The meeting follows the violent disturbances witnessed on Sunday when members of the notorious ZANU PF Chipangano gang attacked MDC-T supporters preparing for a rally at Chibuku Stadium in Chitungwiza. The gang, which was armed with catapults, iron bars, machetes and stones stormed the venue in the early hours of the morning and attacked those preparing the stadium for the rally.
Tsvangirai is said to have confronted Mugabe over the matter during their weekly Monday meetings but the ZANU PF leader claimed police did not go to the venue because the MDC-T had banned them. Speaking to the state media Mugabe’s spokesman George Charamba claimed:
“The President intimated to him (Tsvangirai) that the Police Commissioner-General was not at the venue of the clashes and had not deployed in Chitungwiza because the MDC-T made it clear to the police that they were not welcome to their meetings as the MDC-T was able to police itself.” Charamba did not explain why the MDC-T would have needed protecting and from whom?
The MDC-T has meanwhile accused a reporter with the state broadcaster of working with the violent Chipangano gang in disrupting the rally in Chitungwiza. Tafara Chikumira, a reporter with the ZBC was apparently “heard communicating constantly with Chipangano gang leader Jim Kunaka” the MDC-T said.
Other perpetrators of the violence were identified as “ZANU PF’s Chitungwiza district coordinating committee (DCC) chairperson, Wilfred Gwekwete, Luke Luke of Ward 25 in Chitungwiza North and Godknows Muzenda, a ZANU PF PF Harare youth provincial member.”
Others fingered in the violence were Nyasha Dziva, Chitungwiza DCC secretary, Dennis Fisher, Lloyd Bhunu, Tichaona Chapfika and Tonderai Kasukuwere, a young brother to Youth Minister Saviour Kasukuwere. Police at Makoni Police Station refused to open dockets for cases reported by the MDC-T.
Instead two MDC-T youths, Julius Marambakutongwa and Kuda Muchemwa have since been arrested on allegations that they were behind the disturbances. The two are detained at St Mary’s Police Station.
Meanwhile several senior MDC-T members have told SW Radio Africa they will not attend the indaba on violence scheduled for Friday. One member accused Tsvangirai of being toyed with by Mugabe, when he knew ZANU PF was the source of the violence and only they needed to stop it.
Another national executive member Charlton Hwende turned to facebook and wrote on his wall “All the talk by Mugabe of calling for a meeting of the Politburos of the main political parties to discuss violence is nonsense. Mugabe and Chihuri must agree and attend our call for a National Day of prayer at the National Sports Stadium before the end of the year. It is now clear that without Divine intervention this country is now on the edge of a precipice.” – SW Radio Africa
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