COMMENT - The MDC cannot betray it's origins in the rhodesian security services and their penchant for psychological operations and false flag violence and abductions. Rhodesians like Coltart, Cross, Bennet and Kaye were all over it, and not because they loved democracy any time in their lives. In the early 2000s they committed violence through their Democratic Resistance Committees or DRCs, today they're called Vanguard. - MrK
(PATRIOT ZW) Magombeyi’s fake ‘abduction’ …Vanguard fingered
By admin -October 7, 20190476
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Patriot Reporter
FRESH details have emerged over the so-called ‘abduction’ of Dr Peter Magombeyi.
The 25-year-old Dr Magombeyi, who is also acting president of Zimbabwe Hospital Doctors’ Association (ZHDA), was allegedly ‘abducted’ at his home in Budiriro on September 14 2019.
And five days later, Dr Magombeyi surfaced in Nyabira, a few kilometres from the American Embassy.
A source who has close links to the MDC Alliance revealed that in those five days, Dr Magombeyi was housed at Number 64 Palmer Road in Milton Park.
The property is a lodge, Saita Safaris, and reportedly owned by MDC Alliance vice-president Tendai Biti.
“Dr Magombeyi was at 64 Palmer Road in Milton Park, nzvimbo iyoyo ilodge asi irikushandiswa sesafe house, chero Jacob Mafume naObey Sithole vanotogara ipapo (the place is a lodge which has been turned into a safe house for MDC activists including Jacob Mafume and Obey Sithole,” said the source who preferred to remain anonymous for fear of victimisation.
According to the source, Dr Magombeyi was taken by Vanguard leader Shakespear Mukoyi and one Bunjira.
When The Patriot visited the lodge, the gate was locked.
There was a sign: ‘Gate locked please ring bell’ and ‘Please do not hoot, press intercom’.
But there was no intercom or bell to ring.
The news crew had to knock for 10 minutes before someone attended to the gate.
Striking about the place is the huge precast wall and electric gate.
Inside and out, there is no signage of the name of the lodge.
Only the brown uniforms of housekeepers had a badge bearing the name of the lodge: Saita Lodges.
The news crew caught a glimpse of an EcoCash payment method with the number 0785 832 700. However the housekeepers said they no longer received ecocash payments as their EcoCash line had been blocked.
The EcoCash number is registered to one Winnie Manungo.
Vanguard behind the abductions?
Leaked MDC standing committee minutes revealed that MDC Alliance is reportedly militarily training its youth.
MDC standing committee is the party’s highest decision making body.
The meeting was held on September 18 2018 from 10hr to 13:45hr.
The party’s treasurer-general, David Coltart, was recorded at the meeting calling on the party to make their youths ‘more militant’.
And it is our understanding that there is a team of MDC Alliance youths scheduled to receive military training in Mozambique nex week.
There are reports that the MDC Alliance recently bought 47 unlicensed guns; FA and pistol type.
The MDC Vanguard has a history of violence.
Sometime in 2002, the MDC formed what they called the Democratic Resistance Committee (DRC), a group that was being trained militarily to cause mayhem on innocent people in the name of ‘regime change’.
White farmers then shared spaces on their farms to train these youths and this training was being allegedly led by the late Roy Bennett (late ex-MP).
The DRC morphed into the Vanguard.
Anyone who underestimated the nature of the militancy of the MDC did so at his/her own peril.
And Vangaurd is led by Mukoyi, the same person who is said to have ‘abducted’ Dr Magombeyi.
Who is Shakespear Mukoyi?
Mukoyi is an MDC Alliance member and leader of the MDC Alliance’s militia known as the Vanguard.
For long, MDC Alliance would deny the existence of Vanguard until last year in May when Mukoyi let the cat out of the bag.
The youth militia is known for ‘carrying an AK 47 and threatening to kill his rivals with it’. Running to the 2018 primary elections in the MDC Alliance, Mukoyi threatened to ‘kill Hwende’ if he (Mukoyi) was not elected House of Assembly Member for Kuwadzana East.
Charlton Hwende was running for the same seat.
Hwende took to facebook to raise alarm after being threatened with death by Mukoyi.
“I received disturbing news that my opponent was moving around with a gun threatening to shoot me. I am mentioning it here so that if anything happens to me people will know what happened to me,” he wrote.
Mukoyi claimed the constituency had apparently been given to him by the party’s presidential candidate, Nelson Chamisa, as a ‘token of appreciation’ after
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he helped him ascend to the party’s presidency.
He helped Chamisa by carrying out acts of violence on Thokozani Khupe.
In 2017, in Bulawayo, members of the Vanguard were implicated in violence at that party’s offices where Khupe and her supporters were holding a meeting.
In February 2018, at the late Morgan Tsvangirai’s burial in Buhera, members of the group allegedly tried to set, on fire, a hut where Khupe and other MDC-T leaders had sought refuge.
The following month, the group was fingered, again, in acts of violence at that party’s offices in Bulawayo.
And, indeed, Mukoyi succeeded in pushing Chamisa to power through violence.
It is reported the gun-wielding Mukoyi slept in a hall where primaries were supposed to be held and threatened to ‘kill someone’ if he was not elected MP.
He is said to have declared that he had already won and no voting would take place, forcing the cancellation of the primary elections.
Mukoyi reportedly vowed he would not allow Chamisa to ‘dump him now after all he has done for him’.
Mukoyi is widely believed to have been Chamisa’s henchman and enforcer ever since the latter took over the reins at the opposition party.
And Hwende also confirmed on his facebook page that the primaries had been disrupted by the Vanguard; posting: “I would like to let you know that our primary election in Kuwadzana east was stopped by the so called vanguard youths led by their leader who was my opponent in the election…I hope the party will look into this matter as my safety is now a matter of concern.”
Ironically, the MDC-Alliance leadership, including Hwende, have all along been claiming the Vanguard is not a violent grouping despite repeated attacks on former MDC-T deputy president, Thokozani Khupe.
On April 9 2017, Mukoyi was arrested and charged for allegedly assaulting a police officer, Emmanuel Jeketera, with clenched fists and booted feet in Glen Norah but was later acquitted at the Mbare Magistrates’ Courts.
Mukoyi was arrested during a church service to pray for peace at the Nazarene Church in Glen Norah.
Prosecutors alleged Jeketera suffered a swollen lower lip and lacerations of the lower lip as a result of the assault.
He has a pending case of carrying an AK-47 during the January disturbances this year.
A litany of violence
At the Chatham House, MDC was built on the philosophy of violence as one of the key strategies for effecting regime change.
In 2000, Tsvangirai was quoted on BBC programme of September 30 saying:
“If you (President Mugabe) do not want to go peacefully, we will remove you violently.”
In 2005, Paul Temba Nyathi of the other MDC made this assessment: “Tsvangirai’s followers seem to be saying to themselves that they can win elections by beating people and by using the crudest methods of intimidation.”
And on July 3 2005, a meeting was held in Bulawayo between the Bulawayo Agenda (BA) and its sponsors the Konrad Adeneur Foundation of Germany (KAD).
It is at that meeting KAD told the BA that they would no longer fund organs which ‘concentrated on talk shows’.
However, they would readily fund ‘brave’ organisations that engage in demonstrations to remove the Government from power.
KAD made it clear that money would be availed only to programmes of confrontation.
In pursuant to the funder’s request, in 2007, the Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP) raided Harvest House, the MDC headquarters.
They recovered 2 000 sharp and piercing objects used in making incendiary bombs, two shortwave radios, 43 Zimbabwe passports with South Africa visa application forms, eight loud hailers, 104 spray guns, propaganda videos and cassettes.
This was just the beginning as the ZRP were to be swamped with reports of political violence, some turning into murder cases.
For example, the killing of Police Inspector Petros Mutedzi in Glen View 3, Harare, in May 2011.
In March 2007 alone, the MDC youths were credited with committing some of the most violent crimes listed below as can be confirmed by police records:
λ March 12: Petrol bombing of Zimbabwe Republic Police, Unit N Police Camp in Chitungwiza.
λ March 13: Petrol bombing of ZANU PF branch chairman’s house in Unit L, Chitungwiza.
λ March 13: A Zimbabwe National Army member and flea market vendors were assaulted by MDC youths.
λ March 13: Petrol bombing of Nehanda Police Post in Mkoba, Gweru.
λ March 14: Four MDC youths petrol-bombed a police officer’s house at Marimba Park Police Station, seriously injuring three female officers.
λ March 18: Petrol bombing of House Number 11 Zanu Yotonga Street, in Zengeza, Chitungwiza, on wrong intelligence that it belonged to a ZANU PF councillor of the area.
λ March 19: A crossborder Toyota Coaster (AAZ 3976) ferrying shoppers from Botswana was stoned and burned at Kuwadzana roundabout along Bulawayo Road, the list is endless.
λ March 23: Petrol bombing of Chisamba Police Station in Sakubva, Mutare.
λ March 23: House Number 2002 Gwinyai Street, St Mary’s, was petrol bombed. The house belonged to a ZANU PF district treasurer.
λ March 24: Muchada Supermarket and Pfukwa Night Club in Warren Park D were petrol bombed. The owner is a well-known ZANU PF member.
λ March 27: Petrol bombing of ZANU PF’s Joshua Nkomo offices in Mbare, Harare, by five MDC youths destroying all the furniture in the process.
λ March 29: House number 6847 Western Triangle, Highfields, was bombed believing it belonged to a ZNA member when it did not.
λ March 30: Petrol bombing of Gumbas Wholesalers on Leopold Takawira Street.
λ March 30: A Mazda B2500 pick-up (647-515V) belonging to a ZANU-PF supporter was petrol bombed at Current Shopping Centre in Budiriro 5.
λ April 3: ZINASU petrol bombed UZ Complexes One and Four dining halls, shattering all windows. The roof collapsed following the attack.
The above cases are an indication that violence is in the MDC’s DNA.
Labels: DEMOCRATIC RESISTANCE COMMITTEES, MDC, MDC VIOLENCE, VANGUARD
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COMMENT: More subversion and sabotage from the MDC - MrK.
(PATRIOT ZW) Plot to destabilise Zim
By Golden Guvamatanga -October 11, 20190236
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THE MDC Alliance, in collaboration with the US Government, has embarked on a fresh two-pronged plan to destabilise the country and bring it to the UN agenda with a view of sending a supposed ‘peacekeeping mission’ to Harare, this publication can reveal.
Information at hand shows that the plan involves launching sporadic but violent attacks in the country’s high density suburbs to galvanise the masses to rise against Government.
Going under the banner ‘Free Zimbabwe Campaign’, the plan also involves a sit-in at the country’s strategic offices, including Munhumutapa Building which houses President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s offices.
The sit-in project is drawn from Venezuelan opposition leader and American-sponsored Juan Guaido’s failed plan to unseat President Nicolas Maduro using the same strategy.
Insiders within the MDC Alliance told this publication that funding for the ‘Free Zimbabwe Campaign’ has been secured, with a senior party official working in cahoots with a former youth leader to set the project in motion.
The senior MDC Alliance official, famed for selling the illicit brew commonly referred to as ‘Bronco’, is said to be the holder of the purse for key party programmes and has an account in Namibia, a country he frequently visits.
But it is in Zimbabwe where real action, according to the US’ wishes, is supposed to be.
The US Government, on the other hand, is working round the clock to tarnish President Mnangagwa’s re-engagement efforts on the international scene through presenting Zimbabwe as a pariah state that has little regard for human rights.
