 Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) deputy leader Thokozani Khupe said party president Morgan Tsvangirai was in neighbouring South Africa on business and was expected back in Zimbabwe this week.
 Morgan Tsvangirai is in South Africa right now and has not sought any asylum, Khupe said to quash widespread speculation in Harare that the MDC leader had fled the country fearing for his life.
 Some reports had suggested Tsvangirai, who attended the Lusaka regional summit that discussed Zimbabwe’s election stalemate last Saturday, has sought asylum in neighbouring Botswana while others said he was seeking refuge in the West.
 But Khupe said violence was on the rise against the MDC. She said at least one MDC activists was murdered by suspected ZANU PF militants while at least 20 supporters of the opposition party were admitted at various hospitals across the country after suffering injuries from attacks by militants of Mugabe’s party.
 One of our activists Tapiwa Mugwada of Hurungwe was killed recently by ZANU PF supporters and we have received many reports of people being assaulted for supporting the MDC, said Khupe.
 Most of those assaulted are supporters living in the country’s rural areas, Khupe said. – ZimOnline.
MDC calls for stay-awayÂ
 HARARE – Zimbabwe’s opposition has called for an indefinite work boycott beginning today to put pressure on election authorities to release results for a presidential election held more than two weeks ago.
 Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) party vice-president Thokozani Khupe urged Zimbabweans to stay at home to protest against delays by the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) to release results of the March 29 poll that President Robert Mugabe is believed to have lost.
 We are calling on the people of Zimbabwe to speak against ZEC’s failure to release the results. We are calling for a mass stay-away until the results are released, Khupe told a press briefing in Harare.
 The call for stay-away comes soon after the High Court ruled on Monday that it would not force ZEC to release the results of the presidential vote.
 The MDC was anticipating that the court would force ZEC to announce the results and thereby ending an election deadlock that the opposition has warned could lead to violence and bloodshed.
 The opposition party, which has already claimed victory, has accused Mugabe, who has ruled Zimbabwe since the country’s independence from Britain in 1980, of holding back the release of the results while he prepares to launch a campaign of violence to cow voters to back him in an anticipated second round run-off ballot.
 Khupe said the MDC would also push to block the recounting of votes ordered by ZEC in 23 constituencies allegedly at the instigation of Mugabe’s ruling ZANU PF party.
 The opposition official said it would be illegal to recount votes because the law says such recounts should have been ordered within 48 hours after the announcement of the results.
 Khupe said attempts to intervene in Zimbabwe by regional leaders, who held an emergency summit to discuss the election stalemate, were welcome and necessary to help end the crisis.
 The MDC deputy leader however, expressed concern at increasing violence and human rights abuses against supporters of the opposition party.
 Khupe said at least one MDC activists was murdered by suspected ZANU PF militants while at least 20 supporters of the opposition party were admitted at various hospitals in after suffering injuries from attacks by militants of Mugabe’s party.
 One of our activists Tapiwa Mugwada of Hurungwe was killed recently by ZANU PF supporters and we have received many reports of people being assaulted for supporting the MDC, said Khupe.
 Most of those assaulted are supporters living in the country’s rural areas, Khupe said. – ZimOnline.
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