Harare, Zimbabwe (News of the South)-ICT Minister Supa Mandiwanzira has apologised to #ThisFlag leaderPastor Mawarire over allegations he made that the cleric had been arrested because he had skipped bail when he initially left the country.
During a meeting with the British Ambassador Catriona Lang Minister Mandiwanzira justified the arrest of Mawarire on his arrival from the US on the grounds that the cleric had skipped out of the country illegally.
However the Nyanga MP has since retracted his comments and issued an apology.
“In my meeting with Catriona Lang last week, after she had brought up the arrest of Pastor Evan Mawarire in our discussion, I gave the impression that the Pastor had skipped bail thus his arrest”.
“At the time of my meeting with the Ambassador, this had been presented to me as a fact and also thought it to be true”.
“Today, having had sight of the court record, I recognise that I was wrong”, he admitted.
Mandiwanzira said he had realised his information to be wrong.
“The true facts are that the pastor did not skip bail and was not arrested for this reason”.
“I wish to apologise to Pastor Mawarire and to anyone else who was offended by this mistake. I am also taking this opportunity to correct the misstatement to Catriona Lang”, he added.
Mawarire had demanded an apology from the minister in a posted twit.
In the message posted on his Twitter account the cleric said: “@SupaCollinsM please retract and apologise for your shameful lie to @CatrionaLaing1 that I was arrested for breaching bail conditions. You have no shame?”
At the time of his going to the US Mawarire’s charges had been dropped, currently after his arrest on arrival Mawarire is out on a $300 bail.
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