AmaBhungane’s latest attack contains several serious misrepresentations and inaccuracies designed to cast his reputation into disrepute and spread disinformation to the public, having largely ignored all responses and evidence that contradicts their narrative, states Zunaid Moti.
“This is yet another clear example of selective and biased reporting, as their writers make wild claims and draw false connections to support their highly convoluted conspiracy theories without any real evidence to back these up,” he says.
“Even worse, they have recycled a previous article published by another organisation in April, and simply embellished this tale in a blatant attempt to assassinate my character and further their personal feud. To be blunt, this story is full of complete lies, and we will be addressing the issue through the appropriate channels.”
In April this year, the Sentry, a media house based in the United States of America informed by an agenda against the Zimbabwean government, published a report concerning Moti’s dealings with African Chrome Fields, a chrome mining operation based in Zimbabwe.
The Sentry, acting in collaboration with amaBhungane’s writers, were provided with extensive feedback on their questions ahead of this article, although Moti vehemently disagreed with the conclusions drawn in the Sentry’s article.
“But these matters have not only been rehashed but even further embroidered in amaBhungane’s latest opinion piece when they had the same unreliable documents and information at their disposal in April. This is evidence of its writers’ narrow-minded focus on the Moti Group and myself, crossing the line of harassment, even as they continue to mislead the public with the intent of defaming me.”
He points out that himself and the Moti Group are currently the subject of at least 50% of its social media and website content.
In reference to the piece, Moti further emphasises that the Moti Group has never had financial interests or dealings in the gold industry.
“Additionally, it’s absolutely absurd to claim that receiving a payment from an individual via an account from a different bank such as VBS must mean that you have a business relationship with that bank – as any reasonable person ought to realise. The Moti Group did not have any financial relationship with VBS, their name was only introduced as click-bait,” he notes.
“To be absolutely clear, African Chrome Fields is run in compliance with all relevant regulations. We are not guilty of any wrongdoing and will be challenging amaBhungane’s ridiculous allegations.”
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