ZIM JOURNALIST MAY BE FIRED OVER GAY CLAIMS

A Zimbabwe journalist who was allegedly caught having sex with a male sex worker while covering Robert Mugabe’s recent visit to Namibia may lose his job.

Local media have reported that during the trip H-Metro’s assistant editor Robert Mukondiwa shared a Windhoek hotel room with a Central Intelligence Organisation operative.

Mukondiwa allegedly hired the sex worker while the operative was out but was allegedly “caught in the act” when the operative unexpectedly returned to the room.

Mukondiwa was part of a group accompanying Mugabe while the president was attending a SADC summit in Namibia.

Zimbabwereporter.com said that the incident was communicated to the notoriously homophobic Mugabe who apparently “blew his top”.

H-Metro bosses were reported to have agreed over the weekend that Mukondiwa will face a disciplinary hearing.

However, Simone Heradien, co-host of the LGBT Radio Today Outspoken show, disputed the claims made in the story.

“This story is a complete concocted fallacy. The journalist is a close friend of mine and I’ve been in touch with him directly. He is being attacked with fallacies due to a professional jealousy,” she wrote on Facebook.

There have been claims that Mukondiwa was also caught having sex with a male co-worker in the newsroom last year but that the matter was swept under the carpet and he and the other journalist were temporarily suspended.

On Saturday, Mukondiwa posted a message on Facebook, saying: “pray for me…i am feeling suicidal. its only a matter of minutes.”

Mugabe has long railed against gays and lesbians, often describing them as being worse than dogs and pigs.

In July last year, the 87-year-old despot swore to never allow LGBT equality to be included in the country’s new constitution: “We say no to gays! We will not listen to those advocating the inclusion of their rights in the constitution,” he said.