Upenyu Chaota
ZAKA – Memories of Movement for Democratic Change (MDC-T) supporters who were petrol-bombed and killed by Zanu-PF in 2008 are still fresh and party supporters declared war against former Vice President Joice Mujuru, who is now leading the Zimbabwe People First party (ZimPF) for the massacre, saying they will not forgive her since she was holding a powerful position in the ruling party then.
Addressing party supporters at a rally held at Gumbo Business Centre over the weekend, all speakers said Mujuru should be held accountable for the gory murders perpetrated by Zanu-PF in Zaka before they insisted that Morgan Tsvangirai will lead the grand coalition in 2018 elections.
Although all political parties working under the National Election Reforms Agenda (NERA) were expecting to agree on the leader of the grand coalition with Zimbabwe People First leader and former Vice President Joice Mujuru being seen as befitting candidate to be the face of the coalition, top MDC-T officials said Tsvangirai will not be challenged.
MDC-T Vice President Engineer Elias Mudzuri, who was addressing people from his home area for the first time as a VP, bitterly explained how Zanu-PF, including Mujuru, who was the party’s Vice President, killed people in Zaka in 2008.
Mudzuri said the people of Zaka will never forgive Zanu-PF and it would be therefore improper to have Mujuru as a leader of the coalition when she was part of the squad that killed and tortured many people in Zaka.
He further urged the people from rural areas to be brave and fight back once they are provoked by Zanu-PF supporters.
In an exclusive interview with TellZim News soon after the rally, Mudzuri said NERA was not part of the proposed grand coalition.
“We cannot talk of a coalition today, no… it is still way too early but what I know is that we are just working together in pushing for election reforms and nothing beyond that. Our candidate for 2018 is known . .. we are going with Morgan Tsvangirai,” said Mudzuri
Meanwhile, another MDC-T Vice President, Nelson Chamisa, recently told party supporters in Chipinge that the MDC-T under the leadership of Morgan Tsvangirai has the highest stakes in the grand coalition scheme as it is the only party to have defeated Mugabe in the past and therefore, has to be treated better than the other ‘smaller’ parties.
“We said all the parties that are saying Mugabe must go should come and work together but they should know that when the plate of sadza is presented, there is a first born and a last born. What does that mean? It means there has to be one who eats first and others who eat last.
“All the parties be it ZimPF, Tendai Biti’s PDP or Elton Mangoma’s RDZ and many others should come to agree on one presidential candidate and as the MDC-T we believe that candidate should be Tsvangirai and the rest must follow behind.
“Tsvangirai was the first person to teach Mugabe that elections can be lost. He is the only person who Mugabe and Zanu-PF fear and the only person who has no match in Zanu-PF in a free and fair election,” said Chamisa.
He said it was the other parties that must leave their forts and come under the MDC-T umbrella as his party will not dissolve itself for the sake of a coalition in 2018.
“We cannot destroy a well-oiled party like ours because we are going somewhere else, no. We cannot be fooled like that. Other parties must come and join us. MDC-T is the only party in Zimbabwe.
“Other parties may come but they are just like the bridal team and MDC-T is the bride and groom. You can ululate for the bridal team but don’t throw presents at them,” said Chamisa.
MDC-T national executive member Takanai Mureyi urged party supporters to be united and defeat Zanu-PF.
“This is the time that we must be more united than never before.
“We must destroy all real or perceived factions because Tsvangirai does not work with factions… its our time to do all that we can as we work for our party. I promise that 2018 will be our year and the ground work starts now. Lets not talk about positions but what we can do for the party,” said Mureyi in Zaka.news
