HARARE – President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s regime on Monday arrested an opposition leader and a crusading journalist in a renewed crackdown ahead of planned anti-government protests on July 31.

Jacob Ngarivhume, the leader of Transform Zimbabwe, was taken to Harare Central Police Station, his lawyer Moses Nkomo said.

Nkomo said they had not been told what charges he faced.

Hopewell Chin’ono, one of the journalists who have been exposing million-dollar corruption which has sucked in Mnangagwa’s family, was dragged away and bundled into a car after state security agents broke down a glass door to gain entry into his Chisipite home.

His lawyer Beatrice Mtetwa who had been called after police turned up at the gate circulated a video she recorded at Chin’ono’s house showing the damage.

Mtetwa said eight state security agents were involved in the raid.

“He has been abducted, we’re not sure where he has been taken. His helper says they did not produce any warrant when they came to his house,” Mtetwa said.

Moments after Chin’ono was seized, government spokesman Ndavaningi Mangwana wrote on Twitter: “There is no profession which is above the law. Journalists are not above the law… Anyone suspected to have committed a crime should be subjected to due process.”

Mnangagwa’s jittery regime has in recent days launched raids at the homes of former Zanu PF activists Jim Kunaka and Godfrey Tsenengamu; MDC Alliance deputy chairman Job Sikhala as well as Amalgamated Rural Teachers’ Union of Zimbabwe president Obert Masaraure and harassed their families.

Ngarivhume started an internet campaign for nationwide protests against corruption on July 31, but authorities have accused him of being irresponsible as the protests would breach coronavirus lockdown regulations which prohibit gatherings of more than 50 people.

Ngarivhume’s protests call has been enthusiastically taken up by Zimbabweans who have popularised the hashtag #ZanuPFMustGo on Twitter. Many Zimbabweans say they will demand the fall of Mnangagwa’s regime, which is accused of stealing elections, unchecked corruption and plunging the country into its worst economic crisis in over a decade.