Mnangagwa jibe angers Tsvangirai's MDC-T

The MDC, stung by a withering attack on its leader by Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa, has come out guns blazing declaring it will scupper his presidential bid.

Mnangagwa taunted the MDC and Morgan Tsvangirai for their defeat in the 2008 elections and latest boycott of the impending by-elections.

But MDC spokesperson Obert Gutu yesterday dismissed the Zanu-PF strongman's jibe and characterised him as a brutal man.

"It simply proves that the man should never ever become president of Zimbabwe. He is intolerant, brutal and a threat to national unity and cohesion," Gutu told the Daily News.

"We pray to God the Almighty that he should never ever take that man anywhere near the State house. Otherwise Zimbabwe will be totally doomed. You don't expect those kinds of comments from a man who aspires to be head of State.

"We have total confidence in our 'no reforms, no elections' political campaign. The thousands of people who continue to attend our rallies are a clear testimony of the fact that the majority of the people of Zimbabwe appreciate the logic and reasoning behind our campaign. Why should we continue to sanitise Zanu-PF's electoral thievery?"

Mnangagwa, on Saturday bragged at a rally in Harare, that God was allegedly on Zanu-PF's side.

The Zanu-PF strongman, who is sometimes referred to as the Son of God or Son of Man by his staunch supporters - among them Psychomotor minister Josiah Hungwe  claimed that his party was in God's heart.

"Let me tell you this, God loves Zanu-PF," he said. "God gave us countries and we were given Zimbabwe.

"When we had won our independence, the British funded the MDC to remove us from power.

"In 2008, they almost removed us from power but God refused and said no," Mnangagwa told party supporters in Harare's Dzivaresekwa high density suburb.

"God intervened and we are still ruling. Look now we are going to win by-elections. God indeed loves Zanu-PF."

The MDC came within a whisker of forming the next government after winning the hotly-contested 2008 elections in which Tsvangirai beat President Robert Mugabe in the first round of the presidential poll.

The Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (Zec) withheld the results of the ballot for six weeks, raising suspicions that the inordinate delay had allowed Zanu-PF to manipulate the poll and deny Tsvangirai victory.

Tsvangirai subsequently pulled out of the ensuing run-off ballot, citing violence and massive intimidation, which left Mugabe to participate alone in a widely discredited election.

But Mnangagwa appeared oblivious to all this, going on to heap praise on God for having ‘‘intervened'' and saving Zanu-PF.

He tore into Tsvangirai for having refused to participate in the pending June 10, by-elections which came after the MDC withdrew its MPs from parliament after they joined a breakaway faction now known as the renewal team.

"Tsvangirai is going around saying ‘no reforms, no elections'. I wish to thank him for that. Let him boycott while we rule.

"I say let him continue boycotting while we rule. Continue with your ‘no elections, no reforms programme' and we will continue ruling," the VP said.

Mnangagwa continued with his mockery of the MDC, adding that the party had a penchant for splitting.

"There is one major difference between Zanu-PF and MDC. Zanu-PF fires while the MDC splits. Look now we have about five MDCs, MDC Tsvangirai, MDC Mutambara, MDC 99, and MDC Biti. So MDC splits and Zanu-PF fires.

"We have remained intact but we fire rogue elements. And now look, the split in MDC has given us a chance to increase our numbers in Parliament," he said.