Last week Sibanda was in Nyanga South. Valais Mutero, an MDC-T Nyanga South coordination committee member, said: “Sibanda is here and is causing us sleepless nights. He has ordered village heads to compile a list of MDC-T members and supporters and submit it to war vets in Nyanga.”
In an interview with The Zimbabwean Sibanda denied that he or Zanu (PF) members were responsible for any political violence. “I have always said we are not a violent organisation, but there are some people out there who create stories in order to discredit us,” said Sibanda. Pishai Muchauraya, the MDC-T MP for Makoni South, claimed Sibanda was being paid to do the ‘dirty job’ for the aspiring parliamentarians. “These Zanu (PF) leaders pay him to intimidate our supporters in the constituencies they have earmarked. When the job is done they pay him,” Muchauraya said. He accused Sibanda of being responsible for the disappearance, murder and maiming of many MDC supporters from other provinces, especially Masvingo.
“Sibanda has got a history of violence and I know that Zanu (PF) will regret it if they continue working with him,” he said. “It cannot be ignored that politicians from Zanu (PF), hoping to win seats in next year’s elections, are inciting violence in order to displace their opponents’ supporters. But in so doing they are alienating themselves from the same communities they’re hoping to lead.” He said the only way to end political violence was to bring those behind it to book.
Zanu (PF) performed badly in the province in the 2008 elections, only managing a handful of seats. It has acknowledged that it needs to do a lot in order to regain dominance of the province. The presence of Sibanda in the region could indicate the party’s desperation to mobilise the people into voting Zanu (PF). Since 2010, he has been camping, mainly in Masvingo and Mashonaland West, cajoling people into toing the Zanu (PF) line.
Post published in: News