David Butau was a member of parliament of Zimbabwe representing the district of Guruve North.
As a result of this speech and others like it, Mugabe loyalists openly stated that they expected Butau to lose popularity in Guruve.
[1] In late 2007 Butau fled to the United Kingdom to avoid arrest for currency-related charges;[2] he subsequently denied all wrongdoing, stating that he had been motivated by fear of police corruption.
Butau told a state newspaper that he was being victimized by members of the government, saying ”We received information that Governor Gideon Gono was amongst those sabotaging the economy and when we confronted him with that he acted fast on me and passed on information to the police about my purported exchange control violations.
[6] The case was universally regarded as an instance of President Mugabe using state power to intimidate his critics.