MDC-T ploy of fabricating violence cases backfires

MDC-T admits to fabricating violence cases

In a befitting fashion depicting, 'The Wise and Foolish Builders' epitomised in the Biblical Sermon On the Mount, the MDC-T's world which, in recent years has been founded on sandy grounds of fabricated cases of Zanu-PF perpetrated violence nationwide is fast beginning to crumble as the cases begin to fall away.

Oppah Muchinguri, the Zanu-PF Politburo member and co-chairperson of the Joint Monitoring Implementation Committee (JOMIC) has consistently laid the responsibility of political violence that has marred the country's political landscape on all the political parties.

For sometime now the MDC-T has successfully hoodwinked all and sundry including Heads of States at the infamous SADC Livingstone Troika in Zambia into believing that it was a victim of alleged Zanu-PF perpetrated violence.

Whereas, the MDC-T script writers of the imagined Zanu-PF perpetrated violence have had their moments of joy, Monday July 11, 2011, is the day they would want erased in their institutional memory.

Shirenje Secondary School located at Headlands in Manicaland province is one such venue which has marked the collapse of the MDC-T ploy to continue tarnishing Zanu-PF as a violent party.

Led by Elton Mangoma the MDC-T's deputy treasurer and Minister of Energy Development, on Monday 11 July 2011 at Shirenje Secondary School the venue of a JOMIC public hearing, the MDC-T got the taste of their own medicine when villagers unanimously dismissed the party's claims of violence.

The MDC-T had made reports to the JOMIC that Zanu-PF had established torture bases in Headlands villages at which youths were forcing villagers to donate money and food for their up-keep.

Giving his testimony at the public hearing John Mutasa who stood in for Chief Makoni dismissed the reports as being unfounded. He was supported by the councillor of the area Pascallia Chigwanya and several other speakers who included youths.

One of the villagers Fanuel Neshena also dismissed the claims, much to the dismay of Mangoma.

"As far as I know the programme here has helped the villagers a lot. The youths have repaired the roads and are helping the elderly with harvesting and other jobs.

"They have also dug blair toilets at the school and homes of the elderly, all the food and money that have been given to them has been done voluntarily.

"I am actually surprised to hear this talk that people are being forced to donate. This programme has actually reduced idleness and drunkenness among the youths," Mr  Neshena is reported to have said while giving his oral evidence before JOMIC.

Interestingly enough, the Shirenje spectacle occurred hardly three days after one of the party representative in the JOMIC Lovemore Kadenge during a National Executive Council   meeting held on 7 July 2011 at Harvest House in Harare warned the party's leadership on the rise of fabricated cases of violence by the party at the JOMIC public hearings.

A senior official at the MDC-T who attended the party's National Executive Council (NEC) meeting indicated that Kadenge reported that at a series of JOMIC public hearings the party's representative were being left embarrassed as most of the party's cases were cock-and-bull stories.

"For sometime the ploy of tarnishing Zanu-PF has worked in our favour. Unfortunately the JOMIC platform is exposing most of our fabricated cases of violence. We have since advised all provinces that at all forthcoming meetings where the victims were fabricated, those should not attend," said a senior MDC-T official who attended the 7 July 2011 meeting.

The senior MDC-T official added: "We have a serious crisis before us. One of our representatives in the JOMIC Mr Kadenge raised the same issue at the meeting and he emphasised on the need to stop the fabrications."

On 4 May 2011 the MDC-T through one of it's mouth piece the News Day published a story in which it claimed that Zanu-PF assailants had burnt down a house belonging to Luckwell Musona, a secondary school teacher at Moyoweshumba in Mutasa Central.

Even though there was no follow up to the story for obvious reasons, Musona in his submissions to the police said he suspected that his homestead was burnt by Justice Chitsamba his neighbour.

He said they had a long standing dispute which started in 2000 when he assaulted Chitsamba's wife after she allegedly stole his security fence.
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