The Government of Zimbabwe has been on an aggressive re-engagement drive that has seen SADC coming on board on Harare’s side against Western-sponsored economic sanctions.
The US, however, denies it has imposed sanctions on Zimbabwe, instead preferring to call them ‘restrictive’ or targeted measures.
Those denials have, since December 21 2001, armed the MDC Alliance with ammunition to accuse Government of failing to develop the economy and calling on its members to violently confront the authorities.
And the MDC has been consistent on the violence front, with a record that stretches as far back as 2002.
The violent confrontation plan was laid bare by MDC Alliance leader Nelson Chamisa during his party’s 20th anniversary on September 20 2019 at Rufaro Stadium.
On September 18 2019, the party’s standing committee held a meeting at Harvest House where it was agreed that the opposition party’s youths had to be more ‘militant’ in their demonstrations.
The MDC Alliance’s violent streak was also displayed during the January 14-16 2019 violent demonstrations where there was rampant looting of shops and burning of cars and property by the party’s marauding youths.
Speaking at Rufaro Stadium, Chamisa stated that his party would be taking the Government ‘head on’, a statement that drew wild cheers from his visibly intoxicated youths.
“What we are saying is, wait and see. We will not have our demonstrations banned,” he said.
“All progressive forces must converge; so we want teachers, students, workers, churches and political parties to come together and have a ‘free Zimbabwe campaign’.
Zimbabwe is facing critical power, fuel and water shortages, and a sharp rise in the cost of living, which is not matched by disposable income.
If we call for a demo, will you come?
We want to plan in such a way that we will not go home.
We want to do a sustainable demo until we achieve what we want. December is too far.”
The threats follow the courts’ decision to ban the MDC Alliance demonstrations on August 16 2019.
This was after security services detected that the opposition was planning to destroy property and burn service stations.
US Ambassador to Zimbabwe Brian Nichols was implicated as the brains behind the August 16 2019 failed demonstration.
The following is an August 18 2019 report by The Sunday Mail which exposed Nichols role in the failed demonstration:
“Sources said Ambassador Nichols, his deputy Thomas Hastings and regional security officer Patrick Bellinger, including Mrs Nichols and Mrs Hastings, met MDC deputy chairperson Job Sikhala on Thursday — the eve of the planned demonstrations – at the latter’s home in St Mary’s, Chitungwiza.
Mr Nichols left after 30 minutes.
In their engagement with Sikhala, the American diplomats urged the MDC to go ahead with the demonstrations until their demands were met. They assured him (Sikhala) that the US was watching the developments and would impose punitive measures should Government arrest or assault the protestors,’ said the sources.”
But the US has yet to give up on punishing Zimbabwe.
On October 1 2019, the US eEbassy in Harare proudly admitted to having curtailed the sale of Zimbabwe diamonds on the international market.
Curiously, the US cited ‘forced labour’ as the reason for the withholding of the diamonds.
Said the Embassy:
“US Customs and Border Protection issued a Withhold Release Order for artisanal rough cut diamonds from Zimbabwe’s Marange diamonds fields on October 1 2019 due to evidence of forced labour, US law prohibits importation of goods made with forced labour.”
While the US saw sense, with hindsight, the damage had already been done and in future it might be difficult to sell those (diamonds) for very obvious reasons.
Parallels and overlaps
There are striking similiraties between Chamisa and the late MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai’s Free Zimbabwe Campaign and Save Zimbabwe Campaign respectively.
Both are drawn from the same template.
On March 17 2006, Tsvangirai’s MDC was beginning its two- day convention in Harare which would adopt a programme of further destabilising Zimbabwe.
Called ‘democratic resistance’ (DRC), the programme aimed to sabotage the country and throw it into anarchy.
From March 2006, right up to March 2007, Tsvangirai and his faction of the MDC embarked on a whirlwind tour of Zimbabwe’s cities, all the time making it clear this was a build- up to the mass action.
An indicator of the rising Western belief in the inevitable success of his (Chamisa) new strategy was a major prognosis published by Harvard’s African Policy Journal which projected the unseating of President Mugabe and ZANU PF as foregone, urging the West to urgently prepare for a post-Mugabe era.
Revealingly titled, ‘After Mugabe: Applying post-conflict recovery lessons to Zimbabwe’, the article, authored by two neo-liberal warrior policy advisors to the Bush administration, Todd Moss and Stewart Patrick, predicted, ‘a major transition anytime’, with ‘change (coming) without much warning’.
It warned the US Government and other donors against being ‘caught flat-footed’ by this change, urging them to ‘start planning now for possible responses to a transition in Zimbabwe’.
Describing Zimbabwe as a ‘post-conflict situation’, the paper intimated that such preliminary preparations would be ‘catalytic’ to the transition itself.
To date, Zimbabwe is still being described as a ‘post-conflict situation’ while the MDC Alliance continues on its violent path.
America’s ever intrusive hand
A few years ago, Washington also bankrolled the disgraced Archbishop Pius Ncube’s repeated travels around the world, which had no financial implications to the local Catholic Church or the Vatican.
This was before they went public with their programme of destabilising Zimbabwe.
In its State Department report, Supporting Human Rights and Democracy: The US Record 2006, released in Washington DC on April 5 2007, the US proudly admitted to subverting President Mugabe’s Government and to supporting the opposition (MDC).
It added:
“To further strengthen pro-democracy elements, the US Government continues to support the efforts of the political opposition, the media, and civil society to create and defend democratic space and to support persons who criticise the Government (of President Mugabe).”
The report itemised the following US subversion strategies:
Direct funding to the opposition MDC.
Direct funding to MDC- affiliated international and national NGOs.
Direct funding to human rights groups affiliated to the opposition.
Direct support to the labour union, ZCTU, from which the MDC emerged.
Direct funding to committees of Parliament.
Direct funding to various forums critical of the Government of Zimbabwe.
Hostile extra-territorial broadcasts targeting Zimbabwe through VOA’s Studio 7.
At the presentation of the study in Johannesburg (South Africa) in May 2006, Tony Hawkins, a former University of Zimbabwe Economics lecturer and advisory figure to most scenario-building models on Zimbabwe, underlined both his expectations and frustrations:
“In political democracies, prolonged economic decline almost sparks political change, through the ballot box or more radical confrontation on the streets,” Hawkins said then.
American funding was also visible in the now infamous ‘Christian Alliance’ of 2007.
The Christian Alliance hosted both factions of the MDC, the NCA, ZCTU, Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition, Women/Men of Zimbabwe Arise (WOZA/MOZA), Zimbabwe National Students Union (ZINASU), Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights, Zimbabwe Doctors for Human Rights, Media Alliance and political NGOs.
The US also sponsored the creation and funding of community newspapers in urban townships, especially in Harare, Kwekwe, Gweru, Masvingo and Bulawayo, where opposition action was expected.
For rural areas, it sought to rely on its illegal broadcasts through its VOA Studio 7 station which came in to complement similar broadcasts from The Netherlands (Voice of the People) and from the UK (SW Radio).
The US Embassy funding of Church institutions and figures included that of the Christian Alliance headed by Bishop Kadenge and Archbishop Pius Ncube’s South African-based Solidarity Peace Trust.
While all these strategies have failed to work, Zimbabweans must always be armed with the knowledge that the West is after Zimbabwe’s resources.
That is why they want regime change.
Labels: MDC ALLIANCE, MDC VIOLENCE, VANGUARD
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COMMENT - The best analysis of the situation is by The Herald:
"the timing of the demonstrations and their violent nature were meant to influence the European Union (EU) to maintain illegal sanctions on Zimbabwe."
Mr Chaibva, a former MDC official, said this had always been the opposition party’s agenda.
“It is the continuation of the MDC-Alliance agenda of August 1, 2018 of trying to make the country ungovernable. The MDC-Alliance are in pursuit of a foreign agenda which started in 2001 – the regime change agenda and the imposition of illegal economic sanctions. It explains the timing of the disturbances when the President is in Eastern Europe and soon in Switzerland. The EU is meeting soon to review economic sanctions on Zimbabwe. They must therefore find an excuse for extension of the sanctions, citing alleged deterioration of the human rights situation in Zimbabwe. It also explains why they are anxious to petition that the President should not attend the Davos summit,” said Mr Chaibva.
He added: “Let us not be under any illusion that the regime change protagonists are at rest. They are expanding their efforts.”
(HERALD ZW) Protests weren’t about fuel prices . . .broader political plot exposed
A motorist weaves his way past rocks that had been used by MDC rioters to block the road in Harare on Monday
Herald Reporter
The MDC-Alliance instigated violent protests witnessed early this week had nothing to do with an increase in the price of fuel or high cost of living among Zimbabweans, but part of the broader attempt at effecting illegal regime change, analysts said yesterday.
The timing of the protests, targeting of police stations for attacks, inflating of the number of victims by non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and petitions to the international community, among other shenanigans by those who initiated the demonstrations, all point to a poorly-concealed political agenda oiled by the country’s traditional foes.
“The fuel issue was only manipulated as a trigger to long-standing efforts to internationalise domestic politics in Zimbabwe in a manner skewed in favour of the MDC-Alliance,” said political analyst, Mr Goodwine Mureriwa.
He said MDC-Alliance was trying to reinforce a false argument that the post-election outcome produced an illegitimate Zanu-PF Government.
He questioned why, if President Mnangagwa’s economic policies were not working, he was not being given the chance to fail instead of engaging in disruptive behaviour.
Mr Mureriwa also said the timing of the demonstrations and their violent nature were meant to influence the European Union (EU) to maintain illegal sanctions on Zimbabwe.
He said it was also aimed at the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) to impose illegal sanctions on the country.
“This explains why the so-called Zimbabwe Doctors for Human Rights is inflating the number of those injured to create a pretext for intervention on humanitarian grounds. They want to create a pretext for abuse of human rights, violation of the rule of law and to paint the whole politics of Zimbabwe as undemocratic,” added Mr Mureriwa.
He said this also explained why the demonstrators deliberately targeted police stations for attack.
“They targeted police stations for attack so as to provoke a firm response by the police that could lead to many casualties. Their objective will not be achieved without dead bodies and to strengthen their resolve, they also had to bomb their own offices (Harvest House) to portray Zanu-PF as a doctor of violence, violence which they instigated,” said Mr Mureriwa.
Another analyst who refused to be named said the violent protests were also “to throw spanners in President Mnangagwa’s engagement and re-engagement efforts for Zimbabwe to remain a pariah State”.
He said geopolitically, there were countries which were not happy about the close ties President Mnangagwa was forging with Eurasia due to the lukewarm attitude of the West despite all his reform efforts.
President Mnangagwa is in Eastern Europe on an engagement drive that will also see him in Davos, Switzerland, for the World Economic Forum.
Another political analysts, Mr Gabriel Chaibva, applauded the security forces for exercising the highest standards of self-restraint in the face of provocation by opposition forces “itching for dead bodies” so as to create a human rights situation in Zimbabwe and the resultant international consequences.
“There is nothing as provocative as trying to get a gun from a soldier or attacking a police station. They were hoping for many dead bodies that would justify their outcry about human rights violations. Let us forget their lie that the protests were about economics. There is a broader political agenda to overthrow Government through unconstitutional means,” said Mr Chaibva.
Mr Chaibva, a former MDC official, said this had always been the opposition party’s agenda.
