The violence saw an aspiring Ward 25 CCC councillor Martin
Muremba, for Ward 25 and four youth being abducted and kept captive for six
hours. They were severely assaulted and had their phones stolen while Muremba
lost US$200 in the process.
Sources said that the violence started around 7 pm last night when Zanu PF youth stormed Maungwa and beat everyone they saw at the shops. What baffled residents is that the fiasco happened as Police watched and did nothing.
The assaulted youth showed scars to the media inflicted all
over their bodies. They alleged that Gutu Police led by Officer-in-charge Chief
Inspector Cames Myambo refused to take their reports and chased them out of the
Police post at Mawungwa.
Myambo said he is not aware of the matter.
Efforts to get a comment from the National Police
spokesperson Assistant Commissioner Paul Nyati were futile.
Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC), Chief Elections
Officer Utloile Silaigwana referred questions to the Commission’s public
relations department.
CCC leader Nelson Chamisa was forced to address the rally
in a bush while a group of about 40 Zanu PF supporters gathered 100 meters away
where they had been pushed back by the opposition youth who were getting
increasingly agitated by the disruptions of their rally.
Chamisa told his supporters that he was going to talk to
Togarepi over the disturbances.
He said it was foolhardy for Togarepi who is his relative
to think that he would stop CCC when the Zanu PF leader Emmerson Mnangagwa had
failed in all his machinations over the last five years.
Togarepi denied that he was at the scene and told The
Mirror to talk to perpetrators seen at Maungwa. However, he could not deny that
his vehicles roamed the venue of Chamisa’s rally the whole day.
“Togarepi is my relative and I am going to talk to him
about this. It is foolish for him to think that he can stop CCC when the
crocodile failed. He is trying to block a river using his hands,” said Chamisa.
Misheck Munyoro, a disabled youth said Togarepi was one of
those who tried to beat him but stopped when he realised his physical state.
“I know Togarepi, I saw him. He arrived here in a brown
landcruiser with a group of Zanu PF youth. He tried to kick me as he chased me
but missed,” said a CCC girl who requested anonymity for fear of victimization.
The abducted youth were Muremba, Knowledge Mawere, Godwin
Madhuyu and Last Musara.
After assaulting people at Mawungwa last night, the Zanu PF
youth also caused mayhem at neighbouring business centers including Muchechete.
This morning, they returned to the business center and
started beating people as early as 6 am.
“We were approached by youths who ordered us to remove
regalia. They accused us of housebreaking.
“They took us to Zanu PF councillor Taka Rashayi’s
homestead where they severely assaulted and threw mud at us. We were taken back
to the business center where we were whipped in public and then driven into a
bush where they continued beating us and only released us at 12 pm. We were
warned that blood would be shed during these elections,” said Muremba.
He said that the FAZ team which invaded the place includes
Jephias Mudyahoto, Norman Maungwa, Josphar Pedze, Cynthia Mafukidze, Jenifer
Mangezi, Trevor Maungwa and one Mai Roni Munongi.
“It is disheartening that the whole incident happened under
the watch of the Police,” said Munyoro.
Masvingo has over the last three days been engulfed by
violence as Chamisa started his campaign rallies in the province. Masvingo
Mirror
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