Harare -Zimbabwe’s Information permanent secretary Nick Mangwana has torched a storm with government critics after suggesting that some ministers and other top government officials who have succumbed to Covid-19 could have been deliberately killed by opposition ‘activist’ doctors.

Responding to a thread on twitter on Sunday, Mangwana said, “l followed that. This is what’s leading to the unfortunate conspiracy theories that there are certain political players being eliminated in hospitals by political activists hiding behind medical qualifications.”

Four government Ministers and some Zanu PF officials have succumbed to the deadly pandemic since July 2020. Hundreds more ordinary Zimbabweans continue to die from the disease.

Mangwana’s comments have irked Zimbabweans including human rights activist Dewa Mavinga and United Kingdom based blogger Alex Magaisa.

“This is reckless propaganda and baseless innuendo against the medical profession coming from senior government officials is very dangerous. You cannot combat the Covid-19 pandemic with propaganda,” said Mavinga

Magaisa also accused Mangwana of “pedestrian thinking” after he (Mangwana) and Government officials were pictured at various parties without observing Covid-19 prevention regulations.

“For a former nurse, secretary Mangwana displays pedestrian thinking. He and his chums were openly violating Covid-19 rules as if they were special. They were holding useless meetings and parties. Now he is peddling conspiracy theories and looking for scapegoats among doctors and nurses.” said Magaisa

Mangwana and other government ministers came under fire last year when images of bare-nosed top government officials enjoying selves at a birthday bash for Information Minister Monica Mutsvangwa went viral on social media.