“It is the continuation of the MDC-Alliance agenda of August 1, 2018 of trying to make the country ungovernable. The MDC-Alliance are in pursuit of a foreign agenda which started in 2001 – the regime change agenda and the imposition of illegal economic sanctions. It explains the timing of the disturbances when the President is in Eastern Europe and soon in Switzerland. The EU is meeting soon to review economic sanctions on Zimbabwe. They must therefore find an excuse for extension of the sanctions, citing alleged deterioration of the human rights situation in Zimbabwe. It also explains why they are anxious to petition that the President should not attend the Davos summit,” said Mr Chaibva.
He added: “Let us not be under any illusion that the regime change protagonists are at rest. They are expanding their efforts.”
Mr Richard Mahomva said the MDC-Alliance and its partners were hiding behind the new fuel price to cause chaos.
“The violent response to what was an inevitable policy position on the fuel price was a concerted agenda to perpetuate the legacy of 1 August. It is the same old approach of manipulating gullible public emotional outrage to stage a war with ZANU-PF. The underpinning matter here is not the fuel price rise; it is about finding an opportunity to give traction to the ZANU-PF illegitimacy crusade post the 2018 elections,” said Mr Mahomva.
“As one would note, the shutdown plan only excelled in urban opposition hotspots, hence the outcry on the internet jam. From the outset, there was no constructive mechanism to engage a policy alternative and one notes that this is part of the long promised measure by the opposition to make the country ungovernable. Of note is the opposition’s hidden hand in the recent plunder just as was the case in August,” he said.
The Herald is reliably informed that the protests were funded to the tune of US$2 million by a foreign power and were supposed to leave at least 200 people dead.
This, it was planned, would then see the UN Security Council intervening on humanitarian grounds.
Labels: EMMERSON MNANGAGWA, MDC VIOLENCE, ZANU-PF
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(NEWZIMBABWE) Govt committing gender violence: MDC-T
12/12/2013 00:00:00
by Staff Reporter
COMMENT - This is the new MDC tactic - dressing up in communist symbols, and complain about human rights violations. Ever notice that there are economic sanctions against Zimbabwe, Lucia? You may make more money available to poor women by joining the fight to lift the economic sanctions against Zimbabwe, that your party helped create. They are economic sanctions - now own up to them. - MrK
SELECTIVE distribution of food hand outs by government agencies has led to the deaths of women and children across the country the MDC-T claimed this week.
The party’s shadow minister for women affairs and gender, Lucia Matibenga, has claimed that inhuman treatment of women by law enforcement agents was on the increase.
“However, as the world tries to tackle this social humiliation in our homes, the MDC notes with serious concerns that the state has become an actor and perpetrator in various ways,” Matibenga said in a statement marking the end of 16 days of activism against Gender Based Violence (GBV).
“Thousands of women and children in rural areas are sleeping on empty stomachs as the state is distributing food packs and agricultural inputs in a partisan and discriminatory manner.”
Matibenga lamented the lack of basic healthcare facilities for women and their children adding that more women and children are dying from preventable diseases.
“The MDC is further worried by the inhuman treatment of women especially by law enforcement agents,” she said.
“Most women are being arrested and subjected to torture for vending in order to eke a living, for crossing borders to neighboring countries to order goods for resale in Zimbabwe or for peacefully demonstrating over the availability of affordable hygienic materials they use.”
Zimbabweans suffered under a decade-long economic crisis that forced an estimated 3 million citizens into exile where majority of them have resorted to doing menial jobs.
Said the MDC-T official: “It is cruel for the State to force women to pay for maternity fees and at the same time ask them to fork out exorbitant cancer treatment fees, which is leading to the death of more women when this could be averted if we had a caring government.”
The State has also failed to provide employment for millions of its citizens as well as eradicate grinding poverty because of mismanagement, she added.
“The MDC regards all this as state-sponsored GBV and the MDC’s position is that the State has a role to play in creating a peaceful and conducive environment which minimises all forms of GBV.”
In the past police have engaged in running battles with women’s groups such as Katswe Sistahood and Women of Zimbabwe Arise over demonstrations in Harare and Bulawayo. A number of women demonstrating against non-payment of salaries to their spouses by Hwange Colliery Company resulted in the injury of some while others ended in prison.
Labels: MDC, MDC VIOLENCE, POLITICAL VIOLENCE
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(NEWZIMBABWE, SAPA) Explosives found at Beitbridge border post
19/11/2013 00:00:00
by SAPA
EXPLOSIVES devices were found on a bus entering South Africa at the Beit bridge border post on Tuesday, South Africa police said.
Thirteen blasting cartridges and 13 connector cap fuses were discovered on a bus during a routine check, police spokesman Brigadier Hangwani Mulaudzi said.
“No arrests have been made and all passengers will be questioned.”
Mulaudzi said similar devices were found in a woman's possession last month. She was carrying 26 plastic cartridges and 100 detonators on a bus travelling from Zimbabwe.
Labels: HANGWANI MULAUDZI, MDC VIOLENCE, TERRORISM, THIRD FORCE
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(NEWZIMBABWE, REUTERS) Demonstrations and mass action are options: MDC-T
02/08/2013 00:00:00
by Reuters
PRIME Minister Morgan Tsvangirai’s MDC-T party said Friday it could take to the streets to challenge President Robert Mugabe's victory in an election it rejects as a farce and which faces scepticism from the West.
No results of the presidential vote on July 31 have been announced. But Mugabe's Zanu PF has already claimed a resounding win and interim tallies of the parliamentary count suggest a massive victory for the 89-year-old.
While the African Union's monitoring mission chief has called Wednesday's peaceful polls generally "free and fair" - Western observers were kept out by Harare - domestic monitors have described them as "seriously compromised" by registration flaws that may have disenfranchised up to a million people.
Observers from the Southern African Development Community (SADC) described the elections as "free and peaceful" and called on MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai to accept the result.
Tsvangirai, who faces political annihilation in his third attempt to oust Mugabe at the ballot box, has already denounced the election as a "huge farce" marked by polling day irregularities and intimidation by Zanu PF.
Western rejection of the regional African verdict on the election could stir tensions with the continent, while acceptance of Mugabe's victory will be slammed in countries where he is derided as a ruthless despot responsible for rights abuses and trashing the economy.
The mood on the streets of the capital Harare was subdued on Friday as the MDC-T's top leadership met at its headquarters to chart their next move, with everything from a legal challenge to street protests on the table.
"Demonstrations and mass action are options," party spokesman Douglas Mwonzora said.
Some disappointed voters expressed disbelief at the election outcome.
"This is daylight robbery, but I think the MDC should have realized that, without violence, Zanu PF would still do something to cheat," said McDonald Sibanda, a 34-year old insurance salesman.
"I'm disgusted by all this."
An MDC protest campaign against the results could elicit a fierce response from security forces and pro-Mugabe militias, who were accused of killing 200 MDC supporters after Mugabe lost the first round of the last election in 2008.
"We didn't expect this to happen," one senior MDC official who lost his seat told Reuters. "We're gutted."
Former colonial ruler Britain, a sharp critic of Mugabe in the past, said it was concerned that Zimbabwe had not enacted important electoral reforms before the vote and by reports that large numbers of voters had been turned away.
The U.S. government, which maintains sanctions in place against Mugabe, said "a peaceful and orderly election day does not by itself guarantee a free and fair outcome".
"Now the critical test is whether voting tabulation is conducted in a credible and transparent manner, and whether the outcome truly reflects the will of the people of Zimbabwe," U.S. State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf said in Washington.
Europe and the United States now face the awkward decision of what to do with the sanctions they have in place against Mugabe and his inner circle.
The Western scepticism contrasted with the assessment made by the AU election observer team leader, former Nigerian military leader and civilian president Olusegun Obasanjo, who while acknowledging "minor incidents" surrounding the July 31 poll said they were not enough to affect the overall result.
Obasanjo, whose own re-election in Nigeria in 2003 was marked by violence and widespread fraud allegations, broadly declared Zimbabwe's elections 'free and fair' on Wednesday within half an hour of the polls closing. He repeated that line after a meeting with Mugabe on Thursday.
Tsvangirai has emphatically called the election "not credible" and appealed to the AU to investigate.
But Obasanjo declined to comment on his assertion, calling him "an interested party".
The AU verdict, echoed by President Jacob Zuma of Zimbabwe's powerful neighbour South Africa, suggest the MDC's appeals for external pressure on Mugabe may be falling on deaf ears
Zuma, main guarantor of the unity government in Zimbabwe brokered after the 2008 unrest, focused on the orderly conduct of the poll. He ignored Mugabe's refusal to heed calls from the MDC and international observers to reform bias in the state media and security forces, conditions specifically stipulated in the unity administration deal.
"Something good has happened in Zimbabwe. The elections were so peaceful," he told the SABC state broadcaster.
But a Mugabe victory would pose problems for the West.
"This leaves the EU and U.S. in an extremely difficult situation," said Piers Pigou, director of the southern Africa project of International Crisis Group in Johannesburg.
The European Union, which relaxed some sanctions early this year after a new constitution was approved in a referendum, said it was too early to assess the election's fairness.
Given the sanctions, the view from the West is key to the future of the country's economy, which is still struggling with the aftermath of a decade-long slump and hyperinflation that ended in 2009 when the worthless Zimbabwe dollar was scrapped.
Labels: 2013 ELECTIONS (ZW), MDC, MDC VIOLENCE, MORGAN TSVANGIRAI
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(SUNDAY MAIL ZW) MDC-T candidate attacks Zanu-PF supporter
Sunday, 14 July 2013 00:00
Sunday Mail Reporter
A Zanu-PF supporter in Rusape was seriously injured after he was allegedly struck with an iron bar on the head by MDC-T aspiring House of Assembly Member for Makoni West Mr Webber Chinyadza and four of his supporters in the town yesterday. In a statement, national police spokesperson Senior Assistant Commissioner Charity Charamba confirmed receiving the report and identified the victim as Mr Abel Ruponga.
It is understood Mr Ruponga, who was clad in Zanu-PF campaign regalia, had just attended a party rally at Mukuvisi Business Centre. On approaching Ngove Business Centre, the suspects tripped and struck him with an iron bar.
He sustained a deep cut in the head.
“As the Zimbabwe Republic Police, we will not hesitate to arrest all perpetrators of violence regardless of their political affiliation or status,” said Senior Asst Comm Charamba.
“We urge political leaders to be exemplary and urge their supporters to desist from any form of violence.”
Labels: 2013 ELECTIONS (ZW), MDC VIOLENCE
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(SUNDAY MAIL ZW) MDC-T candidate attacks Zanu-PF supporter
Sunday, 14 July 2013 00:00
Sunday Mail Reporter
A Zanu-PF supporter in Rusape was seriously injured after he was allegedly struck with an iron bar on the head by MDC-T aspiring House of Assembly Member for Makoni West Mr Webber Chinyadza and four of his supporters in the town yesterday. In a statement, national police spokesperson Senior Assistant Commissioner Charity Charamba confirmed receiving the report and identified the victim as Mr Abel Ruponga.
It is understood Mr Ruponga, who was clad in Zanu-PF campaign regalia, had just attended a party rally at Mukuvisi Business Centre. On approaching Ngove Business Centre, the suspects tripped and struck him with an iron bar.
He sustained a deep cut in the head.
“As the Zimbabwe Republic Police, we will not hesitate to arrest all perpetrators of violence regardless of their political affiliation or status,” said Senior Asst Comm Charamba.
“We urge political leaders to be exemplary and urge their supporters to desist from any form of violence.”
