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Blessings Chidakwa, Harare Bureau
Zanu-PF party yesterday condemned the barbaric act of violence that rocked Murehwa captured in a video circulating on social media saying the perpetrators were hired individuals to further a nefarious agenda of soiling the image of party, President Mnangagwa and the Second Republic.
The ruling party Mashonaland East chairperson Cde Daniel Garwe distanced the hooligans from Zanu-PF party or any members of its affiliates as further evidenced in the video since they are never identified by word or clothing belonging to the peace loving revolutionary party.
In a statement yesterday, Cde Garwe said the province has noted with great concern the video purportedly showing a group of individuals physically abusing elderly people in Murehwa captured on camera saying they had gathered for a meeting for one of the opposition political parties in the country.
“Apart from the disgusting physical abuse captured in the video, the province is disturbed by allegations that the perpetrators are Zanu-PF members acting on behalf of unidentified bosses. The province hereby distances itself from the individuals in the viral video.
“They are neither members of Zanu-PF Mashonaland East Province nor any known affiliate and were clearly hired to further nefarious agendas including soiling the image of His Excellency President Emmerson Mnangagwa and the Second Republic,” he said.
Cde Garwe said these individuals are not identified anywhere in the video by word or clothing as members of the peace-loving Zanu-PF party.
“It is therefore presumptuous, hasty and even sinister, to rush to brand them as Zanu-PF members given that we are in an election season often fraught with all sorts of chicanery.
“The opposition Citizens Coalition for Change propensity to stage-manage “political violence” incidents ahead of elections is well documented and some of their senior officials are currently before the courts for such lies,” he said.
Cde Garwe said the possibility that the Murehwa incident was also stage-managed to draw negative international attention should not be discounted at this point.
In terms of stage-managing events, the opposition has mastered the art since during last harmonised elections working in cahoots with NGOs they were exposed after alleging that a “dead” protester was found in the dock.
Our publication in 2019 exposed that Tinashe Kaitano (then 20 years old) was in the dock after being convicted of arson for setting ablaze a Zanu-PF administrative office in Kadoma yet NGOs and the opposition had released a list of dead people during the election period claiming that he was shot dead by security forces and buried in Rimuka.
Bongani Ndlovu