MDC-T stab victim 'lucky to be alive'

Mark Harold Ncube, a businessman and the MDC-T's losing parliamentary candidate for Bubi, says he came just inches from death after he was stabbed outside his business premises on Friday last week.

Ncube, who contested the July 31st elections and lost to Zanu-PF's Clifford Sibanda, was stabbed three times in an unprovoked attack by three strangers outside his shop at Inyathi.

No arrests have been made yet. He was hospitalized last week Friday and was discharged on Monday night.

"Doctors say I'm a very lucky man. They told me the stab wound inflicted to the neck missed my jugular veins by inches, otherwise I could have died after the attack," Ncube told SW Radio Africa.

Ncube said on Tuesday that he is paying dearly for having joined the MDC-T and contesting against Zanu-PF in the recent election.

"I know I have been getting threats but I didn't think they would want to kill me that openly in front of a crowd of people. Even the locals who witnessed the attack say they've never seen the attackers before," Ncube said.

He continued: "I don't buy that myself as I believe it was a hired gang out to eliminate me. I don't remember much about the attack except that I saw three people charging towards me and one of them producing a knife and plunging it three time to my neck, back and shoulder."

The businessman had left his shop some 15 minutes earlier, only to be phoned by his manager and told that there were people looting his shop.

"I immediately drove back from home and on getting to the shop and disembarking from my car, I was attacked in full view of shoppers. These are Zanu-PF thugs who should be arrested and locked up in prison," Ncube said.

He added: "What makes me angry is that the police are not being pro-active like what they do if MDC-T people are accused of committing any crimes at all."