By A Correspondent | ZimEye | The Zimbabwean government has begun systematically deleting all social media posts and public announcements that had previously endorsed Maxwell Chikumbutso, a self-proclaimed inventor who claimed to have developed groundbreaking endless-voltage-technology that could power vehicles and generators using radio waves, if true.
According to screenshots captured before the deletions, X (formerly Twitter) accounts belonging to key government figures—including Nick Mangwana, President Emmerson Mnangagwa, and the Ministry of Information, Publicity & Broadcasting—had all initially posted about Chikumbutso’s alleged invention but have since erased any mention of him from their timelines.
The move comes just hours after investigative journalist Simba Chikanza of ZimEye issued an ultimatum to President Mnangagwa, demanding that he address the nation regarding what Chikanza calls “false claims” about Chikumbutso’s supposed fuel-free car. In a strongly worded public letter, Chikanza revealed Chikumbutso is a convicted fraudster, listed in multiple armed-robberies and an illegal gun owner who had allegedly been recruited into Zimbabwe’s intelligence networks.
“I am giving you a 24-hour publishing deadline to address the nation over your false claims that Maxwell Chikumbutso is an inventor of a car that drives forever without fuelling,” Chikanza wrote.
“When in actual fact, Chikumbutso is no inventor of anything but an armed-robbery-charged-illegal gun owner, who you’ve recently co-opted into your intelligence units at Mazowe.”
Chikanza further threatened to expose more details about the controversial figure should Mnangagwa fail to respond.
Accompanying his letter was a collage of evidence, including a court ruling linking Chikumbutso to a past armed robbery case. The accusations raise serious questions about how and why the Zimbabwean government initially threw its weight behind Chikumbutso’s claims, which many in the scientific community have dismissed as impossible.
Was Mnangagwa trying to use Chikumbutso’s animated poisoning-claim in regain army support the Gwanda-style?
President Emmerson Mnangagwa who appeared to have lost military support on Monday, 24 hours afterwards bounced to work from his holiday to introduce Chikumbutso as a victim of poisoning over his inventions. Coincidentally, Mnangagwa rose to presidency through a claim unsupported with evidence that he’d been poisoned at Gwanda in 2017, an allegation he used to convinced the whole army to help him do a coup on 15 Nov 2017.
The deletion of government posts signals a significant U-turn, suggesting either an acknowledgment of deception or a desperate attempt to cover up an embarrassing blunder. As of now, neither President Mnangagwa nor his administration has issued any statement clarifying the situation.
The unfolding controversy raises mightily telling the full history of Zimbabwe over the last 60 years as both Mnangagwa and Chikumbutso’s criminal past seem too similar. A full 1 hour documentary has been produced by ZimEye.
Stay tuned for further updates as this story develops.- ZimEye