A MILITARY-STYLE terror campaign targeting opposition
leaders in the aftermath of the July 30 election has reportedly forced MDC
Alliance presidential candidate Nelson Chamisa’s top aides to go into hiding,
fearing for their lives, further delaying their planned court challenge.
MDC Alliance co-principal Tendai Biti, party chairperson
Morgen Komichi and youth leader Happymore Chidziva are among several party
leaders reportedly in hiding following the crackdown by suspected State
security agents.
Political tension has been high in most parts of the
country since last Wednesday’s fatal shooting of seven protestors in central
Harare by soldiers. The protestors had taken to the streets to register their
displeasure over alleged rigging by the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (Zec) in
favour of Zanu PF and delay in announcing the presidential results.
Since then, masked soldiers have declared an unofficial
curfew in Harare, Marondera, Mutare, Gweru where they occasionally beat up
residents without provocation, especially at night.
The suspected “rogue soldiers” have also launched a manhunt
for all senior opposition officials or those suspected to have organised last
week’s protests.
The night raids at MDC Alliance officials came shortly
after police last week said they were looking for Biti and Chidziva in
connection with last Wednesday’s bloodbath.
Chidziva yesterday said he would not hand himself to
police, but declared that he would continue to lead party youths “to defend our
vote”.
“We are clear that the vote will be defended, the people
will rise up and take constitutionally permissible actions of rejecting this
farce of an election result, something that was cooked by Zec. I am going to
remain in Zimbabwe and lead the fight to defend that vote until the winner
Nelson Chamisa is declared as such,” he told NewsDay in a telephone interview
from his hideout.
“It’s not the police who are looking for me, how do police
raid my house in masks, abduct my family and beat them up? It is clear that the
police are being used to bring sanity on a crackdown of the MDC Alliance.
Handing myself over is like committing suicide. I am not going to do that,” he
said.
NewsDay also gathered that Komichi had gone into hiding
following a nocturnal visit at his home by a group of plain-clothes security
details late on Sunday.
Speaking from his hide-out yesterday, Komichi said:“Four
security details came to my house on Sunday evening driving a private vehicle.
I have not received any official communication regarding any crime I might have
committed. I am advised that they want to charge me with conspiracy to murder
regarding the army shooting last week.”
Chamisa’s spokesperson Nkululeko Sibanda confirmed Komichi
was on the run.
“Yes, I have been advised he is in hiding because some
people came to his house looking for him in the dead of night. They
(authorities) have identified Komichi and myself as the hot-heads,” Sibanda
said.
Asked if he had been harassed, Sibanda retorted: “Not as
yet. I have no home.”
He refused to disclose the number of party supporters who
had gone into hiding from the military, saying doing so would expose them to
attacks.
“The purpose of the crackdown is to make sure that the
election results declared by Zec are not challenged,” Sibanda told a Press
briefing.
“There is a dangerous precedence in the country to block
the people from protesting. They cold murdered Zimbabweans last week. A lot of
MDC Alliance top officials have gone into hiding and I cannot disclose their
names for security reasons, but I can tell you they are many.”
He added: “The victimisation of Zimbabweans is getting to
the levels of impunity. There have been some overnight raids on party
officials.”
He said Chamisa was concerned by the intimidation and
arrest of his top party officials.
To date, police have arrested 27 suspected opposition
activists in connection with last week’s violent clashes between MDC Alliance
protestors and State security agencies.
National police spokesperson Senior Assistant Commissioner
Charity Charamba would not be drawn into commenting on the matter.
Meanwhile, an MDC candidate for Chivi Central constituency
Henry Chivhanga yesterday took to Twitter, posting a picture of bullet casings
found by his wife outside their house.
“My wife found these bullet casings outside our door. I am
at the police making a report right now. Maybe this was some sort of warning?”
Chivhanga, who is living with disability, tweeted.
Chivhanga, who is chairman of the Disability Amalgamated
Community Trust, said he had since reported the matter to the police (case ref
8715/18).
Contacted for comment, Chivhanga said he was now fearing
for his life.
“That was a rare parcel and who knows what will come next?
I am now fearing for my life,” he said.
Masvingo provincial police spokesperson, Inspector Charity
Mazula, said she had not received the report yesterday. Newsday
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