Labels: ABEL RUPONGA, CHARITY CHARAMBA, MDC VIOLENCE
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(NEWZIMBABWE) Kwinjeh seethes over MDC-T primary election farce
25/06/2013 00:00:00
by Staff Reporter
MDC-T founding member, Grace Kwinjeh, has been left seething after being told she would not represent the party Makoni Central, two weeks after the party advised her she had won primary elections in the constituency.
The former journalist told SW Radio Africa that she is not accepting the sudden turn of events, at a time the MDC-T is rocked by allegations of the imposition canidates and vote irregularities.
It has also emerged that the “purported” winner in the primary election, Patrick Sagandira, has since been arrested following a violence complaint made by Kwinjeh’s election manager Tazviona Marima.
The party was also issuing conflicting messages with organising secretary Nelson Chamisa saying Sangadira had won the vote while Deputy Women’s Affairs Minister Jessie Majome said the election had yet to be concluded.
In a letter of protest addressed to the MDC-T leadership, Kwinjeh said she was not accepting claims she had lost the primary elections and blasted what she described as “double standards” in the party.
“For the record I am not accepting the charade that took place in Makoni Central,” she said.
“I won the last election and when some people found it difficult to announce me the winner, working together with their preferred candidate, they disrupted the process, in order to buy time and get this seat by hook or crook.
“The bulk of Zimbabweans who have lost faith in us as party, have (have done so) because of this kind of behaviour, they judge us not by what we say but we do.”
Last week there were protests at the MDC headquarters when angry demonstrators demanded answers after Elias Jembere, the MDC-T MP for Epworth, was confirmed as the parliamentary candidate after allegedly losing during the primaries.
There have been similar reports of irregularities in almost every province, with some disgruntled party supporters hijacking ballot boxes and burning them in frustration.
Speaking to SWRadio Africa Kwinjeh said she had been told that she was leading the vote with a significant majority in the primary elections which took place two weeks ago but the counting process had to be stopped following disturbances during the vote count.
MDC-T election officials, led by Majome, resumed the counting of the five remaining wards on Saturday, but Kwinjeh said this took place without her election manager and several other supporters as witnesses, due to more disruptions.
“There was violence on Saturday and we have a police report of people again who were badly assaulted by supporters of this candidate (Sagandira). Again the party did not say anything.
“So I just feel there are a lot of double standards at play. Something is going on, something that is just so wrong and I am not accepting it.”
She said more confusing was the fact that Sagandira was announced as the new winner even though election officials claim voting has not taken place in two remaining wards.
“So, on the one hand they are saying this guy has won but on the other hand they are telling districts to prepare so that they finish counting in two wards that are remaining. That is the confusion in the whole process which makes it lose integrity … and it’s really sad for internal party democracy,” Kwinjeh said.
Majome, who is the presiding officer, to SWRadio Africa that elections in Makoni Central were still underway and there is no winner yet as there are still two wards that are still to be counted.
“That election had a first round and preliminary results were announced. I don’t know who told her information that was incorrect and on Saturday we continued and announced preliminary results again,” Majome said.
Meanwhile, Kwinjeh’s supporters are surprised that the well-known activist and rights campaigner, who last year was honoured by her party for her role in coining the party's name, was not among the group of women to benefit from the new proportional representation system.
They also wondered why a long-serving female members like Kwinjeh went through a rigorous nomination processes when former MP Tracy Mutinhiri, who only joined the MDC-T in 2011 following her expulsion from Zanu PF, went through uncontested.
Mutinhiri was selected the party candidate for Marondera East even though the party’s provincial leadership gave the National Executive a damning dossier of her alleged role in the violence that took place in that province when she was the Zanu PF legislator for that area.
Kwinjeh, who was battling it out with five men in her constituency, said she does not know the criteria used to choose candidates. She had hoped her candidature would encourage more women to participate in politics.
Observers point out that Kwinjeh, who is currently living in Brussels, could have been disadvantaged by not being on the ground where she could be in control of the process.
But she insisted that the people of Makoni Central chose her knowing she was out of the country.
“I am a single mother of three. I can’t just pack my bags and go home not knowing what the future of my children is and what is going to happen to them,” she said.
“In 2005 I went to Zimbabwe. I was locked inside. When (Registrar General) Tobaiwa Mudede refused to give me the passport – the records are there at Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights – I could not be with my children for over three years. So the process to get me to Brussels is again another painful testimony.
She said: “I had my farewell party on Saturday. So I am really someone who had one foot on the road to go home. The leaders are aware of this but nobody has said anything. It is almost as if you don’t exist. You are invisible.”
Labels: GRACE KWINJEH, MDC VIOLENCE
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(STICKY) (ALLAFRICA, THE HERALD ZW) Zimbabwe: EU Dumps Tsvangirai
By Caesar Zvayi, 26 June 2013
THE European Union should not pre-occupy itself with who is in power in Zimbabwe, but concentrate on improving the country's political culture and institutions as support for the MDC-T has waned over the years. The revelations, a virtual vote of no confidence in MDC-T's electoral chances, are contained in an EU Parliament policy document titled
"Quick Policy Insight Zimbabwe's 2013 General Elections" that was published on May 28 ahead of the Constitutional Court ruling ordering elections by July 31.
"Government turnover does not guarantee democratic change in Zimbabwe. Zanu-PF lacks democratic roots; but the MDC has, for its part, done little to prove its trustworthiness. Rather than asking who is in power, international analysts might want to put a stronger focus on how to actually improve Zimbabwe's political culture and institutions," reads the document in part.
The EU's Damascene moment, that tallied with several recent surveys pointing to a Zanu-PF victory in the elections, dovetailed with recent statements by senior MDC-T officials who admitted that the majority of Zimbabweans had lost faith in MDC-T because of the party's failure to live up to its rhetoric.
Ex-journalist and MDC-T founding member Grace Kwinjeh laid into the party on her Facebook Wall after being elbowed out of the Makoni Central constituency primary elections which she claimed to have won before being dumped for one Patrick Sagandira.
"The bulk of Zimbabweans who have lost faith in us as a party have because of this kind of behaviour (failing to walk the talk), they judge us not by what we say, but we do. I hope you can bring this to the attention of the party leadership . . . for the record I am not accepting the charade that took place in Makoni Central," she charged.
In a telephone interview from her base in Belgium last night, Kwinjeh confirmed writing to the MDC-T leadership complaining over lack of intra-party democracy.
"I have presented my petition and I'm told the party is sitting and discussing this issue," she said. "So, I am waiting for the party's response."
MDC-T Manicaland provincial chairman Mr Julius Magaramombe, who won the party's primaries in Buhera North, also posted on his Facebook Wall his fear for his life after warning the MDC-T leadership not to be surprised if supporters voted for Zanu-PF.
"A Democratic Party without democracy will pay the ultimate price at the hands of the people . . . folks, I've just discovered that speaking the truth can get you killed, literally. And you know what? I'm ready to die!" he said.
MDC-T, the EU said, had tried to capitalise on public discontent, presenting itself as an alternative to an aged and corrupt Zanu-PF elite culminating in Mr Tsvangirai's lead in the first round of the presidential elections in 2008, but the party had since lost any goodwill it had as public opinion favours Zanu-PF.
"The MDC enjoys backing from many foreign actors in the region and from overseas. Yet the party also faces numerous problems.
"First, its reputation has suffered critical blows from a range of personal lapses by its leader: numerous sexual adventures of 61 year-old Tsvangirai, including the pregnancy of a 23-year old woman and his denial of paternity; reports of growing corruption and financial mismanagement within the MDC headquarters; and Tsvangirai's refusal to accept criticism of his increasingly centralised leadership style," reads the EU report.
" What is more, the MDC's participation in government for more than four years -- although in a weak position -- renders it increasingly difficult to argue that it could bring about a radical turn for the better. Disenchanted with the party's inability to trigger decisive change, many young urbanites -- previously the MDC's most devoted supporters -- have stopped attending the party's once-overcrowded rallies and have sought other arenas to voice their discontent. Pentecostal churches have seen their popularity skyrocket, and new political alternatives have emerged, including the recently revived Zimbabwe African People's Union."
Several recent surveys from the likes of Mass Public Opinion Institute, Freedom House and Afro barometer have pointed to a Zanu-PF victory in the harmonised elections with the latest opinion coming from the leading US think-tank the Council on Foreign Relations that described the prospect of a Zanu-PF loss at the polls as highly unlikely.
The EU report acknowledges this saying; "recent surveys suggest that Zanu-PF by now attracts more public support than the MDC, a total turnaround from 2008/2009. The MDC may yet regain control by forming a coalition with a third party. Yet Tsvangirai's chances of finding a suitable partner appear meagre, since he broke ties with a smaller MDC faction led by Welshman Ncube, and other promising parties are lacking."
The MDC-T attempt to form a grand coalition against Zanu-PF ahead of the elections recently hit a snag with several key allies; among them the NCA, Progressive Teachers Union of Zimbabwe, MDC99, ZCTU Concerned Affiliates and MDC, distancing themselves from the party accusing it of losing direction.
Voting patterns in the Constitutional referendum held mid-March revealed that Zanu-PF strongholds drove the Yes Vote, a development affirmed by statistics released by the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission that showed high voter registration in Zanu-PF strongholds coupled with low figures in urban and peri-urban areas from where the MDC-T drew support over the years.
The MDC-T acknowledged the voter apathy in its election strategy document titled 'Priority Activities ahead of 2013 Election'.
The EU document also lays into the MDC-T's campaign of violence which it said was costing the party support.
"Evidence that MDC youth groups have engaged in violent campaigns has further undermined the party's credibility. The political outlook, as a result, has changed drastically".
The MDC-T has unleashed a wave of intra- and inter-party political violence in a bid to not only trash the political environment to abet its call for poll postponement, but to also provide fodder for its Western allies to discredit the poll. Harmonised elections are scheduled for July 31, with nomination courts for contesting candidates sitting on Friday.
The terror campaign began last year, but was intensified from January, with over 45 cases being recorded countrywide since the beginning of the year.
In all the recorded cases, MDC-T supporters were at the forefront of attacking their colleagues or those from other political parties, especially Zanu-PF.
Labels: CAESAR ZVAYI, EU, MDC, MDC VIOLENCE, MORGAN TSVANGIRAI
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(TALKZIMBABWE) MDC-T protestors storm party HQ
This article was written by Our reporter on 21 June, at 21 : 44 PM
On Friday over 100 MDC-T protestors stormed the party’s headquarters, Harvest House, demanding answers over the imposition of candidates by the party’s leadership.
Reports from Harare say around 12pm on Friday the chanting protesters were outside Harvest House demanding to see party national organising secretary Nelson Chamisa.
The protesters wanted to beat up Chamisa saying he was the one who was leading the imposition of candidates.
Chamisa who was at the party headquarters at the time was secretly whisked away through a secret exit to avoid the angry protestors.
The protest was triggered off by the imposition of Elias Jembere, who is the current MDC-T MP for Epworth, to run again for the constituency. This is despite the fact that Jembere lost during the primaries.
There was violence in Epworth during the MDC-T primary elections. Many of those contesting the elections ran away with ballot boxes. The who exercise was later abandoned.
Protestors at Harvest House carried placards which read “Losers Must Go”, “Democracy Under Attack”, “Chamisa We Need Answers” and “We Want New Elections”.
