DEPUTY Minister of Mines and Mining Development Gift Chimanikire and 10 other MDC-T activists were yesterday assaulted while conducting door-to-door campaigns in the politically-volatile Mbare suburb.
REPORT BY MOSES MATENGA
Chimanikire, who is the MDC-T parliamentary candidate for Southerton, was leading the team.
“We were conducting our campaign and had covered more than 100 households when the youths ambushed us. Most of them were identified as Zanu PF youths. One of them slapped one of the women in the group and I had to flee to a nearby house,” said Chimanikire.
Two of the injured MDC-T activists were treated at the Avenues Clinic and discharged while others received medical attention from private clinics.
In another related development, MDC-T secretary-general Tendai Biti’s rally in Harare East was blocked by the police who reportedly claimed lack of security personnel.
“Violence and violations are on the increase in the country. We suspect that having seen the record crowd in Marondera over the weekend, the chaos faction in Zanu PF is trying to reignite and remobilise their arsenal of violence,” Biti said.
Biti said there was need to reform some laws that criminalise criticising President Robert Mugabe, saying no one was immune to criticism.
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“Someone can go about calling people ‘idiotic street women’, but want to make it a crime if he is insulted, it is unacceptable,” he said.
Efforts to get a comment from the police were fruitless last night.
