No, these Zimbabwean children were not left to find their own way to safety after Cyclone Idai

As reported by AFP, more than 300 people have been confirmed dead in Mozambique and Zimbabwe since Idai made landfall on March 15 and aid officials have warned that hundreds of thousands of lives are at risk due to spiralling humanitarian needs. 

In Chimanimani, where the photograph was taken, at least 217 people are listed as missing. The district remains cut off after roads were swallowed by massive sinkholes and bridges were ripped to pieces.  

A tweet which has been shared more than 350 times, and which we’ve archived here, implies that Zimbabwe’s President Mnangagwa favoured a photo opportunity instead of helping those affected by the cyclone, one of the worst storms to hit southern Africa in decades.

These school children are having to find their own way to safety after #CycloneIdaiZW. Their president @edmnangagwa meanwhile chose to use the morning for a photo-op for a non-urgent appointment! State media reported him as having returned to "his pple"; now we see who they're! pic.twitter.com/ql41F1lH8F

— Chofamba (@Chofamba) March 18, 2019

Another tweet said: “If #CycloneIDAI was a demonstration by the opposition, the government of #Zimbabwe would have long sent police and soldiers in trucks and helicopters to beat, teargas, arrest and shoot it back to where it came from.”

The image carried by the first tweet shows children in school uniform trying to cross a fallen tree branch, their feet covered in red mud.

But contrary to the tweet’s criticism that the children had to “find their own way to safety”, members of the Zimbabwean military were at the scene to help them.

The photo was taken in Chimanimani by AFP photographer Zinyange Auntony -- who explained that the soldiers instructed him to not take photos of them.

“The soldiers cleared way for them, otherwise they would not been able to get to the junction where I photographed them,” Auntony told AFP Fact Check.

“Zimbabwean soldiers are generally never comfortable with being photographed and this case was no different. I managed to have a gentlemen's agreement that I photograph only with them (the military) behind me,” he added.

The original photo can be found here along with others taken by Auntony in Chimanimani.

Image

A screenshot taken on March 20, 2019 of the original photo on AFP Forum

As for the photograph of President Mnangagwa, it was indeed taken after the cyclone hit.

It can be seen in a tweet from Zimbabwe’s Ministry of Information, Publicity & Broadcasting posted on March 18, when Mnangagwa swore in Oliver Chidawu as a minister.

We are at the State House where HE President @edmnangagwa Has sworn in Hon Oliver Chidawu as the Minister of State for Harare Metropolitan Province pic.twitter.com/xeKOyuf5n5

— Ministry of Information, Publicity & Broadcasting (@InfoMinZW) March 18, 2019

Mistrust in Zimbabwe’s army was amplified when deadly protests erupted in the country in January this year after the government more than doubled fuel pump prices -- AFP reported on this here.