Murehwa Incident Stage-Managed – ZANUPF Mash East

Murehwa Incident Stage-Managed – ZANUPF Mash East

Brian Rungano Temba

 

ZANUPF Mashonaland East Provincial Chairman Hon. Daniel Garwe has distanced the party from the video that made rounds this weekend depicting alleged Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC) elderly members being assaulted and harassed by alleged ZANUPF members.

 

In a statement released yesterday, Hon. Garwe said the opposition Citizen Coalition for Change’s propensity to stage-manage “political violence” incidents ahead of elections is well documented and some of their senior officials are currently before the courts for such lies. The possibility that the Murewa incident was also stage-managed to draw negative international attention should not be discounted at this point.

 

 

“ZANU PF Mashonaland East Province has noted with great concern a video circulating on social media purportedly showing a group of individuals physically abusing elderly people in Murewa who are captured on camera saying they had gathered for a meeting for one of the opposition political parties in the country.”

 

“Apart from the disgusting physical abuse captured in the video, the Province is disturbed by allegations that the perpetrators are ZANU PF members acting on behalf of unidentified bosses.

The Province hereby distances itself from the individuals in the viral video. They are neither members of ZANU PF Mashonaland East Province nor any known affiliate and were clearly hired to further nefarious agendas including soiling the image of His Excellency President Emmerson Mnangagwa and the Second Republic,” read the statement.

 

Honourable Garwe also said the perpetrators, who are not identified anywhere in the video either by word or clothing, could not be pinned down as members of the peace-loving ZANU PF Party. It is therefore presumptuous, hasty and even sinister, to rush to brand them as ZANU PF members given that the country is in an election season often fraught with all sorts of chicanery.

 

“As a Province, we urge all citizens to wait for accurate pronunciations from the Zimbabwe Republic Police which is currently conducting investigations. On our part, we remain guided by the consistent call for peace and tolerance by President Mnangagwa,” said Garwe in the statement.

 

“The President is on record stating that all Zimbabweans should be vigilant and maintain the stable and peaceful environment that is being fostered under the Second Republic.

We say no to violence, disunity, and unrest and call on the Police to speedily bring the perpetrators captured in the video to face the full wrath of the law,” further read the statement.

 

Meanwhile the Citizens Coalition for Change Binga North Legislator Prince Dubeko Sibanda has been caught in yet another embarrassing attempt to smear the ruling party by posting on Twitter a video footage of violence perpetrated somewhere in Mozambique.