Efforts to contact MDC-T spokesman, Douglas Mwonzora, proved fruitless
MDC-T primary elections started over a month ago and have been characterised by violence. In Mutare there was violence between supporters of sitting MP Giles Mutsekwa and those of aspiring candidate Arnold Tsunga, a lawyer who has until recently was the Director of the Africa Regional Programme of the International Commission of Jurists.
There was also violence recorded in Lower Gweru, Bulawayo and Vungu where protesters said there was imposition of candidates who were favoured by the party’s leadership, not by the people.
Last week an MDC-T activist Ernest Banda had his home in Highfield, Harare petrol-bombed in the early hours the morning.
Banda said he suspects that his house was attacked by people sent by a member of his MDC-T party who is an aspiring candidate for Highfield West constituency.
He alleged the person had been sending him threats via cellphone text messages, adding that he was targeted as he has links with the sitting member of the House of Assembly Mr Simon Hove.
The matter was reported to ZRP Machipisa under RRB number 1800197.
Labels: MDC VIOLENCE, NELSON CHAMISA
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(HERALD ZW) MDC-T intensifies assault on journalists
Saturday, 08 June 2013 00:00
Lloyd Gumbo Herald Reporter
A JOURNALIST with the Zimbabwe Independent, Herbert Moyo, was yesterday severely assaulted by MDC-T security personnel at Harvest House, the party’s headquarters, while covering a demonstration by MDC-T activists from Sunningdale.
The attack on Moyo came barely 24 hours after MDC-T leader Mr Morgan Tsvangirai’s aides manhandled Chronicle senior reporter Mashudu Netsianda before confiscating his notebook and deleting recordings from his mobile phone.
Netsianda was attacked while covering a meeting between Mr Tsvangirai and the Bulawayo business community.
The attacks come in the wake of Mr Tsvangirai’s threats on media organisations that do not toe his party line.
“You cannot have a newspaper with six articles saying Tsvangirai this and Tsvangirai that. Every day! Regai vakadaro. But musi umwe gava richadambura musungo. That kind of a media has no future in a democratic Zimbabwe. I want to tell you this. Muchadya izvozvo,” Mr Tsvangirai told delegates at MDC-T’s recent policy conference.
Moyo was dragged into the party offices where he was assaulted.
[Herbet Moyo]
Herbet Moyo
“I was taking photographs of the protests using my phone. That is when some guys from MDC-T came to me and ordered me to delete the pictures but I told them I could not because I was performing my duties as a journalist,” Moyo said.
“I told them I was a journalist but they dragged me like a criminal into one of the offices and started assaulting me mainly on my head. While they were beating me, my colleague phoned Douglas Mwonzora (MDC-T spokesperson) who was said to be in South Africa.
“When my attackers heard that Mwonzora was on the phone, they then stopped assaulting me. Mwonzora apologised over the phone. What is ridiculous is that those people tried to disown people who beat me up in their office saying they were vendors. But I asked them if they allowed vendors to just drag people into their offices and beat them up and they could not answer.”
The journalist said people based at Harvest House did not come to his rescue. Moyo however, said he was yet to report the case to the police.
Mr Mwonzora professed ignorance of the incident.
“I am not aware of that. We don’t condone any violence against anyone. Any person who engages in violence has to face the full wrath of the law.
“If indeed this is true then disciplinary action will be taken against any member of the MDC-T who engages in violence. This is clearly a criminal act and the law must take its course,” said Mr Mwonzora.
Zimbabwe Media Commission chairperson, Mr Godfrey Majonga said the commission frowned at organisations that attacked journalists while carrying out their duties.
“Therefore we call upon all political parties that as we head towards the elections they must respect journalists and the law,” he said.
“They must heed the call by President Mugabe and other leaders that we should observe peace. Generally, the commission is calling upon all people to respect journalists as they go about their duties.
“We also request journalists to report fairly and ethically and try not to incite the public through their reportage.”
Misa-Zimbabwe Director, Mr Nhlanhla Ngwenya had no kind words for the MDC-T.
“Our position as Misa-Zimbabwe is that we don’t condone an assault on journalists regardless of which organisation they work for.
“An assault on a journalist who is being victimized in the course of duty can never, whatever the circumstance be condoned.
“It is even worse for a party that all along claimed to promote and protect civil liberties among which is freedom of expression and media freedom.
“We Misa-Zimbabwe, we call upon the leadership of the MDC-T to bring to book all those that have been implicated in the assault and harassment of the two journalists in Harare and Bulawayo respectively. They should walk the talk and that begins with the processes and events with their own control,” said Mr Ngwenya.
ZUJ acting president Michael Chideme condemned the attack while hinting that journalists would boycott activities of violent political parties.
“ZUJ has learnt with a deep sense of pain that attack on Herbert Moyo. The union condemns any form of attack on media workers during the course of their work.
“We call upon political parties to restrain their supporters from engaging in violence. If attacks on the media continue journalists may consider boycotting covering of violent political parties and individuals for an injury to one is an injury to all,” said Chideme.
Efforts to get a comment from Media, Information and Publicity Minister Webster Shamu were fruitless.
Mr Tsvangirai’s outburst against the media courted controversy from media representative bodies for threatening to close media organisations that do not toe his party’s line should he win the forthcoming harmonised elections.
Labels: MDC VIOLENCE
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(STICKY) (NEWZIMBABWE) Why MDC reunification is impossible: Ncube
25/04/2013 00:00:00
by Guthrie Munyuki I Daily News
COMMENT - I've said it a hundred times, but what are the democratic credentials of the MDC? They are a collection of neoliberal grifters, Matabele secessionists, and the remnants of the Rhodesian Front, whose members themselves were part of Rhodesian army units which committed atrocities, if they didn't commit atrocities themselves. There is even footage of Roy Bennet attacking minister Patrick Chinamasa, in parliament. But now many call themselves 'human rights lawyers', just because they try to cling on to their colonial estates.
MDC leader Welshman Ncube says a re-unification of the former opposition party is "impossible" and a coalition with the Morgan Tsvangirai-led party very unlikely because he is unprincipled.
The MDC split in 2005 because of Tsvangirai's failure to tackle violence and intimidation within the party, and his refusal to accept collective decision making, Ncube says in an interview published on Thursday.
“Of course there is a problem. The problems which led to the split remain alive today. They remain unresolved. In fact the cracks are wider today than they were in 2005. The only thing we literally share in common is that we agree that Zanu PF and Mugabe have been bad for the country,” Ncube told the Daily News.
“That’s about all that we agree on. We are not in agreement on just about anything and everything else. The things which divided us in 2005 still divide us today.
People cannot simply say these are personal differences. They are not petty and they are not personal.
They go to the foundation of the MDC itself.
“When we formed the MDC there were things that we agreed on, what we called a programme for change. That programme for change bound us to certain values and principles.
“And those values and principles included that it is an affront on anyone to be subjected to violence in order to secure the support of that person.
“There is no greater affront on the dignity of a human being than to subject a person to violence whether it’s within the family to say you must comply as my wife with my dictates, if you don’t I beat you. In the political arena it’s the same thing.
“If you don’t agree with me I then subject you to violence. It is an affront. It is a basic violation of the dignity of every person. And we agreed that we will never do that as a political party”.
“These are real issues. They are not petty. They are not personal. They are fundamental and if we are going to work together in whatever form, you must be able to address them.
“You can’t duck them or sweep them under the carpet. That’s why we have said and continue to say we regret contentiously any attempt to trivialise those issues into something personal and petty between Morgan and Welshman,” said the former University of Zimbabwe law lecturer.
Ncube charged Tsvangirai promoted violence at Harvest House, the MDC headquarters.
“Our colleagues in the MDC-T only have a rhetorical commitment to anti violence. Day in, day out, beginning with the time of the split, they employ violence.
“In the MDC, by 2005 we were running a militia in the party to abuse, to abduct, to beat up people. There were senior party members who were being abducted and taken to the sixth floor boardroom of Harvest House and stripped naked in front of girls and beaten,” claimed Ncube.
“(Tichaona) Mudzingwa (late former deputy minister of Transport), for instance was stripped naked at the party head office and made to stand on a table to address young people who included girls as young as 20 years, and was beaten.
“Frank Chamunorwa, who is our vice chairperson today, was beaten right at the gate of my house and had his arm broken.
“When the national council said we expel these people, the president of the party (Tsvangirai) said I reinstate them on my own, unilaterally. It simply says we do not have a commitment to the principle of non-violence. It’s a matter of public record that within the party, they use violence as an instrument of getting their way even among themselves.
“Let us go to the core value. We said never again will we have a country which is led by a man who makes decisions alone, who has power to overrule collective decisions. We want to institute collective leadership. What the president of the united MDC (Tsvangirai) did in reinstating those violent youths was overruling a national council decision.”
He said it was false to claim the problems between him and Tsvangirai were personal, insisting abhorrence for violence and corruption were among the issues which put him at odds with the prime minister.
“We identified in the programme for change that what had brought the economy to its knees was that instead of creating wealth the economy was feeding the greed of a few individuals through corruption. You don’t need to look too far, look at any council today controlled by our colleagues in the MDC-T.
“You can’t distinguish the corruption from the Zanu PF corruption and you ask yourself we are not there to replace Mugabe as an individual. We are saying let us replace Mugabe and Zanu PF with a system which is diametrically the opposite to the present one. But we have no confidence our colleagues in the MDC-T have equal commitment,” said Ncube.
“When people talk about reunification which I can rule out as an absolute impossibility, it will not happen. The best you can hope for is some coalition. It must be a coalition based on principles. But you cannot put in a coalition political parties which are at opposite ends of each other because that is where we are”.
The Industry and Commerce minister blamed Tsvangirai for finding comfort in his meetings with President Robert Mugabe which he said were fooling him into a sense of false comfort.
“In our view the prime minister and the MDC-T have been deceived and fooled by the appearance of power and cosiness with Mugabe to think that if you are having tea with Mugabe, you have power and influence.
“And the result of it is that we have seen a merry-go -round where constantly we are chasing our tails. Zanu PF is constantly firing red herrings, flares into the sky and we chase them and leave the real issues. But it’s a red herring constructed by Zanu PF.
“We completed the constitution exercise on July 18 last year. Zanu PF spent six months, from July to January 31, making us chase shadows. If you actually compare the final draft as of January 31 this year to the July 18 draft there is no material difference save for the suspension of two or three clauses from coming into effect until a certain period of time,” observed Ncube.
“But everything else is virtually as it was in July. But we spent six months on a merry-go-round. And it was deliberate, calculated, to waste time so that we do not do the real things that ought to be done. It is the failure to appreciate this Zanu PF strategy that we will be chasing red herrings until the election is unavoidable and the things that we ought to do have not been done.
“And this is our profound disappointment with our colleagues in MDC-T in failing to appreciate how Zanu PF is running rings around them. And they serve you with tea; they make you think you are important because they have included you in the meantime you are being deceived. The strategy of three Ds — delay, deceive and destroy. That’s what being applied to them,” Ncube said.
The apparent lack of unity between the two MDCs, said Ncube, was aiding Mugabe.
“There is no appreciation that the true beneficiary of this is President Mugabe. Tsvangirai doesn’t see that it undermines his own interests and his party and that the only person who stands to benefit from causing this paralysis in the government is the president and the party which has never wanted the GPA implemented from day one, is Zanu PF."
