HARARE – Zanu PF politician Patrick Chinamasa has denied issuing threats to assassinate Zambian president Hakainde Hichilema and confessions to killing the neighbouring country’s former leader Levy Mwanawasa in 2008.

The shock utterances were allegedly made during recent exchanges between the two countries over a damning SADC observer mission report on the August 23 Zimbabwean elections.

Chinamasa, Zimbabwe’s former justice minister, came under the spotlight for all the wrong reasons after he was accused of claiming he helped end Mwanawasa’s life and was, equally, plotting the same against Hichilema in cahoots with the Zambian opposition.

Mwanawasa, who died of an ailment 2008, boldly accused the then Robert Mugabe led administration for running the once prosperous SADC country down.

Equally, Hichilema, the current SADC Troika chair, came under the line of fire from government and Zanu PF authorities over his alleged influence in the authoring of the SADC observer mission report which discredited Zimbabwean polls.

The SADC observer mission was led by former Zambian vice president Nevers Mumba.

Zanu PF politicians angered by the damning report felt this was a deliberate attempt by Hichilema, an ally of Zimbabwe’s opposition CCC, to discredit a poll that saw President Emmerson Mnangagwa re-elected with a narrow majority.

Controversial Zanu PF sympathizer Rutendo Matinyarare was jointly accused by Zambian authorities of undermining the neighbouring country’s sovereignty and security.

Matinyarare, in a now deleted X (former Twitter) post, alleged that Mwanawasa was assassinated because he was attempting to invade Zimbabwe.

The X user insinuated that Hichilema, described as a western puppet by Zanu PF politicians, would suffer similar fate.

Comments attributed to Chinamasa and Matinyarare elicited protests in Zambia’s Copperbelt with provincial minister Elisha Matamba insisting they were going to lobby SADC, AU and the UN to probe the assassination claims.

Chinamasa, the Zanu PF secretary for finance, has broken his silence over the accusations, saying he harboured no intentions to assassinate Hichilema.

“The recent statement by Zambian Provincial Minister for Copperbelt, Honourable Elisha Matamba, has been brought to my attention,” Chinamasa said in a statement.

“There is no truth whatsoever in the allegations by Honourable Matamba that, ‘I killed the late Zambian President Levy Mwanawasa’.

“That I ‘admitted to having a hand in the death of former Zambian President Levy Mwanawasa’.

“That Chinamasa and Rutendo have agreed that they participated in killing Mwanawasa.

“As a matter of fact, I don’t know Rutendo Matinyarare and I have never met him/her in my life.

“That I have intent to kill Zambian President Hakainde Hichilema. The above allegations by Honourable Matamba are false, malicious, and highly defamatory.”