Zanu behind violence – MDC

ce in a desperate attempt to implicate his party and its members in the assault, which has been widely condemned by the President of the MDC Morgan Tsvangirai, the secretary general Tendai Biti, as well as the women’s and youth leagues.
“The police are now fumbling to get to the bottom of this matter and we believe it is only because the perpetrators of this heinous and shameful act belong to Zanu (PF). They are using propaganda to derail our focus.
“Since the event, a number of MDC members including the MP for Mabvuku, Timothy Mubawu, have been tried, condemned and sentenced by The Herald,” he said.
Chamisa said the inordinate amount of publicity given to the assault by the “state-owned propaganda machine” was in itself a cause for suspicion. “There has been a story and photos every day in which The Herald has flouted all journalistic norms in its attempts to implicate the MDC,” he said.
“For the record, MDC members Tererai Todini, Tonderai Ndira, Ernest Gengezha and Tendai Chidziva, who were arrested last week for allegedly attacking Mrs Stevenson were released on Saturday for lack of evidence linking them to the case. But The Herald continues to peddle lie that they are in police custody and will appear in court.”
Chamisa said that while the five men were in custody, the police seemed far more interested in finding out more about the planned mass protests than the assault incident.
“They were surprised that the police focused mainly on finding out which members of the armed forces were in touch with the MDC leadership and exactly when the protests would begin.”
When the men asked why they were being arrested, the police told them they were ‘getting instructions from above’.
Chamisa said the events surrounding the assault were reminiscent of the Cain Nkala murder case of 2001, when MDC members were arrested and spent nearly two years in jail before the courts eventually acquitted them. The judge confirmed that they had been tortured and the police had doctored evidence to incriminate them. Fletcher Ndulini-Ncube, MP, lost an eye while in prison.
“The state media had a field day – they tried these men and found them guilty. The true murderers are still at large,” added Chamisa.
“We are convinced that Zanu (PF) was the author of the violence in Mabvuku. Trudy is a member of the MDC and the party has an obligation to protect its membership. It is the responsibility of the police to protect citizens and we note that the police failed to protect innocent and defenceless citizens, particularly women and children. To date, 400 members of the MDC have been killed at the hands of Zanu PF and the assailants are still roaming freely and continue to commit other crimes with impunity.”
He said state security agents had launched an unprecedented terror crusade on MDC members in Mabvuku.
“The police continue to mislead the nation that the MDC has “safe houses” in Greendale and Mabvuku without providing any shred of evidence. Zanu PF vigilantes, state security agents and one Gabriel Chaibva are moving around the houses of all known MDC members in Mabvuku, terrorizing them and accusing them of attacking Mrs Stevenson.
“We also note with concern that Mubhawu is now being implicated in this case for allegedly being the owner of the ‘blue truck’ that was used by the assailants. For the record, he does not have a blue truck and he was attending a church service at the time the alleged assault was carried out.”