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Zanu-PF Manicaland accuses MDC of cheap politicking

by Staff reporter
20 Aug 2019 at 15:19hrs | Views
ZANU-PF youths in Manicaland yesterday said MDC Alliance councillors should stop blaming the ruling party for their failure to mobilise for their protest march slated for Thursday.

The opposition party has claimed that it's organisers were being threatened for allegedly mobilising people ahead of the protest.

Zanu-PF provincial youth chairperson Tawanda Mukodza yesterday said the MDC should stop cheap politicking.

"We cannot be that cheap. Zanu-PF is a progressive party. Because of their failure to organise their demonstrations, they are now blaming us. What they are doing is flopping and they want to blame us. They (MDC Alliance) need to be serious," he said.

"We will never interfere in what the opposition party is doing. What we do not want is to destroy buildings in Mutare, (when that happens, we) will respond. I think the MDC councillors are fighting among themselves. As youths in Zanu-PF, we are busy working for the country so that we prosper, while others are thinking of destroying it."

A councillor, who spoke on condition of anonymity, yesterday told NewsDay that they were being targeted by Zanu-PF youths, who are threatening to beat them up if they continue mobilising people to participate in the protests.

"We are being targeted and we have received threats from some Zanu-PF youths. We have been verbally threatened in shops and in some public places, that if we continue to mobilise people, we will be beaten up by Zanu-PF youths," he said.

"We can't do our work now because we fear that we might be beaten or tortured, but we will remain resolute."

Meanwhile, MDC Manicaland provincial spokesperson David Panganai said they were being frustrated by police over their planned demonstration.

"We wrote to the police informing them of our intention to hold our peaceful demonstrations as is required in terms of section 25 of the Public Order and Security Act," he said.

"We have been referred from one office to the other. We went to Mutare Central Police Station and we were told that our letter of intent was forwarded to other relevant authorities. We have been told to wait a little longer," he said.

Police banned demonstrations in Harare and Bulawayo and brutalised protesters who had gathered in the capital to demonstrate last Friday.

Source - newsday