The executive director of a Zimbabwe Non Governmental Organisation, Heal Zimbabwe, which lobbies for the recognition of victims of political violence, has been accused of spreading HIV knowingly. Rashid Mahiya who is married to Audrey Kurumba is said to have cheated his wife and dated a student who is currently carrying the AIDS virus that she allegedly got from Rashid Mahiya.
In a message to Human Rights Defender Viomak (HRDV) a friend of the victim said ,
” A friend of mine was a student at Polytechnic Harare and he met a gentleman by the name Rashid Mahiya who was working for a NGO .They started dating and they had sex at this flat in Avondale Harare .After the sex she realized the guy had black spots like mhezi (measles) all over his body. After that he started ignoring her all to be told by his mother who lives in Chitungwiza that he was getting married .My friend got really sick and now she is bed ridden after being infected by HIV/AIDS .”
The friend added that she has messages from Rashid but she had to deactivate her facebook account for security reasons.
“I can send msgs via email for more information .l have to deactivate my account for security reasons ” ,she said.
“He is member of FIF Zaoga .When he was booked at Meikles hotel he used to take my friend his flat was near King George Avondale and they used to hang out at Jazz 105.If he asks the name of the girl say Faith he will know.He was at one point working for ZINASU.He worked with a lady, her name should be Debra it starts with a D she knew my friend .My friend wanted to talk to his wife Audrey about it but she could not as he threatened her. He is well connected and he travels a lot overseas”, she added.
When asked by HRDV to contact her concerning the allegations,Rashid obliged and contacted her on whatsapp from +263 77 133 3135. In the whatsapp messages after being asked about the issue ,Rashid did not dispute the allegations outright but he at one point blamed HRDV for writing falsehoods.
“….Ndati itai zvamunoda neupenyu hwevanhu munonyora manyepo you publish to the world before verification,names get soiled people get hurt ,untruths falsehoods spread”, he said.
As the plot thickened ,as per tradition ,HRDV asked him to send her his HIV test results so as to establish the facts underlying the allegation.
After some exchange of various words Rashid said ,
“I am sending you my results tomorrow after that you will apologise but that won’t help you would have done more harm “.
In response HRDV said ,”Thank you so much hanzvadzi for understanding .Yes I will apologise if need be.As of now it’s just an accusation hanzvadzi so zvinogadzirisika.”
We are now waiting for the results .
