(TALKZIMBABWE) Are MDC claims getting ridiculous?
Are MDC claims getting ridiculous?Greta Mutengani―Opinion
Fri, 04 Jul 2008 13:21:00 +0000
DEAR EDITOR―I heard yesterday that 200 people were seeking refuge at the United States embassy in Harare. I do not deny the fact that these people are victims of violence and intimidation and that they probably feel safer at the embassy. I am however, concerned that there might be a ‘third hand’ that is taking advantage of the suffering opf these people to pursue their hidden agenda. I am concerned to know where all these people came from and how they got to the U.S. embassy.
I think the antics of those seeking to discredit the government of Zimbabwe have now become all too desperate now. Was there a bus that got these people to the U.S. embassy? Are they all related? When and where did they meet to decide to go to the U.S. embassy? Are they a different bunch of people from those who went to the South African embassy? Is it a coincidence that MDC-T leader, Morgan Tsvangirai used that same tactic last week?
Why is the Zimbabwean Independent newspaper and The Zimbabwean newspaper are reporting 300 and the other news organisations (Independent, UK, etc) are reporting 200? SW Radio Africa and is reporting 250. These are huge margins. Last week we heard that 300 were seeking refuge at the South African embassy after walking from the Harare Park.
Why are the numbers almost similar? Is it because whoever is busing them is using the same vehicle(s)? If they were seeking sanctuary at the MDC headquarters how come they ended up at the Harare Park? Who escorted them to the South African embassy in Belgravia? How did the latest group end up on Herbert Chitepo Avenue (where the U.S. Embassy is)?
Surely, you cannot make us believe that these people know where these embassies are? And how do you mobilise 300, 250, 200 people to go outside an embassy?
Why do we not hear more about these victims? Where they are coming from, how they are coming to Harare, and who is escorting them to the MDC headquarters?
These questions remain unanswered by the porous media reports we get and these stories are getting ridiculous.
U.S. Ambassador James McGee said the group was from the opposition headquarters in Harare, which had become a refuge. I thought that was the same place were another 300 was taken away from three weeks ago and resettled at Ruwa Rehabilitation Centre. So how many people exactly are at the MDC headquarters? Is it hygienic there?
Why did these people leave the MDC headquarters where they are apparently being fed and housed?
Paul Engelstad, Public Affairs Officer at the US embassy said: "There are around 300 people here, a lot of children, a lot of mothers with children and as we understand it there was a raid on MDC Harvest House, MDC's headquarters and these people have no place to go."
When was that raid? The last raid we heard was two weeks ago when these women and children were taken to Ruwa Rehabilitation Center? Can someone shed some light on what exactly is transpiring here?
I think the MDC-T leadership needs to grow up and realize that this battle will not be won by these now ridiculous antics.
I feel saddened to see these obvious rural folk being used as a pawn in Tsvangirai bid for power. This latest move will not work and it serves to discredit the MDC-T leader’s ability to think strategically about the way forward in Zimbabwe.
I urge him to change his ‘cry-baby’ tactics. These tactics will soon not work with the international media that is obviously very thirsty for any story coming out of Zimbabwe.
Some of us outside the country have begun to question his leadership skills and these attention-seeking moves that take advantage of the weak and vulnerable are counter-productive now.
Tsvangirai should seek to talk to Zanu PF like his friend Raila Odinga did with President Mwai Kibaki not abuse our parents and children. In a nutshell, he should just simply grow up.
He has to realise that no amount of international pressure will remove President Mugabe, and he has wake up to that reality before he wastes too much time. His arrogance will not take him anywhere.
He will start losing his supporters by his sheer disregard for the dignity of these vulnerable women and children.
The MDC-T party should know that reports in the media could make them or break them. They seem to be breaking them now. Last week Tsvangirai had to retract a story he apparently wrote for the UK Guardian calling for armed action on Zimbabwe. We never heard about that story afterwards. Who wrote that story? And why is it that his backers are using the same line of argument―calling for armed action?
Greta Mutengani
Living in Spanish Town, Jamaica
gmutengani@yahoo.com
Labels: COLOUR REVOLUTIONS, MDC, NEOCOLONIALISM
posted by MrK @ 2:46 PM
2 Comments:
I think it is pretty clear that the MDC is trying to create a pretext for foreign invasion.
They are trying to recreate scenes from "Hotel Rwanda", in order to pretend that like in Rwanda, there is a genocide going on and therefore the Britain is justified to invade and install Morgan Tsvangirai 'to prevent further bloodshed'.
If they do, there will be a civil war, and there is no way they can blame that on ZANU-PF, try as they will.
In such a situation, count on Morgan Tsvangirai to show his 'law and order' side even more than he already is today.
Tsvangirai is a stooge, a tool of British and corporate interests, nothing more.
The article is a load of rubbish and so is the one comment made so far. Obviously zanupf
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