(HERALD) Zanu-PF delegates denounce Shiri assassination attempt

Zanu-PF delegates denounce Shiri assassination attempt
Herald Reporter

DELEGATES to the 10th Zanu-PF Annual National People’s Conference yesterday denounced the assassination attempt on Airforce of Zimbabwe commander Air Marshal Perrance Shiri by unknown gunmen who shot and injured him on his palm last week.

Declaring the assassination attempt as an act of cowardice delegates including Mashonaland Central Governor and Resident Minister Cde Martin Dinha urged the country especially members of the ruling party to remain vigilant as the enemy has come up with a different way to eliminate revolutionaries.

Cde Dinha said the attempt on Air Marshal Shiri, who is also a prominent farmer in the province, would not douse the revolutionary spirit against imperialists trying to recolonise the country through illegal regime change.

"The party and the country should remain vigilant especially when the enemy is trying to intimidate senior Zanu-PF and Government officials through these attacks. As party leadership in the province we wish Cde Shiri a quick recovery so that he comes back to front and fight for the defence of the country," he said.

He said the period that Zimbabwe is in required people of Cde Shiri’s resolute leadership who, with distinction, had lead during the war of liberation, post independence and during the Third Chimurenga.

Cde Dinha said the attacks would not cower the leadership to surrender to the whims of the imperialists but

would actually strengthen them in the fight to defend the gains of the liberation

struggle.

Air Marshal Shiri was shot and injured last Saturday evening by unidentified gunmen who ambushed him while he was driving to his farm.

Air Marshal Shiri survived the assassination attempt, which occurred at around 8:30pm. He suffered a gunshot wound on the right palm and is receiving treatment at a Harare hospital.

Government said the attempt on Air Marshal Shiri appeared to be part of targeted terror attacks to destabilise the country.

The assassination attempt came after several bombing incidents across the country including the bombing of Harare Central Police Station, the Manyame River road and rail bridges, and CID headquarters, a pattern of bombings that began soon after the MDC-T announced a ‘defiance’ campaign last year.