Zim police detain entire opposition leadership

HARARE - Zimbabwe's opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai and the entire top leadership of his Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) party were still being held by police by late evening on Wednesday.

 MDC spokesman Nelson Chamisa told ZimOnline that the party was planning to send lawyers to Lupane, 140 km north of the second largest city of Bulawayo and where Tsvangirai and other party officials are detained, to establish what exactly was going on.

 The police had by 1900hrs not indicated what charges they planned to bring against Tsvangirai or when they intended to free him.

 So far nothing has been levelled against president Tsvangirai, Chamisa said.

 Police arrested Tsvangirai, his deputy Thokozani Khupe and national chairman Lovemore Moyo as they toured Matabeleland North province to mobilise support ahead of a second round presidential election later this month.

 Tsvangirai starts off as favourite to win the run-off poll that is being held because the MDC leader defeated Mugabe in a March 29 poll but fell short of the margin required to takeover the presidency.

 But political violence has marked campaigning for the run-off poll, amid charges by the MDC that Mugabe has unleashed state security forces and ZANU PF militias to wage violence against the opposition party’s supporters and structures in an attempt to regain the upper hand in the second ballot.

 The opposition party says that at least 50 of its members have been killed in political violence over the past two months while several thousands more had been displaced from their homes.

 And in a statement earlier on Wednesday Chamisa said that suspected ruling ZANU PF party militia petrol-bombed MDC offices at a rural business centre in the southern Masvingo province, killing three of the opposition party’s members.

 Chamisa said four more members were missing after the bombing on Tuesday night at Jerera business centre, while two others were critically injured and were receiving treatment at the church-run St Anthony’s Musiso hospital in the province.

 The MDC spokesman said that the dead party members whose names were not yet available had gunshot wounds and it was suspected that they were first shot before the offices were bombed.

 We have information right now that police from Law and Order have arrived and we hope they will investigate. Three bodies are still in the offices. We are still trying to locate four other bodies. All these people have gunshot wounds, said Chamisa.

 Police spokesman Wayne Bvudzijena was unable to immediately comment on the matter saying he was unaware of the alleged bombing incident. He promised to investigate the alleged killings. – ZimOnline

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