Zimbabwe’s Old Guard, Still in Power After Mugabe, Is Stifling Its Youth

Zimbabwe’s Old Guard, Still in Power After Mugabe, Is Stifling Its Youth
Zimbabwean President Emmerson Mnangagwa inspects the guard of honor during the opening session of Parliament in Harare, Zimbabwe, Oct. 1, 2019 (AP photo by Tsvangirayi Mukwazhi).

HARARE, Zimbabwe—Samantha Kureya’s memories of the night she was abducted are not totally clear, but she vividly remembers one phrase that her attackers kept repeating. “You are too young to mock the government,” they said.

The young Zimbabwean comedian, whose viral online skits poke fun at the government, was taken from her home in Harare, the capital, on Aug. 21 by three unidentified men wielding machine guns. She said they drove her to a remote location she did not recognize, where they beat her, forced her to strip and made her drink sewage water, before abandoning her.

The incident left the 33-year-old Kureya injured and traumatized, but unbowed. “Comedy is my job. It’s my life,” she said, in an interview with the Mail & Guardian newspaper.

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