Zanu PF national chairman Simon Khaya Moyo yesterday condemned the weekend murder of an MDC-T activist by suspected Zanu PF supporters in Mudzi and urged police to ensure the perpetrators are brought to book.
In the strongest indication yet that Zanu PF would not shield the suspects, Khaya Moyo said he was happy that they had been arrested.
“The recent death of (Cephas) Magura is regrettable and I am happy to hear that the perpetrators have been apprehended,” he said. Magura — who was 67 — was allegedly stoned to death by suspected Zanu PF supporters while attending an MDC-T rally at Chimukoko business centre on Saturday.
He was an MDC-T ward chairperson in Mudzi North. Magura’s murder took place hardly 24 hours after United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay’s official five-day visit to assess the country’s human rights situation.
Addressing a peace-building conference at Silveira House in Harare, Khaya Moyo said perpetrators of violence should be prosecuted regardless of their political affiliation.
“I hope the perpetrators will be brought to book and face the wrath of the law,” he said.
Incidentally, all the six suspects are Zanu PF supporters from Mudzi district.
“We had to go to war in order to seek peace in this country,” Moyo said.
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“The objective was to attain independence and, of course, to seek peace. Peace can never be just a theoretical concept. It is something that has to be practised. I can assume the motto of our party ‘Unity, Peace and Development’ is very appropriate to a number of developments around our country.
“Without peace I do not see how development can take place. So I have got a challenge not just as an individual, but we have got a challenge as a nation to uphold peace.”
In 2010, Vice-President Joice Mujuru apologised on behalf of Zanu PF saying members behind political violence had alienated the party from communities.
Speaking at the same function, MDC-T national organising secretary Nelson Chamisa blamed politicians who cling to political office and the media for fanning violence.
“Politicians, when they are afraid of leaving office, have the propensity of being violent,” Chamisa said. “They have this departure lounge mentality, more like a last supper mentality where they think, if we do not eat now, we may never eat again. “And this does not apply to Zanu PF alone, it applies to all political parties. The character of violence is not necessarily a Zanu PF, MDC thing, but it might come from sponsors elsewhere or from all the hate speech in the media.”
Meanwhile, the United States embassy in Harare has condemned the violence and disruption of a lawfully sanctioned MDC-T rally in Mudzi.
In a statement, the embassy said: “The United States condemns the Zanu PF thugs responsible for committing these attacks and the members of the Zimbabwe Republic Police who failed to fulfil their official duty to serve and protect their fellow Zimbabweans.”
The MDC-T yesterday said Magura would now be buried on Sunday instead of tomorrow as earlier announced.
