THE Office of the President and Cabinet has yet again taken case against another publication under the stable AMH Group.
This time the family is up in arms against The Standard newspaper accusing it of falsely linking First Lady Auxillia Mnangagwa to a list of Covid-19 Rescue Fund drawn up and run by the Ministry of Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare.
Deputy Chief Secretary, Presidential Communications George Charamba has since called on The Standard to retract its story.
“This week’s issue of The Standard spitefully links the First Lady, Amai Auxillia Mnangagwa, to an alleged list of Covid-19 Rescue Fund drawn up and run by the Ministry of Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare.
“For the record the First Lady has nothing to do with the said list of beneficiaries. Secondly, she is neither aware of, nor a shareholder in, a company called PPAC investments Private Limited, as wrongfully alleged by the paper in the said report. The Office would only be too happy to be furnished with evidence linking the First Lady or any member of her household to the said company,” he said.
“The fallacious article is driven by ill-will” as shown by an insert in the story which read, “Kwekwe, a city in the Midlands province, is Mnangagwa’s urban home area and he has a farm, Precabe, in the vicinity”. Charamba added.
“Quite how President Mnangagwa’s alleged residence in Kwekwe, or his having a farm in the vicinity of the same city, bears any relevance to the alleged Covid-19 Rescue Fund boggles the mind.
“As before and, in respect of publication under AMH stable, for the second time in about as many weeks, the Office of the President and Cabinet urges the media to desist from maligning the innocent through false reports and/or imputations. For this latest calumny, the Office once more requests The Standard to issue a prompt, well-positioned retraction and apology to the First Lady and her Family”.
The First family was last week in a similar fight with the NewsDay which the family accused of claiming a non existent relationship between the President and one Tarirai Mnangagwa.