chamise’s handling of election loss. A situation where an opposition leader goes to seeking asylum is not pretty. I wonder what old Mnangagwa is afraid of. He can be worse than Mugabe. Looks like Chamisa got blown away, puffed and afflicted by the African…
… opposition intoxication of urban love. Release Biti now.
Where was Kapyongo when Zimbabweans invanded Zambia?
Our security looks compromised.
Call Katumbi
HH is already defeated before the votes are cast. The only truth I have ever heard you say!
Tendai Biti, a few months ago you were insulting the Zambian political leadership but this is where you wanted to take refuge. Use your heads politicians as tomorrow you might need the people you are insulting today. Another example is Kambwili.
Whom did he insult? And why, stop misleading people .
Nostradamus it seems you’re selective in what you read. This guy once called Zambia a failed state.
@2.2, Zambia is a “failed state” you cannot deny that.
habeenzu you are 100% correct. this guy extended in nose up to zambia and he had no kind words for our goverment. and it seems mafikizolo and nostradamus are stiff naked
dictatorship in africa.the guy will be charged for treason just like our President HH….lol
He should have tried SA border not Zambia where the leadership is morally bankrupt only good at pretending ti be religious and forgiving when it suits them!!
@3.1 Jay jay S.Africa was an obvious option that is why he didn’t go there! He had been living there for sometime and might even have a home there so he might have wanted to play diversionary tricks but then everything backfired!
Zambia has always been a refuge for citizens from neigbouring countries seeking political asylum … I am shocked to read that he was arrested on Zambian soil, its a shame we have a corrupt govt, in KKs time Zims were protected by the govt but today we have this lazy entity who will do anything so he is invited to the inauguration. Katumbi should be careful as well as Lazy Lungu can turn on him just like that .
This government won its elections with the help of Mugabe – remember when Mugabe arrived to congratulate SATA even before the results were announced why – because he had suitcases with ballod papers in. The government owes ZANU PF that is why they arranged for Tendai arrest !!!
I had listened to his interview on the BBC when tension rose as results delayed. Yes he DECLARED CHAMISA as a WINNER OF THE PRESIDENTIAL and that THERE WAS RIGGING TAKING PLACE!! When asked to PROVIDE or EXPLAIN his EVIDENCE – He failed!! Why is he RUNNING AWAY INSTEAD OF HELPING HIS PRESIDENT WITH EVIDENCE TO WIN THE PRESIDENTIAL PETITION?? It appears like this man had been living in S.Africa for sometime, only resurfaced at election time to cause trouble!! We are getting fed up with the opposition that fails to fully engage with the wider majority, have no valid economic policy alternatives but always cry foul upon losing!!
….”It appears like this man had been living in S.Africa for sometime, only resurfaced at election time to cause trouble!! We are getting fed up with the opposition that fails to fully engage with the wider majority, have no valid economic policy alternatives but always cry foul upon losing!!…..” STRONGLY AGREE
You incite people to cause chaos and disorder in you countery ..and also demand for sanctions against you country..while people are killing each other..and innocent women and children dying as a result of sanctions ..you run away to Lusaka, and busy eating chips and chicken and ice cream in the streets of Lusaka..Let him go back to ZIM ZIM…!!!!
Meanwhile clueless supporters are getting butchered while the leaders are attempting to flee the country. Funny thing is if after dying in hordes they manage to topple Mnangagwa, this Tendai will return to a hero’s welcome , become president and continue the cycle of dictatorship.
Readers on this respected web-site should not be misled by treacherous politicians.
If Tendai Biti attempted to enter Zambia, it is a well known fact that we have a one-stop-border facilities say at Chirundu. Anyone travelling from Zimbabwe has to cross the Zambezi and his/her immigration formalities conducted initially by Zimbabwean Immigration Authorities before being attended to by Zambian Immigration Officers.
In this regard Bwana Tendai Biti could have been refused access into Zambia by alert Zimbabwean Immigration Authorities. Zambia is not affected.
