TENSIONS remained high in Chitungwiza following weekend clashes between police and MDC youths, with hundreds of riot police patrolling the dormitory town, which the opposition party leadership called a campaign of terror and warned that they would not be intimidated.<\/p>\n
Zengeza West MP Job Sikhala, who is reportedly being sought by the police in connection with the clashes, went to his rural home following the outbreak of violence on Saturday, but told NewsDay that he would attend a court hearing today for 11 MDC youths that were arrested on Saturday.<\/p>\n
The clashes followed a raid by the police on Sikhala\u2019s St Mary\u2019s home early Saturday morning.<\/p>\n
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\nWhen NewsDay visited the town, tension was high with riot police patrolling the streets while opposition youths kept a watchful distance.<\/p>\n
MDC deputy president Tendai Biti said the party would not be intimidated despite targeted attacks at the opposition party leadership by security agents and Zanu PF-affiliated pressure groups.<\/p>\n
Biti is one of the several MDC senior officials who have been threatened by the shadowy Zimbabwe Citizens Forum, which is linked to Zanu PF, and said it would occupy the homes of MDC leaders Nelson Chamisa and Sikhala in protest over their alleged involvement in the calling for sanctions against Zimbabwe.<\/p>\n
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\nThe shadowy group blames the MDC leaders for causing the \u201cuntold suffering\u201d of millions of Zimbabweans after they allegedly called for the sanctions imposed by the United States.<\/p>\n
Biti, a former Finance minister during the inclusive government, said they were expecting \u201cthese kind of terror tactics\u201d from Zanu PF, adding that President Emmerson Mnangagwa and Zanu PF were betraying the ethos of the liberation struggle.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are in a struggle and a struggle is not a wedding,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cA struggle is a struggle, so we expect this from Zanu PF because that is what they know, but we are not afraid of them. They can kill us, they can shoot us, they can beat us up, but we will not renege and we will continue prosecuting this struggle.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey are a very desperate regime and it shows the extent to which Emmerson Mnangagwa and his cronies have debased the liberation struggle and the legacy of the liberation struggle.\u201d<\/p>\n
Last week, another Zanu PF-linked group calling itself the Concerned Citizens Movement circulated posters on social media calling for protests at Chamisa\u2019s Gutu rural home, Sikhala\u2019s Chitungwiza home and Biti\u2019s Glen Lorne home.<\/p>\n
Yesterday, the movement\u2019s leader, Taurai Kundishaya, said they could not go to the MDC leadership\u2019s homes this weekend as promised after discovering that the opposition party officials wanted to settle \u201ctheir personal scores\u201d using them.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey now wanted us to target Sikhala because he is now a threat because of his stance on violence in the MDC,\u201d he claimed, adding that they would, instead, \u201cactivate their system\u201d to counter protests by MDC on the streets.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat we are waiting for now is for them to go on the streets and demonstrate against government that is when we will go to their houses because we know the source of our problems as citizens,\u201d Kundishaya said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe want to take over power from these people in the MDC and hand it over to the President. He is the face of the country, so we want to take power to the President and not to these people.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt will happen anytime soon,\u201d he warned while denying any links with Zanu PF, but confirming their support for Mnangagwa.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have nothing to do with politics, but our issue is that when ED promised to build Zimbabwe, Biti said he was going to make sure that Zimbabwe gets nothing. Our reason to go to their houses is that Chamisa said tirikudira jecha musadza (we will spoil ED\u2019s rule). We just want to go to his house to eat what he eats because we know there is no sand in his food. We are just visiting en masse.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are just citizens from different groupings, including churches, women organisations, youth groups, and we had tents donated to us. We have transport donated to us to move around so we are just waiting for the time,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
When the police raided Sikhala\u2019s St Mary\u2019s home, the legislator said he was told by one officer that they had come to picket at the house as promised.<\/p>\n
Sikhala said he had identified one of the uniformed police officers as a known Zanu PF activist in the area.<\/p>\n
He claimed the arrested youths did nothing wrong, adding that he was harassed by the police officers for no apparent reason, triggering the violence.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
TENSIONS remained high in Chitungwiza following weekend clashes between police and MDC youths, with hundreds of riot police patrolling the dormitory town, which the opposition party leadership called a campaign of terror and warned that they would not be intimidated. Zengeza West MP Job Sikhala, who is reportedly being sought by the police in connection […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":13393,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,10],"tags":[38,113,88],"class_list":{"0":"post-20216","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-all-news","8":"category-parties","9":"tag-zanu-pf","10":"tag-chamisa","11":"tag-mdc"},"yoast_head":"\n