Million men march was a flop, says MDC-T

The arrival … President Robert Mugabe and wife, Grace

“A few thousand people, most of whom had been commandeered to travel to Harare to attend the puerile and utterly purposeless march, turned up for this non-event.

“In fact, it was a rented crowd whose main agenda was to massage the ego of a nonagenarian who has run down the former Jewel of Africa. What a big yawn, the march was!” read part of the MDC-T statement issued Thursday.

The MDC-T said while Mugabe can afford to rig the elections he can never rig the economy. The party said Zanu PF forced public schools and other institutions to provide transport for their march.

The statement said schools from Mashonaland West province were commandeered to provide transport for the march with Chegutu district providing 9 buses from different schools, Makonde 6, Kariba 2, Hurungwe 5, Sanyati 7, Zvimba 7 while Mhondoro Ngezi High provided one bus.

The MDC-T said when they staged their “mother of all demonstrations” in April, no less than 20 000 people voluntarily took part in the historic march and no single school or public institution was commandeered to provide transport for the marchers.

“MDC never coerced and/or extorted money and any other material resources from anyone,” said the statement.

The opposition party accused Zanu PF of operating like a bandit organization.

“We have vendors operating from Mbare-Musika in Harare who were forced and commandeered to participate in the spurious and fascist march.”

The party urged the long- suffering Zimbabweans to resolutely refuse to pay homage to a brutal and totalitarian political system that has pauperised and traumatized them over the past 36 years.

“We say a very big NO to the Zanu PF dictatorship! We should stand up for our rights and refuse to be intimidated and threatened by an illegitimate and corrupt regime that is in the sunset of its life,” added MDC-T.

“Enough is enough! The people of Zimbabwe should appreciate the fact that the Zanu PF regime is now living on borrowed time. No matter how much repression and suppression is brought upon the toiling masses of Zimbabwe by the crumbling Zanu PF regime, the MDC urges the people to democratically and fearlessly fight for the establishment of an equal and egalitarian society in which the rights of all citizens are upheld and respected.”