Yes he was refused entry and Joe Malanji has not minced his words on this issue…If Zimbabwe ULEs and street vendors can walk the streets freely…why not the Zim Police especially when arresting chaps like BITI…This chap was telling the world that Zambia is a failed democracy just because his friend HH was in MUKOBEKO…Now it is his turn to rot in CHIKURUBI Prison…why did he try to get asylum in a country he considers undemocratic…Kampyongo well done for allowing the Zim Mpombozi to lift this BITI by AIR…He has verbal diarrhoea and now he will experience real Shiki De Polomia
Problem with our people anything to discredit government is sweet soup to them.
Developments in Zimbabwe reveal a neat pattern of similarities in the behavior of opposition parties in Kenya by Odinga, Zambia by Hakaimbe Hichilema and Nelson Chamisa in Zimbabwe. These opposition parties have been coached to protest against tenets of democracy in their respective countries just to pave way for western economic and ideological interests.
Kenya, Zambia, South Africa and Zimbabwe have been targeted to hatch confusion by some Western Powers. These countries must initially declare General Obasanjo undesirable in East and Southern Africa – as a neo-mecenary in service of the west and later forge economic links with friendly states in the world
If Zimbabwe ULEs and street vendors can walk the streets freely…why not the Zim Police especially when arresting chaps like BITI…This chap was telling the world that Zambia is a failed democracy just because his friend HH was MUKOBEKO…Now it is his turn to rot in CHIKURUBI Prison…why did he try to get asylum in a country he considers undemocratic…Kampyongo well done for allowing the Zim Mpombozi to lift this BITI by AIR…He has verbal diarrhoea and now he will experience real Shiki De Polomia
Lungu , munangagwa and kabila are one and the same….
Kabila is not standing. ..where do you live?
My foot…Its like Maimane coming to seek asylum in the “LUNGU LED ZAMBIA”……This chap BITI was telling the world that Zambia is a failed democracy just because his friend HH was in MUKOBEKO…Now it is his turn to rot in CHIKURUBI Prison…why did he try to get asylum in a country he considers undemocratic…Malanji and Kampyongo well done for allowing the Zim Mpombozi to lift this BITI by AIR…He has verbal diarrhoea and now he will experience real Shiki De Polomia
In Africa, the Opposition can be as much a nuisance as the governments they condemn at every turn. Every election loss on this continent is now labelled rigged or stolen.
Govts can only manage to rule with the flexing of strong hands in the face of an opposition that refuses to concede defeat.
Black or defective democracy is what works here. You just have to ask the Libyans.
This man (Tendai) should have gone to ask for asylum in another country and not Zambia. Tendai Biti has been very arrogant and childish in dealing with his political issues in his country. In the past he has also popped his nose into Zambian politics. He was finance minister in the Govt. of National Unity during Mugabe’s rule in Zimbabwe ask him what he did nothing! Tendai Biti is not compatible with the general wellbeing of Zambia. He is firstly a stubborn chap whose character is not very different from that of Mugabe. The politics of confrontation should remain in Zimbabwe where we see a lot of under-five politicians. The Zambians have been very accommodating to our southern Rhodesia brothers unlike what they did to us when they were relatively better off economically as they enjoyed…
…The Zambians have been very accommodating to our southern Rhodesia brothers unlike what they did to us when they were relatively better off economically as they enjoyed the inherited late Ian Smith’s good economy.
Let him be arrested. This is not a home for trouble shooters! “Mukulambulu uilange namaka” Why run away when you started the game. Iam not trying to adamant, but put a nail in the hole its suppose to be.
These are the guys who celebrated Uncle Bob’s fall. I told them that Mugabe never killed anyone or ordered the killings in Zimbabwe. It was Emerson Mnangagwa who did all the ethnic cleansing and expected Tendai and his friends to get worried but instead they went dancing in Harare streets ” Mugabe alala..” I remember that film YOU ASKED FOR IT.
Azamusiba Yesu
Asylum in Zambia? Ukokwine, you think your fellow underfive is the president here? Okay, yes he is the president of a directionless party rumoured to be named upnd.
Anyway, bosses ba Tendai, we have had enough of these politics of crying to win by wishes.