via Factbox: Sunday Mail editor Edmund Kudzayi – DailyNews 27 June 2014 by Gift Phiri
HARARE – Here are some facts about Edmund Kudzayi, editor of the Sunday Mail, whom we will learn today whether he will be freed on bail in connection with accusations of insurgency, terrorism, banditry, sabotage, attempting to subvert a constitutionally elected government and failing to secure firearms.
PERSONAL LIFE:
— Kudzayi was born in Masvingo under Chief Charumbira, on December 8, 1986, to rural parents who were involved into farming. Kudzayi’s father is Steyn Munhuwendiro Kudzayi.
— He did his primary education from 1993 to 1999 at Eastridge Primary School in Hillside, Harare.
— He did his secondary education at Marist Brothers Nyanga between 2000 and 2003.
— In 2004, he enrolled for his Advanced Levels at Churchill Boys High in Harare.
— After his ‘A’Levels, he studied and completed a Chartered Institute of Management Accounting (CIMA) Diploma in Harare.
— In his early 20s, he went to Leeds Metropolitan University in the United Kingdom to study for a Bachelor of Laws degree (LLB) between 2008 to 2010.
— In 2011, he enrolled for a Software Engineering Degree at Huddersfield University in the UK.
— Kudzayi gained a reputation as a sophisticated computer programmer.
— He ran a blog African Aristocrat, which unreservedly registered its distaste for President Robert Mugabe and his ruling Zanu PF. The blog ran a prominent article about the alleged rape of Mugabe’s daughter Bona in Malaysia.
— The African Aristocrat was pulled down prior to his return to Zimbabwe
— Kudzayi made an about-turn and created a Facebook character, Amai Jukwa, in support of Zanu PF but attacking individuals in the party
— In April 2014, Kudzayi was appointed as Sunday Mail editor, after Brezhnev Malaba was pushed out, although he had never practised as a reporter
— In a May 2014 ZiFM radio interview conducted by Ruvheneko Parirenyatwa and also attended by the Voluntary Media Council of Zimbabwe executive director Loughty Dube, Kudzayi flatly denied being Amai Jukwa.
— In June 2014 he was arrested and is pleading not guilty to a raft of sedition charges but has made a volte face and now admits he is Amai Jukwa
— Kudzayi claims that he actually worked with government ministers Jonathan Moyo, Savior Kasukuwere and the ministry of Defence to expose the real Baba Jukwa.
— The State insists he is Baba Jukwa and could have been recruited by hostile forces to infiltrate Zanu PF structures as a gateway to penetrating State structures.
— The State alleges Kudzayi took part in an offensive against Zanu PF, with most of the posts anchored on salacious gossip than whistle blowing, and include what it claims are exposes by well-connected insiders of Mugabe’s health secrets, murder, assassination, corruption plots, intimidation and vote-rigging in the 2013 elections
— Kudzayi is single, has no permanent home of his own and is often seen carrying a rucksack, and stays with his parents in Harare.
— He is described by those he has worked with at the State media as highly intelligent, determined, intense and at times paranoid.
— He is known for being highly secretive. It has been reported that he carries several computer gizmos
—The incarcerated Sunday Mail editor has been held since Thursday last week and faces life in prison if he is convicted on these charges. He has denied any wrongdoing.
— He had applied for bail at a lower Zimbabwean court but was advised to approach the High Court because he faces a schedule three offence and he remains in a Harare jail.
COMMENTS
If he’s highly intelligent he should have researched on the institute of zanu dynamics before plunging head in. Baba Jukwa has very senior informers. By threatening to expose him, he should have known he was entering a complex maze that was likely to devour him whole. He is too tech savvy for simple people. I don’t have sympathy for him, he should rot in jail for supping with the devil.
Too true. Too sup with Zanu means certain betrayal.
I wonder how our world define an intelligent person. Apa handione intelligence dzake hangu. He is the most dull person for me. How can yu criticize Zanu pf then join it…Crazy and undecided. Anyone who supports Zanu at present is crazy.
Kudzayi is cut from the same cloth as his real masters. He is power hungry and could not wait. So like his ilk he chose the shortest route of scheming through to power. But he was foolish to say the least.
As a democrat I would not totally condemn him. He has his right of association but his association with people who wanted to subvert the people’s will through distortions leaves a bad taste in the mouth. It is better for this struggle for democracy to be long and painful than to let it fall into the hands of this scheming lot who will be doing it to fill their pockets in the first place.
Mupfana uyu aida farm remember on that radio interview he said Mai Jukwa must be given a farm. How can he come back to be arrested for a farm. He is not intelligent at all.
He is an opportunist and thought that by being a turncoat he will be a darling of ZANU. He thought that he could be like Jonathan Moyo who turned from being a staunch ZANU (PF) critic to its Minister of Information. Now he is singing for his supper in a jail cell. I have no pity for this guy. Lock him up and throw away the keys – he distracted many Zimbos who followed his pathetic lies on social mdeia and cost many a future through flawed and rigged elections. jail the tyrant.
He wrote flagrantly racists articles through the ‘african aristocrat’, so i hope goes down.
There are people who appear intelligent because they are quick to grasp things. However, by careless application of their knowledge, they cease to be intelligent, and are just as foolish as those who call them intelligent.