Labels: MDC, MDC VIOLENCE, WELSHMAN NCUBE
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(SUNDAY MAIL ZW) Blows at MDC-T meeting
Sunday, 07 April 2013 00:00
Sunday Mail Reporters
Members of the MDC-T national council last week almost came to blows at a meeting aimed at selecting primary election candidates after a clique that was disqualified from standing in the polls accused the party leadership of not following the proper selection criteria.
The disgruntled council members argued that only those who had been in the party for five years and above were eligible to run for election. However, several officials who do not ordinarily qualify on this criterion alone were cleared for the primaries.
Insiders revealed that national chairman Mr Lovemore Moyo, who chaired the meeting, failed to bring the house to order, resulting in fiery verbal exchanges.
The insiders said although national organising secretary Mr Nelson Chamisa later successfully quelled the situation, most of the disqualified members vowed to either quit the party or vote against it.
Those who win the primary polls slated for later this month will stand for the party at parliamentary or council level.
In an interview last Friday, Mr Chamisa confirmed the meeting was highly charged and that the selection criteria were applied selectively.
“The meeting was highly charged, of course.
“We are a democratic party that allows people to air their views, but, it is a lie to say that people were involved in any fistfights,” he said.
“The selection was done according to service to the party, membership, value addition to the party, integrity, honesty and people with clean hands.
“The general rule was that a person should have served the party for five years or more, but, in some instances, we had to forego this clause to consider how a person can add value to the party.”
Insiders said chaos erupted after the party’s Manicaland provincial chairman, Mr Julius Magarangoma, complained over the procedure through which candidates in his province were selected.
The insiders said Mr Magarangoma was particularly irked that former Daily News Editor Geoffrey Nyarota, who has expressed interest in contesting for the Makoni South House of Assembly seat, was cleared to stand during the primary elections.
They added that most members were unhappy with former Zanu-PF legislator Tracy Mutinhiri as well as ex-radio disc jockeys Eric Knight and Ezra Sibanda being given the green light to contest.
Knight and Sibanda spent the past few years overseas.
“The situation got really ugly as Magarangoma used vulgar language and vehemently opposed the procedure used in the selection process,” said the insiders.
“It is a fact that most members did not agree with the selection process. We were mainly worried why people who have been in the Diaspora were allowed to contest yet other members who have worked tirelessly for the party over the past few years were booted out.”
Contacted for comment, Mr Magarangoma said he only defended some candidates in his province. He, however, refused to shed light on the matter.
“I only spoke about the issues that occurred in my province. I cannot speak for the national council,” he said.
Labels: 2013 ELECTIONS (ZW), LOVEMORE MOYO, MDC, MDC VIOLENCE, NELSON CHAMISA
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Biti accuses Zanu PF of intimidation
17/03/2013 00:00:00
by Staff Reporter I Agencies
ZIMBABWE’S longtime political rivals came together to vote 'Yes' in a referendum to accept a new constitution Saturday, but the rare consensus does not guarantee an end to political violence and intimidation ahead of crucial elections later this year, the prime minister's party said.
Constitutional reform was a key demand of regional leaders mediating in the southern African nation's decade-long political and economic crisis. Reform was also a requirement for fresh elections to end a shaky and acrimonious coalition they brokered after the last violent and disputed national polls in 2008.
The new constitution allows for more democratic reforms that would curb long entrenched presidential powers and punish perpetrators of human rights violations.
However, Tendai Biti, the third ranking official in Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai's party, said Saturday that political intimidation continued into the vote.
Biti said the arrest of a senior provincial official for the Movement for Democratic Change party by President Robert Mugabe's loyalist police on Saturday, casts doubt on the prospect of free and fair elections slated for around July.
Sampson Magunise, the party official in Headlands, was seized by four armed police before referendum polling stations opened in the morning across the country. No reasons for his arrest were given.
"This is illegal and unacceptable but it is typical of the environment we are living in," Biti said.
Magunise's arrest followed attacks on four party's supporters putting up referendum posters in Kariba and scuffles between rival youth groups in Harare and Bulawayo on Friday.
Past elections
Past elections have been marred by violence and alleged vote rigging blamed mostly on Mugabe's Zanu PF party.
Both President Mugabe and Prime Minister Tsvangirai said they voted 'Yes' Saturday after all main party leaders called for the 170-page draft constitution to be adopted.
"We will celebrate a 'Yes' vote but we cannot accept intimidation of any of our members and then declare an election to be credible," Biti said.
Biti said regional polling observers will likely report Saturday's vote as acceptable compared to "low standards of behavior" expected of Zimbabweans seen at previous polls.
"We can't accept mediocrity when it comes to elections that wouldn't be tolerated in other countries" during polling, he said.
He also claimed Zanu PF officials had campaigned for a ‘No’ vote in the Midlands province.
“We have some Zanu PF officials campaigning for a NO vote in the Midlands Province though the three political parties agreed to campaign for a YES vote but because of factionalism in Zanu PF some are campaigning for a NO vote in the Midlands province and have been intimidation voters” he said.
Mugabe said he voted 'Yes' to the home-grown constitution to show how Zimbabwe mapped out its own future without outside interference.
"It gives us the right to determine together which way to govern ourselves," he said.
Mugabe, 89, who led the nation to independence from Britain in 1980, has repeatedly accused Western governments of supporting efforts to oust him.
Mugabe, who voted at a school in western Harare with his wife Grace and his daughter Bona, 22, said he wanted peace in all polling.
Turning point
"Those who want to fight are allowed to if they are boxers or wrestlers, but to go about beating people in the streets, that's not allowed," he said.
Tsvangirai, 61, said a 'Yes' vote marked a new turning point "and one of the most important historical steps" for the country after years of political and economic turmoil. He said it paved the way for a new chapter of the rule of law.
His supporters who have been killed in political violence over the past decade "will rest in peace because this is the most important stage we have been fighting for," Tsvangirai said. "I hope everyone will exercise their vote as a preliminary step to free and fair elections."
Officials said polling was busy in populous districts, and small knots of voters turned out early in remote areas and less populated or wealthier suburbs.
The voting day was announced exactly a month ago, and critics say voters were not given enough time to study the constitutional proposals in detail. About 9,400 voting stations were set up and 12 million ballot papers have been printed. Results are expected within five days.
Abigail Punungwe, a young mother with a baby on her back in a line at one voting station in Harare, said she hadn't read the 170-page draft constitution "but everyone is saying we must vote for it."
Elections monitors say printed copies were woefully inadequate in the two main local languages. Many rural Zimbabweans don't speak or read English. Monitors also pointed to only 200 braille copies being produced for the country's 40,000 blind people.
Cumbersome voters' lists were not used. The country has 6.6 million registered voters, but on Saturday all Zimbabweans over the age of 18 carrying a valid identification document were able to vote during more than 12 hours of polling.
Polling stations using indelible finger ink on the hands of those who have already voted will stay open later into the evening if voters are still in line at the closing time.
Presidential powers
Voting lines over 200 meters long in Harare had tapered off by Saturday afternoon.
Munganyi Nyarai, a polling officer in Mbare, said more young people voted early at her post than in usual elections.
The draft constitution reduces presidential powers to pass authoritarian decrees and paves the way for a National Peace and Reconciliation Commission on past violence and human rights violations.
It also strengthens the bill of rights to protect all Zimbabweans from "torture, cruel, inhumane and degrading treatment or punishment" that would be enforced by a new Constitutional Court with powers above the main existing highest court of appeal, the Supreme Court.
In urging supporters to vote 'Yes,' Mugabe's party says the draft recognizes as irreversible the seizure of thousands of white-owned commercial farms which have since 2000 been handed over to blacks.
Black empowerment programs and the taking of control of foreign-owned mines and businesses by locals would also be irreversible.
Zanu PF says the draft honors fighters who ended colonial rule after a seven-year bush war with white-led troops of the former colony of Rhodesia, as Zimbabwe was known before independence in 1980.
Small groups who have campaigned for a 'No' vote say the referendum is a compromise that doesn't meet the aspirations for change of ordinary Zimbabweans.
"The constitution has been taken over by politicians and doesn't reflect the true wishes of the people. It is a betrayal of generations to come," said voter Philimon Jambaya, 23.
COMMENTS
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mycountrygotlickedinfourwars
Almost all Zimbabweans can read or speak english.Whats the nonsense about Zimbabweans not reading or speaking english.
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Zhiii
You obviously have not been in Zim for a long long time, there are lot of university graduates who can read but have idea of the meaning of legal terminology that the constitution is crafted in. That includes Didymus Mutasa, Tsvangirai and you.
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jongwe
Cry me a river Biti.Pasi nevane ngoromera.But Biti avakunge chimbwa mupengo.Nobody is going take you seriously if you cry wolf all the time.Honestly you just being a b*tch.Thats war mongering.You really rooting for violence.
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Zhiii
The Bill of Rights is of no help to anyone when the judiciary is clearly partisan and knows no justice and the police are an extension of ZANU and know no law. We have yet to leave the jungle of dictatorship. God help Zimbabwe.
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Nkoko365
it is clear by jungle of dictatorship you mean african liberation fathers are bhobhojans
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muchadura
Not a surprise at all that zanu-pf in Midlands campaigned for a no vote to the referendum.
Emmerson munangagwa is behind all that and must be shitting in his pants now.gukurahundi architect,the new incoming constitution won't provide immunity for past crimes..lol.
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RudeChikala
What is no surprise is what you are saying. A storm in an imaginary tea-cup
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RudeChikala
No one dances to a broken record which gets stuck repeating the same rubbish.
As time goes by, all this daily nonsense will be ignored as some of us already do.
I used to worry each time i saw headlines like this but now that almost all of them turned out to be exaggerations, i dont see them the same way now.
Even this latest alleged abduction by armed men will turn out to be someone arrested by uniformed police for a crime he probably committed. Each time this clown opens his mouth, he talks bullfart.
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Nkoko365
in short jongwe ari kuti BITI ari kusura zvake
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bodo_kwete
To be honest how many of you KNOW what is in that constitution? Even the Lancaster papers. How many of you KNOW what is in there? Alll you know are Party slogans
Labels: MDC, MDC VIOLENCE, POLITICAL VIOLENCE, TENDAI BITI
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COMMENT - Arrested in connection with a firebomb attack in Headlands? This could become interesting.
Senior Tsvangirai officials arrested: MDC-T
17/03/2013 00:00:00
by Staff Reporter
THE MDC-T said Sunday three senior officials from Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai had been arrested as police confirmed picking up another party official in Headlands.
In a statement Sunday, the party said: “A total of 15 police officers in plain clothes have raided and are currently searching Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai’s communications office in Avondale, Harare.
“Early this morning, the police arrested three officials from the PM’s office, Thabani Mpofu, Anna Muzvidziwa and Felix Matsinde. Reasons for the arrests and the whereabouts of three are unknown.”
On Saturday, the MDC-T said gunmen also abducted Samson Magumura, the party’s secretary for Headlands, as the country voted on a new constitution amid seething political tensions.
However police later said the gunmen were plainclothes detectives.
Police spokeswoman Charity Charamba told AFP that Magumura had been arrested on charges of attempted murder in connection with a firebomb attack.
He was seized at his home in Headlands before dawn, according to party spokesman Douglas Mwonzora.
"Our district secretary for Headlands was kidnapped this morning. He was taken from his home by armed people," Mwonzora told AFP. Magumura's whereabouts remain unknown.
The MDC suggested his assailants, four armed men driving a white four wheel drive, where linked to President Robert Mugabe's Zanu PF party.
The incident came as polls opened in a key referendum on a new constitution that would curb Mugabe's powers and pave the way for fresh elections.
