adminMkoba, Mr Amos Chibaya had thrown a party after winning primary elections. Drunken youths who probably had taken one too many later exchanged blows.
Mr Chibaya confirmed that he threw a party in Mkoba at the weekend but said he was not aware of the clashes.
“Yes, I hosted a party in which I was celebrating winning the right to represent the party in Mkoba constituency for another term. There was a lot of beer and meat,” he said.
“I slaughtered two beasts and the beer was plenty and I don’t know of the clashes which are being alleged. If there was any fight, it had nothing to do with the shortage of beer because there was plenty. People could have fought because they were drunk,” he said.
Sources, however, said the clashes arose after the youths could not agree on how to share beer to take home after the party.
“The youths could not agree on how to share the beer which they wanted to take home. The fight then broke out and later it degenerated into running battles as the youths threw stones at each other,” said a witness.
The witness said the clashes were not reported to the police hence no one was arrested.
The Midlands capital was recently in the throes of MDC-T violence amid reports of vote-buying and rigging.
The party’s supporters blocked Mr Piniel Denga (MDC-T Mashonaland East chairman) who had come to supervise the polls, from entering Gafa grounds in Mtapa residential area, the venue of the polls.
Party members were chanting slogans denouncing the Deputy Minister of Local, Government, Rural and Urban Development Mr Sesil Zvidzai for vote buying and rigging during the primary elections against the sitting legislator Mr Roderick Rutsvara.
The youths were chanting slogans wielding placards that read: “Zvidzai wakaitei uri mayor . . . we want (Mr Morgan) Tsvangirai here . . . where is democracy?”
MDC-T primaries were generally marred by violent scenes amid reports these were spillovers from the wave of inter and intra-party political violence launched by the party 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 district the poll.
Harmonised elections are due at the end of the month.
The MDC-T 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.
The MDC-T violence intensified after the announcement of the party’s primary elections.
Online Reporter