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Police were deployed in Shangani area recently following a gold rush in the area about 60km along the Gweru-Bulawayo road.
The witness said the MDC-T members, who had stopped at Shangani business centre, tried to force the panners who had just run away from the police to chant their party slogans.
“This, however, did go down well with the panners who were already angry because they are always involved in running battles with the police. They then started verbally abusing the MDC-T party members while telling them to proceed with their journey and stop forcing them to chant their party slogan,” said the witness.
He said when the MDC-T members, who were in a convoy of six vehicles, started singing and chanting slogans at the business centre, the panners started pelting them with stones resulting in a fierce fight.
The witness said riot police were later called to quell the ugly clashes between the panners and the MDC-T members.
“All the shops were forced to close as the fight took close to 30 minutes and the police later moved in and used teargas to stop the fight. Business was brought to a halt at the business centre for the greater part of Saturday as the panners later mobilised each other and camped at Shangani business centre waiting for the MDC-T party members to return from their celebrations in Bulawayo,” said the witness.
He said the MDC-T members who were coming from the party celebrations, however, later passed through the business centre as police officers deployed in the area closely monitored the situation.
Mr Tsuro, however, dismissed as false allegations that the party members had tried to force the panners to chant the party slogans when the fight broke out.
He said the party members were attacked when they tried to stop and buy some refreshments at Shangani.
“Our team was just attacked unexpectedly when they stopped at the business centre buying some refreshment. Some were injured when they stampeded to get back into their vehicle. A number of them were injured but only two were critically and were taken to Gweru Provincial Hospital. The other member has since been discharged while the other one who is the chairman of Chiwundura district is still in hospital. We visited him today (yesterday) and the situation is bad,” he said.
MDC-T spokesperson, Mr Douglas Mwonzora confirmed the incident, saying the party had engaged the Joint Monitoring Implementation Committee (Jomic) and the police on the matter.
He, however, said they were suspecting that the attack was politically motivated.
“It is true that MDC-T members were attacked at Shangani business centre on their way to the party’s 13th anniversary celebrations in Bulawayo. Three vehicles were stoned and two members of the party were hospitalised.
“We suspect that this was a politically motivated attack and we have since engaged the police. Jomic is also dealing with the matter and we hope justice will prevail,” said Mr Mwonzora.
Efforts to get a comment national police spokesperson Superintendent Andrew Phiri were fruitless as his mobile phone went unanswered yester Meanwhile, MDC-T on Saturday held its celebrations at White City stadium where its leader, Mr Morgan Tsvangirai publicly apologised to a coterie of women he inconvenienced through his sex escapades while ostensibly searching for a new wife.
He said the journey he had travelled just to make his choice had been long and stressful.
He said the bottom line was that he had finally made his choice and he was glad that Ms Elizabeth Macheka had been warmly welcomed and accepted by the party.
Online Reporter