BY FARAI MATIASHE
The ruling Zanu PF party has hit back on MDC’s calls to the United Nations (UN) to declare President Emmerson Mnangagwa and his party a terrorist organisation, saying the opposition was declaring war on the liberation party.
The MDC Northern America held protests outside the UN headquarters in New York on Saturday night, and vowed to hand over a petition to the UN for the body to declare Mnangagwa and Zanu PF a terrorist organisation for killing protesters during public demonstrations in Harare last year and this year.
“The offensive pronouncement by the MDC party as reflected in the so-called independent media, that they intend to submit a petition to the UN during its 74th General Assembly sitting that Mnangagwa and the revolutionary Zanu PF be declared terrorists ‘for the killing of civilians during public protests’ is shameful,” Zanu PF spokesperson Simon Khaya Moyo said in a statement in Harare yesterday.
“This is a very serious allegation which borders on the declaration of war on Zanu PF and its revered leader.”
He said the MDC must halt their petition immediately as it was an insult to Zimbabwe, adding that such “selloutism was unheard of and represents evil conduct”.
Moyo said his party was ready to defend itself against such provocation.
He accused the opposition of calling for the government to be placed under sanctions at a time Mnangagwa is making efforts to have sanctions removed by the West and put Zimbabwe on an economic recovery path.
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Six civilians were killed and dozens were injured after the army fired live ammunition during protests over delays in announcing presidential elections on August 1 last year, according to a commission of inquiry appointed by Mnangagwa.
The 150% fuel price hike in January triggered violent protests, with 17 people killed when the army clamped down on the unrest.
The MDC’c call comes at time the Zanu PF youth league boss Pupurai Togarepi told parliamentarians that a law should be crafted which would see people who call for the imposition of sanctions on the country to be declared terrorists.
