THE opposition Zimbabwe People First (ZimPF) yesterday claimed it had unearthed a plot where Zanu PF activists in the United Kingdom were planning to masquerade as opposition members and disrupt Joice Mujuru’s scheduled address at Chatham House on Thursday.
by Everson Mushava
Mujuru is expected to address the British think-tank on Thursday on Zimbabwe’s changing opposition.
ZimPF spokesperson Jealousy Mawarire said party members had intercepted fliers purportedly printed and distributed by the MDC-T and two pressure groups #Tajamuka/Sesijikile and #ThisFlag, which denounced Mujuru as Zanu PF’s partner in crime.
Part of the flier read: “You were part of the corruption for 36 years. You benefited from our diamonds: where is the $15 billion? Where are Itai (Dzamara, the missing abducted activist) and other abductees and why did you permit the torture? What is the truth about Gukurahundi? You don’t pay your employees, so how will you manage our economy and why do you not stand up for the citizens?”
Mawarire said the bogus fliers were being distributed by Zanu PF UK branch chairperson Nick Mangwana to blackmail Mujuru ahead of her address.
“We are aware that Zanu PF, after Mugabe’s self-professed embarrassment in New York, wants to play an equalisation game by stage-managing fake anti-Mujuru demonstrations in the UK,” he said.
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Mawarire said “no amount of fake protests” would stop Zimbabweans from removing Mugabe from power.
The people in the Diaspora, Mawarire added, were aware that Mugabe was the author of their problems, not Mujuru.
MDC-T spokesperson Obert Gutu distanced his party from the purported protest, accusing Zanu PF and the dreaded Central Intelligence Organisation (CIO) of propagating it to try to create a rift between opposition parties, who are planning a grand coalition against Mugabe’s hegemony.
“Our political adversary is Robert Mugabe and the Zanu PF regime that he fronts. It is quite possible that Zanu PF supporters and CIO agents might be plotting this nefarious agenda of disrupting Mujuru’s visit to the UK,” he said.
“The MDC-T cannot be part and parcel of this frivolous and vexatious mudslinging campaign. We don’t want to lose focus at this critical stage of the democratic struggle.
“Suffice to state that the CIO is working overtime to scuttle any chances of the formation of a strong and formidable coalition to face Zanu PF in Election 2018.”
MDC spokesperson Kurauone Chihwayi accused Zanu PF of fuelling mistrust among opposition parties to derail coalition efforts.
Tajamuka spokesperson Tichaona Masiyambiri also distanced his movement from the protest, saying the citizen movement was working well with Mujuru.
“Tajamuka is not part and parcel of the protest. I think there is mischief in using our name as organisers. We distance ourselves from this protest,” he said.
But Zanu PF national commissar Saviour Kasukuwere denied his party’s involvement.
“They should leave our party alone,” he quipped.
Tension between Zanu PF and Mujuru is rising, with Mugabe’s spokesperson George Charamba last week accusing ZimPF of trying to create a scene ahead of Mujuru’s address at Chatham House by claiming that their members had been assaulted by Zanu PF supporters in a Guruve farm dispute.
