OPPOSITION MDC Alliance leader Nelson Chamisa has psyched up hard-pressed Zimbabweans to liberate themselves from the heavy Zanu PF yoke which he claims has shrunk the democratic space and deprived citizens of the much-needed breath.

“It’s not about me or the MDC Alliance, it is about the people of Zimbabwe, the democratic space is being choked by Zanu PF and it is time we act, draw a line in the sand or we will be choked to death,” he said.

But Zanu PF acting spokesperson Patrick Chinamasa last week shot down reports of human rights abuses and dictatorship by President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s administration, saying there was no repression in the country to justify protests.

The clampdown on human rights defenders climaxed last week with the arrest of Chamisa’s lawyer Thabani Mpofu for allegedly falsifying the signature of a “non-existent” Simbarashe Zuze in a Constitutional Court challenge over the appointment of Prosecutor-General Kumbirai Hodzi.

Chamisa, who was accused of receiving advice and funding from former members of the vanquished G40 faction of Zanu PF in the run-up to the 2018 harmonised elections, said clueless leaders thrived on labelling opponents.