CLAIM: President Emmerson Mnangagwa has decreed that rentals be suspended due to COVID-19
RATING: FALSE. A message circulating claiming rentals have been suspended is fabricated.
A social media post claiming that President Emmerson Mnangagwa has directed landlords to stop collecting rent is fake.
The claim is carried in a fabricated press statement, which has been doctored from a letterhead of the Office of the President. The text uses different fonts, contains multiple grammatical errors, and the date at the bottom is visibly superimposed.
George Charamba, President Mnangagwa’s spokesman, confirmed the ‘press statement’ was fake and that no such order had been issued.
“There is a fake Press Statement purportedly bearing an authentic signature of the State President, and purporting to direct property owners on rentals. The Statement has nothing to do with the President or his Office, and actually passes for criminal conduct. Kindly disregard it,” Charamba said.
Conclusion
The message claiming that President Mnangagwa has ordered property owners to stop demanding rent is false. No such directive has been issued.
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