Tsvangirai cancelled his return to Zimbabwe last Saturday saying 18 military snipers had been tasked by the Joint Operations Command to kill him.
But junior Information minister Bright Matonga and Zanu (PF) spokesman Nathan Shamuyarira both specifically denied that the army or the former ruling party had any plans to assassinate Tsvangirai, whose party ended Zanu (PF)’s parliamentary majority for the first time since independence and also caused Mugabe’s loss in a crunch presidential poll.
MDC secretary general Tendai Biti on Monday told a press conference in Nairobi, the Kenyan capital, that there was a security service hit list that had been drafted.
“They have been killing our people since 1980 and now Mugabe’s military intelligence has compiled a list of 36 to 40 people to be assassinated,” Biti told the news conference. “Top of the list is our leader Morgan Tsvangirai, myself and our spokesman Nelson Chamisa. We know that there is a group of about 18 snipers from the military intelligence who have been assigned to carry out the killing of our leader and the rest of us. But we will not be cowed.”
Matonga, branding Biti an insane person, said the assassination plot was a figment of his imagination.
“It is the kind of nonsense we have come to associate with the MDC and its leadership,” Matonga said. “These are wild and ridiculous claims. Infact it’s madness. There is no such plot. Why would we want to eliminate the MDC leadership? Why?”
Tsvangirai is due to contest the crucial presidential election run off with veteran leader Mugabe on June 27 after the electoral commission said he failed to cross the 50 percent threshold in a first round of voting held on March 29. Tsvangirai inists the won the first round by 50,3 percent.
The MDC says 43 of its supporters have been killed in an intense crackdown the followed the poll with more than 5000 having been internally displaced.
Zanu (PF) spokesman Nathna Samuyarira said: “The allegations by the Tsvangirai-led MDC have no foundation whatsoever except in his own dreams. He is dreaming things that are not existent in Zimbabwe. No one in Zanu (PF) or the government has any intention of killing him. The problem with Tsvangirai is that his statements are directed at big powers in Europe and North America in an attempt to influence them to give him more money and support.”
Post published in: News