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MDC-T youths undergo terror training outside Zimbabwe - Chombo
28 Aug 2016 at 08:58hrs | Views
Home Affairs Minister Ignatius Chombo has claimed that MDC-T trained scores of its youth outside the country in paramilitary tactics and urban violence.
"There is intelligence which we are gathering, and indications are that these people have been trained outside Zimbabwe to carry out these acts. In due time, we will expose what they have been doing behind the scenes leading up to these protests because a lot has been happening" he told Sunday Mail.
His deputy Obedingwa Mguni also made similar accusations.
"I cannot reveal details about our intelligence operations. But what we are doing is gathering information to bring these people who are organising these protests down.
"We have noticed over the week that these demonstrations have now turned criminal to the effect that they have become avenues for looting, arson and other criminal activities that are not related to peaceful demonstrations.
"So, what I told Parliament was we are using our intelligence infrastructure to detect people at the forefront of organising these activities and bring them to book."
According to Sunday Mail, MDC-T started plotting to destabilise Zimbabwe in July 2016.
"Information gathered suggests senior MDC-T figures began plotting in July when shadowy elements, going by the hashtags "tajamuka" and "thisflag" sparked civil disturbances in Harare, Bulawayo and Beitbridge, threatening to make the opposition party a sideshow.
It is believed MDC-T hawks, faced with irrelevance and donor fatigue, started planning civil disobedience and sent youths for training in certain African countries (names supplied). These groups were deployed last week to unleash unprecedented violence in Harare's central business district" the publication said.
It added that its reporters 'witnessed how some of them hid bricks and stones in lunch boxes, milled around intersections "innocently" and then attacked unsuspecting police officers. The "protesters" also used catapults".
"There is intelligence which we are gathering, and indications are that these people have been trained outside Zimbabwe to carry out these acts. In due time, we will expose what they have been doing behind the scenes leading up to these protests because a lot has been happening" he told Sunday Mail.
His deputy Obedingwa Mguni also made similar accusations.
"I cannot reveal details about our intelligence operations. But what we are doing is gathering information to bring these people who are organising these protests down.
"We have noticed over the week that these demonstrations have now turned criminal to the effect that they have become avenues for looting, arson and other criminal activities that are not related to peaceful demonstrations.
"So, what I told Parliament was we are using our intelligence infrastructure to detect people at the forefront of organising these activities and bring them to book."
According to Sunday Mail, MDC-T started plotting to destabilise Zimbabwe in July 2016.
"Information gathered suggests senior MDC-T figures began plotting in July when shadowy elements, going by the hashtags "tajamuka" and "thisflag" sparked civil disturbances in Harare, Bulawayo and Beitbridge, threatening to make the opposition party a sideshow.
It is believed MDC-T hawks, faced with irrelevance and donor fatigue, started planning civil disobedience and sent youths for training in certain African countries (names supplied). These groups were deployed last week to unleash unprecedented violence in Harare's central business district" the publication said.
It added that its reporters 'witnessed how some of them hid bricks and stones in lunch boxes, milled around intersections "innocently" and then attacked unsuspecting police officers. The "protesters" also used catapults".
Source - Sunday Mail
