News / National
Zanu-PF scoff at Tsvangirai's allegations
11 Mar 2015 at 06:41hrs | Views
MDC-T activist and journalist Itai Dzamara reportedly went missing on Monday with MDC-T leader Mr Morgan Tsvangirai yesterday blaming the alleged abduction on Zanu-PF.
Police yesterday confirmed that Dzamara's wife had reported a case of a missing person.
"His wife made a report today (yesterday) and police are investigating the matter," said police spokesperson Senior Assistant Commissioner Charity Charamba.
Zanu-PF yesterday scoffed at Mr Tsvangirai's allegations saying the beleaguered MDC-T leader was hijacking Dzamara's alleged "disappearance".
Party spokesperson Simon Khaya Moyo said Mr Tsvangirai had run out of ideas since the heavy defeat by President Mugabe and Zanu-PF in the 2013 harmonised elections.
"I do not even know the person in question (Itai Dzamara) but he (Mr Tsvangirai) is trying to find a case to please his masters because they have nothing to offer the people," he said.
"He is trying to sell his party because they are short of what to talk about now after being drubbed in consecutive elections. They no longer talk about things such as their JUICE (MDC-T's 2013 election manifesto). We do not know what happened to the juice, it seems to have disappeared."
Khaya Moyo said it was surprising that Mr Tsvangirai was making hasty statements at a time the family (Dzamara's) had made a police report.
Zanu-PF, he said, was a disciplined party and Mr Tsvangirai wanted to paint a bad picture of President Mugabe and the revolutionary party.
"If they reported to the police, we are law-abiding and if there is anybody who commits a crime, police know what to do," Khaya Moyo said.
"We are not lawless. The former Prime Minister should avoid reckless utterances particularly when a police report has been made. We do not believe in demeaning people. We have clear principles and policies."
Mr Tsvangirai always come up with grandstanding stance and this one comes after President Mugabe left the country to join other world leaders attending the third World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction in Japan.
Mr Tsvangirai called a media briefing in Harare yesterday where he claimed that Dzamara, who allegedly went missing on Monday, had been abducted by Zanu-PF officials, but failed to provide any evidence to back his allegations.
Sensing that journalists were poised to press him to produce evidence linking the alleged disappearance to the President and Zanu-PF, Mr Tsvangirai refused to field questions and moved out of the conference room in a huff.
Mr Tsvangirai claimed Dzamara had been abducted from a hair salon and driven away in an Isuzu vehicle with five unknown men on board.
But how he ended up linking the alleged "five unknown men" to Zanu-PF remains a mystery since he accepted that no one knew them.
In a bid to gain political mileage, Mr Tsvangirai acted as the Dzamara family spokesperson and blamed Zanu-PF for the alleged disappearance.
Dzamara's brother, Patson, who was with Mr Tsvangirai at the press conference, refused to take questions from the media.
This is not the first time that Mr Tsvangirai has hijacked incidents that have nothing to do with him in search of political relevance.
In the run up to the 2013 plebiscite, MDC-T hijacked the funeral of Christpower Maisiri (12) of Headlands, who died in an inferno.
Mr Tsvangirai accused Zanu-PF of committing the offence despite police ruling out foul play.
Police yesterday confirmed that Dzamara's wife had reported a case of a missing person.
"His wife made a report today (yesterday) and police are investigating the matter," said police spokesperson Senior Assistant Commissioner Charity Charamba.
Zanu-PF yesterday scoffed at Mr Tsvangirai's allegations saying the beleaguered MDC-T leader was hijacking Dzamara's alleged "disappearance".
Party spokesperson Simon Khaya Moyo said Mr Tsvangirai had run out of ideas since the heavy defeat by President Mugabe and Zanu-PF in the 2013 harmonised elections.
"I do not even know the person in question (Itai Dzamara) but he (Mr Tsvangirai) is trying to find a case to please his masters because they have nothing to offer the people," he said.
"He is trying to sell his party because they are short of what to talk about now after being drubbed in consecutive elections. They no longer talk about things such as their JUICE (MDC-T's 2013 election manifesto). We do not know what happened to the juice, it seems to have disappeared."
Khaya Moyo said it was surprising that Mr Tsvangirai was making hasty statements at a time the family (Dzamara's) had made a police report.
Zanu-PF, he said, was a disciplined party and Mr Tsvangirai wanted to paint a bad picture of President Mugabe and the revolutionary party.
"If they reported to the police, we are law-abiding and if there is anybody who commits a crime, police know what to do," Khaya Moyo said.
"We are not lawless. The former Prime Minister should avoid reckless utterances particularly when a police report has been made. We do not believe in demeaning people. We have clear principles and policies."
Mr Tsvangirai always come up with grandstanding stance and this one comes after President Mugabe left the country to join other world leaders attending the third World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction in Japan.
Mr Tsvangirai called a media briefing in Harare yesterday where he claimed that Dzamara, who allegedly went missing on Monday, had been abducted by Zanu-PF officials, but failed to provide any evidence to back his allegations.
Sensing that journalists were poised to press him to produce evidence linking the alleged disappearance to the President and Zanu-PF, Mr Tsvangirai refused to field questions and moved out of the conference room in a huff.
Mr Tsvangirai claimed Dzamara had been abducted from a hair salon and driven away in an Isuzu vehicle with five unknown men on board.
But how he ended up linking the alleged "five unknown men" to Zanu-PF remains a mystery since he accepted that no one knew them.
In a bid to gain political mileage, Mr Tsvangirai acted as the Dzamara family spokesperson and blamed Zanu-PF for the alleged disappearance.
Dzamara's brother, Patson, who was with Mr Tsvangirai at the press conference, refused to take questions from the media.
This is not the first time that Mr Tsvangirai has hijacked incidents that have nothing to do with him in search of political relevance.
In the run up to the 2013 plebiscite, MDC-T hijacked the funeral of Christpower Maisiri (12) of Headlands, who died in an inferno.
Mr Tsvangirai accused Zanu-PF of committing the offence despite police ruling out foul play.
Source - the herald
