News / National
'Zanu-PF commandeered touts, makorokoza to pose as MDC Alliance defectors'
05 Apr 2021 at 07:52hrs | Views
MDC ALLIANCE in Midlands has accused Zanu-PF of mobilising touts and artisanal miners commonly known as makorokoza to pose as genuine opposition party members who were defecting to the governing party.
MDC Alliance Midlands provincial spokesperson Takavafira Zhou said none of the elements being paraded as defectors by Zanu-PF belonged to his party.
poster
"A meeting of 400 Zanu-PF people in Kwekwe last week was falsely dramatised as some meeting with MDC Alliance defectors and former MDC Alliance national member, Blessing Chebundo, addressed the meeting with his colleagues in Zanu-PF.
"On the 1st of April, the Herald reported that more than 150 MDC Alliance activists had defected to Zanu-PF in Gweru.
"We urge MDC Alliance supporters to take this as nothing more than a fools' day message'.
"We are indeed aware of several touts (mahwindi) and artisanal miners who were commandeered to meetings and forced to wear MDC Alliance regalia provided by Zanu-PF in return for possible emoluments, be it unfettered operations at ranks and in mines, but this narrative of façade of lies has no traction.
"We the MDC Alliance Midlands province want to make it categorically clear without any equivocation or ambiguity that the MDC Alliance led by Advocate Nelson Chamisa is safe and sound in Midlands," Zhou said.
Former MDC Alliance senior members in Midlands, Blessing Chebundo and Lillian Timveous defected to Zanu-PF recently.
Said Zhou, "We acknowledge the departure of Blessing Chebundo and Lillian Timveous and wished them well.
"We certainly respect their decision to join Zanu-PF for whatever spurious reasons, but do not agree with their trajectory of blaming MDC Alliance for the parlous state of the country that must be laid squarely on Zanu-PF thuggery, thievery, patronage, cronyism and lackeyism."
He added that MDC Alliance leader Nelson Chamisa still enjoyed massive support in Midlands.
"(Late former MDC leader Morgan) Tsvangirai's legacy of a credible opposition party, democratisation, pluralism, good governance, service and self-sacrifice, justice, courage, indefatigable resistance in the face of brutal repression, and winning elections through the ballot box continues to water our spirit of liberty under MDC A presidium of Nelson Chamisa, Welshman Ncube, Tendai Biti and Lynette Kore. No amount of ghost MDCA defectors will worry us," he said.
Zhou said the main opposition party was mobilising for support in rural Midlands.
"The MDC-A is here to stay and those who wish us away are in for a rude awakening. Indeed, we are reaching another level of effective rural strategy from Gokwe to Mberengwa and will give our best shot come 2023.
"As MDC-A, we are also pre-occupied with plans for a 2021 People's Convergence in order to chat an appropriate way forward guided by the generality of people of Zimbabwe," he said.
MDC Alliance Midlands provincial spokesperson Takavafira Zhou said none of the elements being paraded as defectors by Zanu-PF belonged to his party.
poster
"A meeting of 400 Zanu-PF people in Kwekwe last week was falsely dramatised as some meeting with MDC Alliance defectors and former MDC Alliance national member, Blessing Chebundo, addressed the meeting with his colleagues in Zanu-PF.
"On the 1st of April, the Herald reported that more than 150 MDC Alliance activists had defected to Zanu-PF in Gweru.
"We urge MDC Alliance supporters to take this as nothing more than a fools' day message'.
"We are indeed aware of several touts (mahwindi) and artisanal miners who were commandeered to meetings and forced to wear MDC Alliance regalia provided by Zanu-PF in return for possible emoluments, be it unfettered operations at ranks and in mines, but this narrative of façade of lies has no traction.
"We the MDC Alliance Midlands province want to make it categorically clear without any equivocation or ambiguity that the MDC Alliance led by Advocate Nelson Chamisa is safe and sound in Midlands," Zhou said.
Former MDC Alliance senior members in Midlands, Blessing Chebundo and Lillian Timveous defected to Zanu-PF recently.
Said Zhou, "We acknowledge the departure of Blessing Chebundo and Lillian Timveous and wished them well.
"We certainly respect their decision to join Zanu-PF for whatever spurious reasons, but do not agree with their trajectory of blaming MDC Alliance for the parlous state of the country that must be laid squarely on Zanu-PF thuggery, thievery, patronage, cronyism and lackeyism."
He added that MDC Alliance leader Nelson Chamisa still enjoyed massive support in Midlands.
"(Late former MDC leader Morgan) Tsvangirai's legacy of a credible opposition party, democratisation, pluralism, good governance, service and self-sacrifice, justice, courage, indefatigable resistance in the face of brutal repression, and winning elections through the ballot box continues to water our spirit of liberty under MDC A presidium of Nelson Chamisa, Welshman Ncube, Tendai Biti and Lynette Kore. No amount of ghost MDCA defectors will worry us," he said.
Zhou said the main opposition party was mobilising for support in rural Midlands.
"The MDC-A is here to stay and those who wish us away are in for a rude awakening. Indeed, we are reaching another level of effective rural strategy from Gokwe to Mberengwa and will give our best shot come 2023.
"As MDC-A, we are also pre-occupied with plans for a 2021 People's Convergence in order to chat an appropriate way forward guided by the generality of people of Zimbabwe," he said.
Source - newzimbabwe
