Toes for sale: Zimbabwe government dismisses story

HARARE, Zimbabwe

Zimbabwe’s Deputy Minister of Information, Publicity and Broadcasting Services, Kindness Paradza, said the Government has established that there is no truth to social media claims that people are selling their toes to ritualists.

Last week, Paradza visited Ximex Mall in central Harare following reports that some dealers were acting as middlemen for ritualists who were allegedly buying toes for thousands of US dollars.

A dealer who had previously claimed that trade in toes has been going on “for a long time” later retracted his earlier assertion, saying he was drunk and was only joking.

Speaking to ZBC News, Paradza warned members of the public against spreading falsehoods on social media as this tarnishes the country’s image. He said:

As Government, we made some investigations into this issue and we assessed the status of the matter.

There is nothing like that, it’s the act of social media peddlers who are trying to tarnish our country.

They are also tarnishing the image of our citizens, who are working hard to earn a living, assuming that they are trading their toes to prosper.

I talked to these young entrepreneurs; they are selling their gadgets without any problem.

Such an issue is being circulated on social media and we want to warn people, that it is a crime to peddle falsehoods on social media.

It tarnishes the image of the country, we and they will be arrested.