ZAKA -- Villagers in the Bota area of Zaka last Saturday held a traditional prayer ceremony to ask the ancestors to protect the MDC-T leader and give him wisdom on his mission to save Zimbabwe, reports Radio VOP. The radio, which said the local chief Bota led the ceremony, said the villagers decided to hold the ceremony following a recent visit to the area by Tsvangirai to assess the food situation there.
The villagers had unanimously agreed to host a special commemorative ceremony in honour of Tsvangirai who visited the area two weeks ago for the first time on a mission to assess the impact of drought since his assumption of office as Prime Minister in a coalition government with President Robert Mugabe and Deputy Prime Minister Arthur Mutambara of the smaller MDC faction.?
Bota, in the heart of Zaka Central, is one of three constituencies in the district controlled by the MDC-T party and is also one of the areas that bore the brunt of a clampdown on oppossition supporters in the run-up to the discredited June 2008 second round presidential election.
After Tsvangirai visited the area a fortnight ago, Chief Bota convinced his subjects to consider hosting a special ceremony in honour of the popular MDC leader. Chief Bota said it was an honour for him and his subjects to have been visited by Tsvangirai.
”Since his entrance into politics, I had not have the opportunity to see him face to face and only for him to come here recently asking us about the issue of drought and its likely effects.
To us that is what good leaders do, going right down to the people asking them about what they need, that was an honour to us that is why we decided to have this special ceremony in his honour,” Radio VOP quoted Chief Bota as saying.
In a veiled attack on President Robert Mugabe, Chief Bota said he now understood why the MDC leader was always being beaten by the previous government.
”I saw a character in him that convinced me that he was born to lead, he is very passionate about the plight of others especially the poor and I saw for myself why they( previous government) had to beat him the way they did because he identifies with the needs of the common man,” said the chief.
The unassuming Chief Bota, who in a departure from other chiefs who are ardent supporters of Mugabe and Zanu (PF), mantains that he will never tolerate people who use violence to achieve political power.
He disclosed that the assumption of the Premier post by Tsvangirai was a vindication to all those people in his area who were either killed or maimed by Zanu (PF) in the run-up to the bloody presidential run-off held in 2008 but which the MDC leader had to withdraw from due to increased violence on his supporters.
The chief said the ceremony in honour of Tsvangirai was funded by the villagers themselves saying good leaders would always be respected and honoured by their subjects.
Post published in: News