Zanu-PF rubbishes Guy Scott's accusations

Zanu-PF has rubbished claims by former Zambian vice president Guy Scott that President Robert Mugabe's party uses political violence to remain in power.

Commenting on Scott's statement, Zanu-PF spokesperson Simon Khaya Moyo said the ex-Zambian vice president was not an eye-witness to such claims, adding that his information was based on hearsay.

"Was he here?" Khaya Moyo asked.

"If he was here, we would ask him a few more questions."

He declined to be drawn to give a general comment on whether Zanu-PF was in power because of violence or not.

This comes after Scott recently said he differed with his country's president Edgar Lungu over the use of political violence.

"I told the president (Lungu) that if you want me back, allow all (former President Michael) Sata's people to come back. I went all the way to western, north-western, Copperbelt and I can't just leave them. My other condition was ‘get rid of violence'.

"We don't want this country to be like Zimbabwe. Why should we voluntarily become like Zimbabwe, where the president can lose an election and eight years later, he is still there?" Scott said.

He added, "I know it's not trivial. You have to be committed to stopping violence."

Mugabe has in the past been accused of using violence against his opponents to gain support for his Zanu-PF party.

In 2008, opposition political parties accused Mugabe's Zanu-PF of using political violence to coerce people to vote for the governing party.

MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai was forced to pull out of the 2008 presidential run-off, citing political violence against his party supporters.

Only recently, Joice Mujuru's Zimbabwe People First supporters were assaulted by suspected Zanu-PF activists in Glen View and Chitungwiza.