KWEKWE — MDC-T activist and councillor Weston Masiya, who was jailed for two years in January after he took part in a demonstration against President Robert Mugabe’s regime, is battling for life just a month following his release from prison on bail pending appeal.
Source: Kwekwe councillor battles for life – NewsDay Zimbabwe March 10, 2017
BY BLESSED MHLANGA
Masiya was convicted along with deputy mayor Aaron Sithole and another opposition activist, Tendai Virimayi, and jailed by provincial magistrate Ngoni Nduna for participating in an anti-government protest last July.
Close friend Morris Chinwada said Masiya’s health deteriorated while he was in custody at Hwahwa Prison in Gweru and had been in and out of hospital since his release.
“Masiya is in a bad state, his health has been deteriorating from the time he was released from prison and we have had to get him admitted into hospital as he battles to stay alive,” he said.
Chinwada said the bad conditions which Masiya was exposed to while in prison could have contributed to his condition.
“The mental torture and poor living conditions in the cells are such that they could have affected his health. We know Zimbabwean prisons are in a bad state,” Chinwada said.
An outspoken councillor and strong critic of Zanu PF, Masiya was also the audit committee chairman for Kwekwe City Council.
His committee was behind exposure of alleged acts of corruption and pushed for the ouster of top council officials fingered in graft.
Many MDC-T activists have died after being released from lengthy prison stays, with the party blaming government as being responsible for the deaths.
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