A "yes" vote is widely expected but political tensions seethed beneath the surface.
The new constitution would for the first time put a definite, if distant, end date on Mugabe's 33-year rule.
A general election slated for later this year is likely to end that often acrimonious power-sharing arrangement between Mugabe and Tsvangirai.
Rights groups fear the government harassment seen ahead of the referendum vote could be a prelude to a more serious crackdown on opponents in the run-up to the general election.
Observers also fear there will not be enough time to apply all the necessary reforms to ensure a healthier political environment before the next elections.
Labels: CHARITY CHARAMBA, MDC VIOLENCE, POLITICAL VIOLENCE
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US condemns attack on Zanu PF man's home
13/03/2013 00:00:00
by Staff Reporter
THE United States on Wednesday condemned a reported petrol bomb attack on the home of an aspiring Zanu PF councillor a day earlier.
William Chapepa was hospitalised with serious burns following the raid on his home in Makoni West, Manicaland Province – it is thought by a single suspect – shortly after 2AM on Tuesday. Police said Chapepa – vying for a council seat in Ward 11 – woke up after a ball of fire landed feet from his bedroom.
On opening the door, he noticed a 5-litre plastic container on fire, picked it up and threw it away. But investigators say a mystery man picked it up and hurled it back at Chapepa, and his clothes caught fire from the petrol spray. He was hospitalised at Rusape Hospital where he remained on Wednesday.
In a statement, the US embassy said it was “deeply concerned about the alleged petrol bombing” which came barely two weeks after the house fire death of a 12-year-old boy in Headlands – originally blamed on Zanu PF militants – but later revealed by police to have been the result of an explosion of tobacco chemicals.
The US embassy said: “As in the case of the death of Christpower Maisiri, the son of an MDC-T Headlands district deputy organising secretary in February, this terrible occurrence is an opportunity for the Zimbabwe Republic Police to conduct a thorough investigation, and, if it is determined to be arson, to hold all responsible for this atrocity to account.
“Swift professional law enforcement work to bring the perpetrators to justice is vital to reassuring Zimbabweans that their political leaders sincerely want, and will insist on, peace and peaceful elections in 2013.”
Zimbabweans vote in a referendum on a new constitution on Saturday. Political leaders are anxious to see the vote pass peacefully, which could augur well for general elections set to be held in July.
Police chief Augustine Chihuri has named Senior Assistant Commissioner Lee Muchemwa as the 2013 elections commander, aiming to avoid a repeat of the June 2008 presidential election run-off which was marred by violence and accusation that the police stood akimbo as militant foot soldiers of President Robert Mugabe’s targeted his rivals.
Muchemwa said Tuesday he had a mandate from Mugabe, who has been speaking out against political violence, to “deal with malcontents and hooligans”.
The US embassy statement added: “As Zimbabwe brings its Global Political Agreement to an end, non-partisan, efficient, and professional law enforcement is critical to gaining the confidence of the Zimbabwean people, neighbouring countries, and the international community.
“Respect for the rule of law and apolitical policing are also essential for creating the conditions for credible and non-violent Zimbabwean elections later this year.”
Labels: AUGUSTINE CHIHURI, MDC VIOLENCE, POLITICAL VIOLENCE
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MDC-T inciting violence: Madhuku
Tuesday, 05 February 2013 14:52
Tinashe Farawo
National Constitutional Assembly (NCA) leader Professor Lovemore Madhuku has accused the MDC-T leadership of fanning violence ahead of the 2013 harmonised elections by using hate language against the party’s political opponents.
Prof Madhuku told The Sunday Mail soon after a Press conference in Harare today (Tuesday) that top party officials “usually take turns” to intimidate anyone who opposes their views.
He said such intolerance was retrogressive, citing slogans targeting particular individuals as constituting hate speech.
He fingered MDC-T secretary-general Mr Tendai Biti and his deputy, Mr Tapiwa Mashakada, among the culprits. Both Mr Biti and Mr Mashakada could not be reached for comment.
“We have heard very disappointing statements from their top leadership. They want us to believe that everyone who is against them is not standing for the country. The language is abusive.
“When we attended the funeral of Professor John Makumbe in Buhera, senior party leaders like Mashakada and Biti took turns to portray any Zimbabwean who does not subscribe to their thinking as unpatriotic.
“They used different words to describe all those who are against them. We do not expect such language. I was shocked by the level of intolerance. That kind of language is irresponsible considering that we are approaching elections.
“I think they are doing a disservice to the country. They are not representing the interests of the people. They have not done anything since they joined the inclusive Government; they have not even created employment.”
Addressing the Press conference, Prof Madhuku said the NCA was against the Draft Constitution compiled by the Constitution Select Committee, arguing that its crafting was not people-driven.
Labels: LOVEMORE MADHUKU, MDC, MDC VIOLENCE
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MDC-T 29 betrayed by colleagues
05/11/2012 00:00:00
by Phyllis Mbanje
THE 29 MDC-T members charged with the murder of a police officer in Harare last year were betrayed by party colleagues, their on-going trial heard Monday.
Principal investigating officer in the case, Detective Chief Inspector Clever Ntini, made the claim when challenged to reveal the identity of police informants by defence lawyer Beatrice Mtetwa.
Glen View MP and MDC-T youth leader, Solomon Madzore, along with 28 other party activists are charged with the murder of Inspector Petros Mutedza in May last year.
The ZRP officer was killed when a police detail responding to reports of an unsanctioned political gathering at a Glen View shopping centre came under attack from dozens of stone-throwing MDC-T activists.
Detective Ntini told the trial, which resumed Monday, that he could not name the informants because they were known to the suspects. He added that investigators also dispensed with the usual identification parade to protect the identity of the witnesses.
"I cannot reveal the informants' identity because they apparently belong to the same party as the 29 accused persons," he said.
"We did not hold an Identification parade because we did not want to risk the identity of the informants."
However, Mtetwa dismissed the detective’s claim and insisted that those arrested were nowhere the scene of the clashes.
She said the 29 suspects fell victim to “political profiling” by the ZRP whereby MDC-T members in police records are just rounded up whenever a crime is committed.
The defence lawyer added that this had seen 45 people being arrested in connection with the murder although police later only charged the 29.
"You used the profiling method just like you do with WOZA, if there is a demonstration you simply pull out the profiles and storm their homes and beat them up," Mtetwa charged.
"In this case you simply showed pictures of the accused to the so called witnesses."
Detective Ntini also told the court that the suspects were identified by undercover cops deployed in the area who included police officers Spencer Nyararai, Solomon Mushaninga, Victor Magutarima.
However, the detective was forced to admit that he was “mixing up issues” when Mtetwa reminded him that the three officers were not plain clothes cops but part of the reaction group led by Inspector Mutedza.
Mtetwa also said two of the officers had since denied witnessing Mutedza’s murder.
"Nyararai has given evidence already and he does not mention ever witnessing the event," she charged.
Detective Ntini had the gallery in stitches when he said, in response: "I could have mixed up issues here."
The MDC-T activists, most of whom have been in custody for more than a year, deny any involvement in Inspector Mutedza’s murder.
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Gono
That is when you will realise that most people are ignorant. Vanofira isiri yavo. Now lemon faced Tsvangison is enjoying his honeymoon in England vamwe muri mujeri and your families dzichikwangwaya nenzara. For what???? President Mugabe and Tsvangison drink tea vese apa imi muchitemana kumalocation over nothing.
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Gari WekuZviyambe
I agree with you Gono. When will people realise that it is not worth it killing or fighting your neighbour because of political differences? We must be able to offer different views in a peaceful manner. We are all passionate about our futures but there is no need to be violent about it. My brother and I have very divergent political views and we argue each time we meet but we do tichiseka. Why country the whole country do the same?
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Gangarahwe Chimutsa
varume chaivo, amadoda esibili? simukai tiverengane!"
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Sipho Sibanda
Well put Gono.Most Zimbo bafoons ! The ugly busy screwing left right and center and what are they doing killing and betraying each each.
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Gono
Zviri kwese. What remains is us the voters to be reasonable and stop fighting. Lets use our power to vote and convince them nema policies.
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Musimwa81
Last time l spoke like this a close friend labelled be ," a person who doesn't believe in anything". Fact of the matter is you are right Gono. If people realized this simple fact they will save themselves a lot of anguish. This is not 1977 and it's not Smith in power. The dynamics are different. Keep your mouth shut, register to vote and come election day go vote. It's as simple as that. Leave the campaigning to Morgan, Robert and Welshman. Thanks to modern gadgets l can hear what they have to say in the safety of my house. If l were in the USA or Botswana, the story would be different. They have no violance associated with their elections. I would take my wife to the rally. In Zim, I wont even bother. In private Politicians are very civil towards each other.... While you fools bash each others' heads in the streets.... and all for what? NOTHING.
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Gono
Sisonke and thanks
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Tony Tagart
Gono I can see you are trying to heap blame on Morgan, Is it not Mugabe's tampering with the legal system which has realized this massive abuse of human rights...if everyone opted out of fighting Ian Smith in the Rhodesian bush war, there would have been no majority rule! There is a bigger picture Gono..you would be crying about being persecuted by white people if many Africans didn't confront the evils of Smith, Russia lost millions of men until they extracted Hitler from a bunker...if you are not ready to face the worst stay out of Politics, even Mugabe spent 11 years in Smiths jail, his son died and he was not allowed to bury him...that is why Mugabe does what he wants he is determined fearless and knows fully well that you are a bunch of cowards!
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Zuda Madhara
What can you say Tony after investing so much on Morgan.
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Gono
The idea is not to put a blame on anyone. What I am saying is that Mugabe and Tsvangirai are not enemies at all. They laugh at each others joke and sometimes joking kuti mudharawa wakura, chimbondisiyirawo chigaro. They are not saints. Kuti akatadza hazvirevi kuti imi mose mopondana. Only certain individuals within his ranks ndiwo nyoka( except amai Mujuru and a few other). The new era yatawa is to have debates based on policies and ideologies and not kuchayana kunga makudo. If I do not like your policy thats me. Dont force me to accept your gay policies or devolution kak. Neither should I force you on minda kuvanhu policy and indegeneousation issues. Just debate why you say black pple cannot run mines. If the majority follows me then I win. Inga President vakataura wani parufu rwaVaMudenge. If they force you to run and attend their rallies, endai nekuti amongst some of us ZanuPF we have thick minded people just like MDC had the likes of uyu we MDC 99. Hapana pamba pasina benzi.
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Jacques Marneweck
Gono, I must say, of all the Zanu people that post here you seem to be civilized. and Even after I read what you said I have no need in my hart to flame you. It is clear to me that you don't support Zanu thanks to hate, It's just because I am sure thanks to what you have seen and the people you interact with that you came to that conclusion. You probably got treated $&*% buy white people in the past and have seen events play of in a way that made Zanu look like they are the good guys that came to the rescue. and I know I could show you a 100 vids that show Zanu hording aid and selling Zimbabwe to the the Chinese and it wont change your mind. But I know its not because your a bad person you have just saw things from a different angle.
