Khaya Moyo slams MDC-T

THE Zanu-PF party has said threats that were made by MDC-T leader Advocate Nelson Chamisa to hold a demonstration in Harare and stop elections was a confirmation that the party had a propensity for violence.

Speaking at a Press conference in Gwanda yesterday after a Zanu-PF Matabeleland South Provincial Co-ordinating Committee meeting, the party's Secretary for Information and Publicity, Simon Khaya Moyo urged citizens to ignore leaders that sought to mislead them and maintain peace.

Advocate Chamisa recently said his party would stage a demonstration in Harare if the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission did not give in to their demands.

"The revolutionary party learnt with utter dismay the conduct and threat utterances by MDC-T leader, Nelson Chamisa and his alliance partners threatening to shut down Harare and stop elections set for July 30 should ZEC fail to accede to their demands of electoral reforms.

"In fact the claims being made by Chamisa and crew are bare and not ground on the position of the law. What comes out clear is that the MDC-T is a violent and retrogressive party whose existence strives on chaos and suffering of the people hence the utterances cannot come as a surprise. These utterances are unfortunate, reckless, extremely irresponsible and uncalled for," said Moyo who is also acting Minister of Media, Information and Broacasting Services.

He urged all peace loving Zimbabweans to shun violence and remain united as they prepare to freely exercise their democratic right to elect leaders of their choice as treasured in the national constitution.

Khaya Moyo said the threats were an attempt by the MDC-T party to tamper with the prevailing peaceful environment which had been created under the leadership of President Emmerson Mnangagwa ahead of the  elections.

He said Advocate Chamisa knew that his party which was in shambles was not prepared to face the revolutionary Zanu-PF party in the 2018 harmonised elections hence he wanted to create commotion.

"Following the ushering in of the new dispensation, the country is experiencing the most peaceful pre-election moments in the post independence era and the prevailing peace and tranquillity which are the anchors for the conduct of free, fair and credible elections.

"The Zanu-PF Government under stewardship of President ED has laid foundation for free, peaceful, fair and credible elections. Last week President ED Mnangagwa signed the Electoral Amendment Act into law to bring legal effect on the statutory instrument on Bio-metric voter registration carried out by ZEC and create a new code of conduct for political parties, candidates and other stakeholders in elections. This is a milestone achievement which every peace loving Zimbabwean, Chamisa included must cherish," said Moyo.

The MDC-T has said it wants political parties to be involved in the printing of ballot papers.

The Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (Zec) has already announced that printing of the ballot papers is a security issue and cannot be  handled by political parties.

The commission has however said all parties are welcome to witness the printing of the ballot papers, which will be done locally. Zec has also said political parties and individuals can have a copy of the voters' roll for a nominal fee.

Meanwhile, Khaya Moyo urged PCC members to conduct the campaign process in a free, fair, credible and transparent manner.

He said the only weapon that party members had to hold was the party's manifesto which emphasised unity, freedom, development and creation of jobs for the people.

Zanu-PF Matabeleland South Secretary for Administration, William Dhewa announced the names of the House of Assembly candidates to contest the forthcoming elections.

Among the names was Abednico Ncube who lost to Omphile Marupi in the recently held primary elections for Gwanda South.

Marupi's name was not on the list.

When asked to comment on the change, Khaya Moyo referred the issue to Zanu-PF Matabeleland South provincial chairman, Rabelani Choeni who said he had received the list from the party's national office.

Addressing members of the PCC Choeni urged party members to rally behind candidates that had been voted to represent the party. He said central committee members were going to take a leading role during the campaign process.