THE MDC –T yesterday said it was still pessimistic of Zanu PF’s commitment to a peaceful election campaign although the latter had bound itself to abide by a code of conduct agreed to by all major political parties.
Report by Richard Muponde Senior Reporter
The code of conduct was recently released by the Organ on National Healing, Reconciliation and Integration to curb incidents of violence during election campaigns.
In an interview yesterday, MDC-T deputy organising secretary Abednigo Bhebhe said it was difficult to believe Zanu PF’s sincerity considering the party’s history of violence.
“We all know Zanu PF is a guerilla party which uses guerilla tactics,” Bhebhe said.
“They might use the code of conduct as a dummy.
“Remember this current constitution does not allow politically sponsored violence, but Zanu PF went on to unleash an orgy of violence. They have always been known to have a history of violence.
“It’s better for them to change their behaviour so that they will be taken seriously.”
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Zanu PF spokesperson Rugare Gumbo dismissed Bhebhe’s claims as ill-informed.
“For the record, we transformed ourselves from being a guerrilla movement to a political party which serves the interests of the people,” said Gumbo.
“We are sincere on peace. President (Robert) Mugabe appeared on television saying the late Vice-President John Nkomo had a slogan ‘Peace begins with me, with you and with us’. That’s what we are telling our people.”
In the run-up to the June 2008 presidential election run-off, Zanu PF supporters allegedly killed more than 200 MDC-T members, but the former sole ruling party has refuted the allegations and accused its rivals of being violent.
