{"id":1683,"date":"2026-01-29T19:27:07","date_gmt":"2026-01-29T19:27:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thewasupost.co.zw\/?p=1683"},"modified":"2026-01-29T19:27:07","modified_gmt":"2026-01-29T19:27:07","slug":"i-have-no-intentions-of-joining-whatever-chamisa-is-onto-said-masarira","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thewasupost.co.zw\/index.php\/2026\/01\/29\/i-have-no-intentions-of-joining-whatever-chamisa-is-onto-said-masarira\/","title":{"rendered":"I have no intentions of joining whatever Chamisa is onto – said Masarira"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

As she Demands ZimDaily Stop \u2018Defamatory\u2019 Cartoons Linking Her to ZANU-PF<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

By The Wasu Post Writer<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Linda Masarira<\/em><\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Harare, January 29, 2026 <\/strong>\u2014 Labour Economists and African Democrats (LEAD) president Linda Tsungirirai Masarira has issued a formal demand to online publication ZimDaily to immediately cease what she describes as persistent misrepresentation and defamatory cartooning that falsely associates her with the ruling ZANU-PF party.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a letter dated January 29, Masarira accused ZimDaily of repeatedly publishing cartoons depicting her wearing ZANU-PF regalia or visually aligned with the party, saying the portrayals are \u201cfalse, misleading and malicious.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI am not a member of ZANU-PF, I do not have any political relationship with ZANU-PF, and I do not advance ZANU-PF interests,\u201d Masarira wrote, stressing that she leads an independent political party that is ideologically distinct and openly critical of corruption, authoritarianism and governance failures.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She argued that the cartoons amount to deliberate political misrepresentation and defamation by implication, accusing the publication of agenda-setting designed to undermine her credibility and confuse the public about her political stance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cCartoons are not neutral art; they are powerful editorial instruments. When used irresponsibly, they become tools of propaganda and character assassination,\u201d Masarira said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The LEAD leader warned that the continued depiction of her alongside ZANU-PF symbols creates a false impression that she is aligned with or sponsored by the ruling party, which she said damages her political reputation, leadership legitimacy and standing with supporters and partners.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the letter, Masarira formally demanded that ZimDaily immediately stop portraying her with ZANU-PF colours or symbols, refrain from publishing material that falsely links her to the party, and issue a corrective clarification acknowledging her as an independent political leader with no affiliation to ZANU-PF.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She further warned that failure to comply would leave her with no option but to pursue legal remedies, including a defamation claim, complaints to media regulatory bodies and civil litigation for reputational harm.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis letter serves as formal notice. I reserve all my rights,\u201d she wrote.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a pointed political aside, Masarira also dismissed speculation about her alignment with opposition realignments, stating that she has \u201cno intentions of joining whatever Chamisa is onto,\u201d a remark widely interpreted as distancing herself from former Citizens Coalition for Change leader Nelson Chamisa and his recent political activities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

ZimDaily had not responded to the allegations at the time of publication.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As she Demands ZimDaily Stop \u2018Defamatory\u2019 Cartoons Linking Her to ZANU-PF By The Wasu Post Writer Harare, January 29, 2026 \u2014 Labour Economists and African Democrats (LEAD) president Linda Tsungirirai Masarira has issued a formal demand to online publication ZimDaily to immediately cease what she describes as persistent misrepresentation and defamatory cartooning that falsely associates…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1683","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-national-news"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thewasupost.co.zw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1683","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thewasupost.co.zw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thewasupost.co.zw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thewasupost.co.zw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thewasupost.co.zw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1683"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/thewasupost.co.zw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1683\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1686,"href":"https:\/\/thewasupost.co.zw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1683\/revisions\/1686"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thewasupost.co.zw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1683"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thewasupost.co.zw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1683"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thewasupost.co.zw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1683"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}