BULAWAYO - An anonymous caller has revealed an attempt to kill an MDC youth leader and her colleagues. Tsepiso Mpofu claims she was called by someone who gloated how, on September 28, a Zanu vehicle almost hit a truck belonging to the MDC. The caller is reported to have said: Izolo besifuna ukulibulala nge accident. Sinikwe ama $20 ngelanga ukuthi singene ku Constitution (Yesterday we wanted to kill you in a motor vehicle accident. We were each given $20 per day to attend COPAC outreach meetings).
Mpofu traced the line to Zanu (PF) headquarters in Bulawayo.
It became obvious that they were Zanu (PF), said Mpofu, because they were referring to incidents that happened in the last constitutional parliamentary committee (COPAC) outreach meeting we attended on September 28, at Lozikheyi Primary School in Nguboyenja township. We also traced the numberswhich appeared on my phone after the anonymous calls. The first number was picked up at Davis Hall. The second produced a message saying it was a restricted code.
Mpofu alleges that, when the two parties met at Lozikheyi Primary School, Zanu (PF) members were spoiling for a fight. Trouble started after Prosper Mhlophe, an MDC youth, drew up a chair to sit on. Zanu (PF) members rose up at once, with their leader shouting, Usuthethe isithulo sethu. Sizakugangada (You have taken our chair. We will crush you).
Police immediately arrested Mhlophe and another MDC activist, Simbarashe Chakauya, allegedly for remonstrating with Zanu (PF) members.
After the meeting, a truck ferrying Zanu members appeared to lose control outside Nguboyenja police station. The vehicle lunged straight for the MDC vehicles right fender and missed. Thanks to MDC driver, Doubt Nyoni, who applied emergency brakes, no-one was killed.
Asked to confirm the incident, Nyoni said: Yes, I recall that near miss. I had 15 people on board. Thank God. I would have been sorry to their families and taken all the blame.
Mpofu said she only learnt much later that the near accident was not an innocent miss. The anonymous caller said it himself: Izolo besifuna ukulibulala nge accident.
Tensions apparently mounted at the start of the meeting when Zanu members allegedly insulted COPAC rapporteur and MDC leader Eddie Cross. They shouted at him saying: Bhunu khuluma isiNdebele (White man speak Ndebele!)
When the MDC responded, saying: Hambani liyotshela uMugabe ukuthi akhulume isiNdebele ezimfeni. Limutshele engakhulumi isikhiwa (Go and tell Mugabe to speak Ndebele at funerals. Tell him not to speak English), pandemonium broke out.
Post published in: World News