News / National
Tsvangirai spokesman lied about Mphoko Gukurahundi issue
09 Feb 2017 at 05:41hrs | Views
A journalist Mziwandile Ndlovu has posted on Facebook alleging that MDC-T President Morgan Tsvangirai spokesperson Luke Tamborinyoka has lied about Vice President Phelekezela Mphoko's link to Gukurahundi by saying the VP was not in the country at that time.
"Of mediocre communicators: Just read through a press statement released by MDC-T President Morgan Tsvangirai's spokesman Luke Tamborinyoka which is replete with inaccuracies. In the piece, he alleges and insinuates that Vice President Phelekezela Mphoko was absent from Zimbabwe during the Gukurahundi genocide and in the early years of Zimbabwe and is thus oblivious to what happened during the massacres. Nothing could be further from the truth," Ndlovu said.
"It is a blatant lie. Anyone with elementary knowledge of this era knows that Vice President Mphoko is actually a Gukurahundi victim. He suffered alongside many other ZAPU functionaries who endured persecution of various forms. In August 1985 he was detained alongside fellow ZAPU heavyweights Sydney Malunga, Welshman Mabhena and Stephen Nkomo. For an extended period, their whereabouts where unknown as they suffered torture in their different detention centres. His detention was particularly disturbing as he was deputy head of the Demobilisation Directorate, a senior civil servant at the helm of a sensitive body charged with disarming and the socio-economic rehabilitation of freedom fighters where he deputised John Shonhiwa."
He said Mphoko was deployed to this position soon after independence thus Tamborinyoka's claims of his absence and ignorance are patently false.
"There is nothing quite as appalling as a spokesman who is not knowledgeable and is oblivious to the dangers of the schoolboy blunders of putting out unsubstantiated rumours out into the public domain as fact. Such revisionism of history only exposes him and the establishment he serves. Those close to him like Chalton Hwende, kindly guide him accordingly," Ndlovu said.
"Of mediocre communicators: Just read through a press statement released by MDC-T President Morgan Tsvangirai's spokesman Luke Tamborinyoka which is replete with inaccuracies. In the piece, he alleges and insinuates that Vice President Phelekezela Mphoko was absent from Zimbabwe during the Gukurahundi genocide and in the early years of Zimbabwe and is thus oblivious to what happened during the massacres. Nothing could be further from the truth," Ndlovu said.
"It is a blatant lie. Anyone with elementary knowledge of this era knows that Vice President Mphoko is actually a Gukurahundi victim. He suffered alongside many other ZAPU functionaries who endured persecution of various forms. In August 1985 he was detained alongside fellow ZAPU heavyweights Sydney Malunga, Welshman Mabhena and Stephen Nkomo. For an extended period, their whereabouts where unknown as they suffered torture in their different detention centres. His detention was particularly disturbing as he was deputy head of the Demobilisation Directorate, a senior civil servant at the helm of a sensitive body charged with disarming and the socio-economic rehabilitation of freedom fighters where he deputised John Shonhiwa."
He said Mphoko was deployed to this position soon after independence thus Tamborinyoka's claims of his absence and ignorance are patently false.
"There is nothing quite as appalling as a spokesman who is not knowledgeable and is oblivious to the dangers of the schoolboy blunders of putting out unsubstantiated rumours out into the public domain as fact. Such revisionism of history only exposes him and the establishment he serves. Those close to him like Chalton Hwende, kindly guide him accordingly," Ndlovu said.
Source - Byo24News