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Rafique702
If we all started ignoring our personal hapiness because we have problems everyone would be in perpetual morbid depression.I personally remember certain people trying to convince me and my parents that i should not go watch movies in Zim because we were struggling financially to the point of vilification when I did go out.Who functions like that? Does Mugabe stop eating good food because his people are starving, he has problems of his own...you cant expect the man to be surviving on sadza and boiled cabbage because the boys in the barracks are starving.Sex will still continue as a natural human function, go to Somalia...more and more kids are born.........if pubic hair is going to sprout at the early years of teen age...that is when its going to sprout-tibvirei apa! how many married men in financial trouble in Zim have decided not to f*ck their wives because they feel they don't deserve the pleasure of an orgasm as a result of their situation- to say my brother is in jail, so im not going to f*ck my wife? .The villain here is Mugabe and his partisan grip on the judicial system. When people were being butchered in SA during the Xenophobic attacks Mugabe did not even uttered a word but Morgan was there.......
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Gono
I actually read this 3 times to try to understand your issue particulary as it relates to my post. Ndashaiwa nhanga nyaya. Its a few people like you who cause problem. Vanobvongodza muto to cause confusion. Chakanaka chakanaka mukaka haurungwi. MDC has many good polices and good people. My father and brothers are MDC but I am ZanuPF because ndakaoneswa nhamo nevarungu kudisapsora. We dont fight, but we obectivelly debate and sme of the time they win and I win in some issues. After that we drink and enjoy. Just like Welshman Ncube, he is a good guy in a wrong party. Same as Simba. ZanuPF we lack continuity but we have best policies. MDC is an opportunist party which took advantage due to politics of the stomach (during nation building things are tough). I hope you understand and you dont go viral.
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Rafique702
"Now lemon faced Tsvangison is enjoying his honeymoon in England vamwe muri mujeri and your families dzichikwangwaya nenzara" You are Zanu because you were mishandled by whites in the diaspora?, Mugabe is just as much a devil as those people you refer to in the diaspora.You are the one who is confused...the MDC has good policies...but because some white guys hastled me in the diaspora....I am now voting for a party that has failed for 32 years....the reason why you were forced into the diaspora in the first place is because of Mugabes misrule...dont support this murderer and sociopath who murdered 20 000 people and counting...Mugabe has murdered more black people than whites...go get therapy, tibvire apa....
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Zuda Madhara
Which MDC policies are you saying are good? Kukwirana ndiko unoti policies.
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Kavhu
Psychopath Rhodie, just shut-up !
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BigTings
well said.
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lawrencestoke
Rafiki haumuzivi here. Ndiye mukuru wevawawati pano. Iye nehama yake Joe Rug practice the MDC policy of speak/type first, think later. In fact, I doubt if they ever think at all. They forever defend the indefensible. However they are important for us sane ones. Ndiko kuti tinzwisise kuti "the democratic right" comes with responsibilities. Some claim the right but do not want the responsibility. If you want to vote, its your responsibility to know the facts and analyse them correctly. If any Zimbabwean does so, they will reach the conclusion that MDC and Tsvangirai are not fit for political office. Failing to reach that conclusion is a sign that one is not yet ready to be given the right to vote. Zanu has its faults and we must fix them but you don't chop your hand off because you have an itch.
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Nyikayaramba
You are not Zanu Pf. You are just pretenting yet you are an unhappy MDC supporter. Ukataura language yako iyi kuUMP vanokucheka malips iwayo. Real Zanu Pf pple never say MDC has good policies.
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DJzacks
Ndopamunorasika anaNyikayaramba, inga Gono aedza kutsanangura wani kuti vanhu , musachekane miromo. Nyaya haisi pakuti ita zvandinoda iripafreedom of choice. Hakuna munhu anofanira kurovera mumwe kuti sei uchisupporta ZANU or MDC, thats the bottom, line. whether you are ZANU or MDC, it doesnt matter what matters is the policies and ideology that you sell to people like us undecided voters. I
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Chitsokachemhene
Taura hako, we kill each, each for them to enjoy tea and recognition. We have to stop being foot soldiers.
If opinions of Rudechikala, Jukwa, and Amai jukwa would be translated into action, mutiny in Zimbabwe. Rude is busy x-raying and scanning comments, those that do not support Zanu are vigorously attacked by him or Jukwa and amai ululating. We are Zimbabweans, until and unless we attain political maturity we will not move an inch.
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RudeChikala
According to you & everyone in the MDC party, any one who asks you tough questions or puts you in your place is vigorously attacking you.
That is why we always hear you crying out as victims to anything & everything.
Politics my primitive friend is all about polls & tricks.
A poll is what a number of different people feel about any subject.]
You will never ever get the same opinion from them all & that is where the tricks come in.
It is sometimes referred to as 'Spin'.
Meaning shooting the other's ideas with facts, figures, examples, jokes & anything which exposes the idea or ideas as useless or not well thought through.
If we are succeeding in delivering that blow to you then you are losing the battle.
You're therefore not "victims" but losers.
You are not being attacked but simply being exposed lol!
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Wasp
Again...a masterstroke from you Cde. Chikala!! These immature political buffons need to know that poliTricks is a game for the wise, not for the novices that they are. Let them big guns do what they do best...and the rest get out of the way! Period.
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Toots
What more can I say? What more can I say?
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Hunter
Universal franchise
Office tenure limitation
All parties constituency participation
Secret ballot
Above is true def of politics doesn't rhyme with the party you run away from in Zimbabwe and now spending 24/7 here waffling nonsense .Zanu pf doesn't know what politics is but outright nihilistic killers .
You really need to get off the high horse by purporting to be an analyst .Several users have highlighted this to you here.Every time you blog ,you are subjecting this platform with atrocious nonsense.
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RudeChikala
Iwe Hunter, enda unofa.
The more you criticise me the more ill post what will eat you up even more.
You have obviously taken time to try & intimidate me with your little well arranged poem because i struck a raw nerve in you.
Dont you see how ive managed to affect you all?'
That is the idea you novice text book student. Please keep the feedback coming...
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Hunteer
Unsettled by a misguided parasite who doesn't know the price of milk or bread and spends 24/7,here pleaseeeeeeeee.
You are a glib serial liar ,from economics ,law and politics .Not even an ounce of common sense is ingrained in your brain.Rubbish after another .Daily .
Go and look for a J.O.B .A Jeeza ,Jeeza.And be responsible for once in your life since you come to England ,since fundo yakaramba. Ndosaka muchizopiwa vana vasiri venyu.This time Mukadzi is working her back side and you are here defending a washed up dictator .
Get off that high horse you underestimated your lower IQ .Zanu will never retain outright control of the parliament .The West wants him out and he will go .
They will continue fraustrating and stifling everything Zanuoids put their hands on .Muchapupa ,Ndoda ne technology ye ma Smartphone and YouTube .Click manipulate image and upload .Ma baboons e Zanu munomboziva kuti zvinoitwa sei zve technology ne ma petitions overseas known as pressure groups .
Yes my dear MDC is here to stay .Nekoko Bwaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa.
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bizora2
foot soldiers for the bloody caucasoids!
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Kavhu
Sorry there is no maturity in tolerating HUTENGESI !
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Tsvatu
Hanzi nhamo yemumwe hairambirwe sadza.
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GreenBomber
Sorry guys, I believe most of u r innocent, but still I think that ur persecution is a worthy sacrifice, so that ur boss, the ever so wise PM; His Sexcellency Morgan Richard Tsvangirai, can continue to enjoy life in $3m houses, on top of his Zanu pf wives, & honeymooning in UK even in cold weather.
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Kavhu
Good one nhasi Bomber !
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Rafique702
He is not saying he is voting for Zanu
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Kavhu
Who does not know? Do you expect me to expect honey from a fly?
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Gangarahwe Chimutsa
Rafique come to Zimbabwe tiverengane! Tavakutotanga izvozvi, come one december
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Rafique702
Ibva apa....
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ThurlowsJCJ
Chimutsa urimhata chaiyo nhai?
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Gangarahwe Chimutsa
YOU ARE A TRAITOR.
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Elma Sabundo
Amai zvangu ini kkkkkkkkk
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Sipho Sibanda
For a change something sensible Bomber
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Bob Zim
Mhondi kujeri
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Tobias
VanMukundi! just try to be realistic. People can be killed for the survival of the state and nothing will happen to the killers. Be reminded that only the state thru its various agents have the monopoly of applying violence. The agents are allowed to perpetrate violence for the survival of the state. It happens in any state whether democratic, monarchy or communist. Unfortunately your mates in this case where doing it against the state and not for the state and they will be punished by the state. U can shout, scream or even piss but this is the fact on the ground and cannot be changed by ur comments from the diaspora.
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Matekenya Sabu Hainahurukuro
I say rest in peace to the late police officer, may his soul assist to let the truth come out.
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Mbuya Nehanda
Love Smoking out rhodies anywhere. Hey CHIGUDO!!! good morning!! lol!!
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Munhumutema07
I suspect the police inspector is only trying to instigate intra-party fighting within the MDC. He never sought to verify the claims of informants before pressing charges. The ZRP needs to occupy itself with real work to hunt down the real murderers who are most likely ZANU PF thugs and stop furtively meddling in partisan politics and soliciting for bribes.
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Elma Sabundo
Last I checked another MDC buffoon threatened to kill Chamisa with lightning and it needs no Tsvangirai breaking his leg playing golf with his manhood to know that there's bitter inter- and intra-party fighting within the MDC ndoda nanaMakonese vakati zvavo zii izvezvi hohoho uchanzwa hako kana zvoputika lol.MDC causes chaos and mayhem in Zim but its not aired or published by these pale-controlled media outlets with an agenda hazvitaurwe.MDC are no saints in this dirtiest game of all time,These guys need to smoke out the culprits who killed the officer otherwise they're in for a nice high-jump and if Eliza and Tsvangson are promising to pardon them once in office then hehehehe regai ndiseke zvangu waSabundo.@Munhu weblack ndosaka Mapfumo akaimba "nyaya dzenyika Jojo chenjera" kkkkkkkk
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bizora2
Those MDC-T bandits must face the full wrath of the law. They must be made to feed on their own waste. A security officer was killed in cold blood by this vigilante MDC group and it robbed a family of its father, brother, and son. Please pay no attention to that wh.ooring Mthetwa and her dramatic posturing in court and just give all the 29 life behind the bars. Otherwise just send them to the gallows! We have no peace but endless violence in our midst because of these western sponsored stoogies.
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Kavhu
Very true Comrade. Were Zimbabwe been the USA, these idiots would long back have been linched; BY THE POLICE. Killing a policeman on duty is just not acceptable there. And MDC T morons go to the market day in day out on the Rule of Law in Zimbabwe ?
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Nkalanga
Were Zimbabwe been the USA, the real culprits would by now have been arrested and charged (maybe thanks to CCTV), and the rest of innocent suspects released to go on with their lives. And who knows, were Zimbabwe been the USA, the real killers of Cain Nkala, Chiminya etc would have been found. Your comparison of Zimbabwe and USA is unfortunately not holding, and you just betrayed by your hatred of the MDC-T.
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Kavhu
Saka you want to tell the whole wide -world kuti iwe wakafamba chaizvo kubva kwa,''Chozanazana-Chonanaila'' kwese ukoo, and discovered something called,''Closed Circuit Television'' ? Ndizvo here nayi amunawe?
Now let me tell you what would would have happened to those black n!gger, mo-rucker, MDC T friends had they ever had the misfortune of ever being accused of killing a policeman (black or white but slightly worse in the latter case) in the States. By now they would have been arraigned before a specially selected all-white, mostly male jury, been found guilty as charged and sentenced to an appointment with the Lethal-Injectionman and would if lucky still been on the waiting-list, if not already departed for the here-after.
Labels: MDC VIOLENCE
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