THE MDC-T has hit back at Tsholotsho North MP Jonathan Moyo, saying his Zanu PF party should not expect votes from the people of Matabeleland, as it had failed to provide redress for the victims of the Gukurahundi massacres of the 1980s.

Report Nduduzo Tshuma/ Pamela Mhlanga

Moyo, believed to be a Zanu PF strategist, drew the ire of the MDC-T after he said in an interview with a local paper that the people of Matabeleland should evaluate their relationship with Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai’s party.

MDC-T deputy organising secretary Abednico Bhebhe said his party had gained so much popularity and was the only hope for Matabeleland, which had been made “economically redundant by a discriminatory distribution of resources to the region”.

“It is astonishing for Jonathan Moyo to expect the people of Matabeleland to be sympathetic to Zanu PF after the Gukurahundi genocide and no efforts of reconciliation having been attempted since.

“Moreover, Matabeleland still remains economically redundant because of a discriminatory distribution of resources to the region,” Bhebhe charged.

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The Tsholotsho North Zanu PF MP had said the MDC-T had not done anything for the region in 14 years of existence and it was futile for the people of Matabeleland to expect anything from the party.

“For the past 14 years, which Jonathan (Moyo) highlights, the MDC has continually fought for this cause, which it is confident will be attained come the elections this year,” Bhebhe said.

Ironically, in the 2008 harmonised elections, the MDC-T did not field a candidate for Tsholotsho North and instead asked its supporters to vote for Moyo as an independent after he had been fired from Zanu PF.

After winning the seat, Moyo subsequently applied for re-admission into Zanu PF. He was re-admitted in 2010 and was later appointed into the Politburo.

The Mthwakazi Youth Leaders Joint Resolution (MYLJR) yesterday also lashed out at the Zanu PF politburo member, labelling him “a wolf in sheepskin”.

MYLJR spokesperson Mqondisi Moyo said the people of Matabeleland were not going to take anything coming from Moyo seriously concerning the issues affecting the people of Matabeleland.

“Jonathan Moyo came as a wolf in sheepskin to people of Tsholotsho when he told them that he had left Zanu PF because of a number of the party’s failures,” he said. “He pretended as if he had the needs of the people of Tsholotsho at heart while he was pursuing his individual interests.”