My hands are clean — Tsvangirai
MDC-T leader Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai has challenged his political rival, President Robert Mugabe and Zanu PF to come clean on violence and openly prove to Zimbabweans that their hands were not dripping with blood of opponents killed in the former ruling party’s violent campaigns.
Addressing party supporters in Brunapeg, 118km outside Plumtree in Matabeleland South Province on Wednesday, Tsvangirai said: “My hands have no blood, I am not the one who killed people during Gukurahundi, during Murambatsvina and close to 500 people killed during the bloody 2008 elections because they belong to a different political party.
“They (his hands) are clean and my conscience is also clear . . . can Zanu PF and (President) Mugabe stand before people and say our hands are clean?”
Zanu PF has repeatedly blamed MDC-T for orchestrating violence and recently reportedly told Sadc leaders, the Premier’s party was behind the orgy of violence that gripped the country in the last few months.
But, Tsvangirai said the skirmishes were State-sponsored and in most cases led by Zanu PF elements within the country’s security sector.
“The violence we condemn is the State-sponsored one . . . those institutions (army and police) are meant to protect all Zimbabweans but that is not the case,” he said.
Human rights groups have said close to 20 000 people — mainly supporters of President Mugabe’s former chief rival, the late Vice-President Joshua Nkomo based in Matabeleland and Midlands — were killed and thousands more driven away from their homes during a crack military operation commonly known as Gukurahundi in the early 1980s.
Although President Mugabe has acknowledged the incidents and described the atrocities as “a moment of madness”, the Zanu PF leader has repeatedly snubbed calls for him to publicly apologise for the massacres.
Tsvangirai said Zanu PF was ruling by decree, adding the party was an illegitimate coalition government partner after losing to the MDC-T in the March 2008 harmonised election.
Asked for comment Presidential spokesperson George Charamba said: “We’ll react after you run your story.”
Information minister Webster Shamu requested a face-to-face interview over the issue.
Presidential Affairs minister Didymus Mutasa and Zanu PF spokesperson Rugare Gumbo could not be reached for comment.
“They (his hands) are clean and my conscience is also clear . . . can Zanu PF and (President) Mugabe stand before people and say our hands are clean?”
Zanu PF has repeatedly blamed MDC-T for orchestrating violence and recently reportedly told Sadc leaders, the Premier’s party was behind the orgy of violence that gripped the country in the last few months.
But, Tsvangirai said the skirmishes were State-sponsored and in most cases led by Zanu PF elements within the country’s security sector.
“The violence we condemn is the State-sponsored one . . . those institutions (army and police) are meant to protect all Zimbabweans but that is not the case,” he said.
Human rights groups have said close to 20 000 people — mainly supporters of President Mugabe’s former chief rival, the late Vice-President Joshua Nkomo based in Matabeleland and Midlands — were killed and thousands more driven away from their homes during a crack military operation commonly known as Gukurahundi in the early 1980s.
Although President Mugabe has acknowledged the incidents and described the atrocities as “a moment of madness”, the Zanu PF leader has repeatedly snubbed calls for him to publicly apologise for the massacres.
Tsvangirai said Zanu PF was ruling by decree, adding the party was an illegitimate coalition government partner after losing to the MDC-T in the March 2008 harmonised election.
Asked for comment Presidential spokesperson George Charamba said: “We’ll react after you run your story.”
Information minister Webster Shamu requested a face-to-face interview over the issue.
Presidential Affairs minister Didymus Mutasa and Zanu PF spokesperson Rugare Gumbo could not be reached for comment.
