HARARE - Mike Gwangwava has gone without a job for more than five years, so when a ruling party official offered him a job, he jumped at it. The work was easy to mobilise people to the party's anti sanctions petition signing ceremony. Early Wednesday morning, Gwangava, 26, packed up his lunch of sweet potatoes and left his shanty township for the bustling hub of Mbare, joining ruling party militants who were already there waiting for the gang leader to start the job.
Gwangava candidly acknowledges getting supplied with copious amounts of cheap spirits and weed, five buns and a Cascade, which is a milk and fruit blend, by leaders of Zanu (PF)s Mbare cell. His admission supports accusations by the MDC that the bumper crowd that turned up for the signing ceremony last Wednesday were force-marched by drunk supporters of President Robert Mugabe.
Gwangava said local Zanu (PF) officials paid him $5 to “mobilise” people to the rally, and also promised him free shareholding in a Western-owned company. From 6am, he and fellow youths harvested plenty of people from Mbare, herded them to the venue and received handouts of food and money from party officials, some of whom travelled through the district in trucks and four-wheel-drive vehicles with government license plates.
Other youths, all of them supplied with T shirts and caps, were dispatched to other areas. “Things are difficult. At least I got some money,” said Gwangava, who used to work as salesman in a clothing shop. Mugabe has not directly addressed assertions that his party paid thugs to force-march MDC supporters to his rally.
The MDC Information Department reported that it was inundated by calls from Harare motorists and residents reporting acts of harassment and intimidation “for their reluctance to join the Zanu (PF) side-show and non-event near the Showgrounds in the city.
The MDC said shop-owners in Avondale were forced to temporarily lock up their doors after truckloads of what the MDC claimed to be “drunken Zanu (PF) youths” who allegedly besieged the shopping centre ordering people to attend the campaign.
Gwangava said teams were dispatched to different parts of the capital. Most Harare public transporters were diverted from their normal routes by Zanu (PF) thugs who blocked roads with the help of the police to direct people towards their so-called anti-sanctions campaign, the MDC complained.
Dozens of open lorries and rickety buses commandeered from the rural areas disgorged youths donning Zanu (PF) outfits and chanting the partys slogans. Gwangava said in Mbare, the citys oldest suburb, major public markets were closed.
Abednico Munda of Budiriro 3 is nursing severe injuries after a Zau PF mob accused him of defying orders to attend the campaign. The Zanu (PF) mob found him dancing and singing songs telling how Mugabe and Zanu-PF had ruined his country.
As the buses ferried people from the shopping centre to the venue, Munda called out the political slogans of the Movement for Democratic Change. “Chinja iwe!” The youths turned on him and clobbered him. Munda was bundled into one of the vehicles diverted for Zanu (PF) campaign purpose. He managed to escape after a while to seek medical attention.
Post published in: News