The Movement for Demcratic Change (MDC) led by Nelson Chamisa has dismissed with contempt the attempt by the public broadcaster, ZBC and Zanu PF to justify the killing of innocent civilians by apportioning blame on the MDC Alliance.
The party said the biased coverage ironically comes after President Mnangagwa stated that he was setting up a commission to look at the shootings and expressed shock as to why the public broadcaster would not wait in order to ascertain what occurred.
“Such attempts are diabolical in nature and can not be excused at any level. It is a known fact that soldiers gunned down and killed seven and injured 13 unarmed civilians in Central Harare. It is a fact that soldiers have been terrorising people ever since in the high density suburbs to stifle dissent.
“It is a fact that the same Zanu PF government has killed to stay in power. Cases in point include the 2008 bloody run off period where over 500 people lost their lives. The Murambatsvina of 2005, violent farm invasions of 2000, Gukurahundi in the 1980s and the state of our economy presently, is testament to that,” the MDC said in a statement Monday.
It was adamant no sugar coating of any nature could erase what happened in Zimbabwe on Tuesday last week and what continues to happen in Zimbabwe.
The main opposition described Zanu PF as a violent party that continues to use the state apparatus in its disposal to abuse the people of Zimbabwe.
Chamisa’s party said while it does not condone the action taken by some of the demonstrators, it certainly takes exceptions in the continued harassment of its staff members and visitors at The Morgan Tsvangirai House who were transacting party business at the office but today find themselves incarcerated.
In that regard, the MDC feels it has always been provoked by the “militant and violent Zanu PF party but we have maintained our peace.”
The part said it was regrettable that its staff members, politicians and ordinary people have been arrested and imprisoned for crimes they did not commit.
It cited “The Glen View 27” issue whereby three men remain behind bars yet they “were nowhere close to the events that took place in Glen View in 2009.”
The late MDC President Morgan Tsvangirai was charged with treason numerous times and acquitted each time because of the trumped up charges.
“May the so called eye witness on ZBC produce evidence of beer coming out of our head office. If anything, such evidence must be used in the court of law and not in the public media. This in itself is inciting. Such innuendos being exuded by the ZBC will not stop the MDC Alliance from pursuing legal means to reclaim the people’s victory.
“The people of Zimbabwe overwhelmingly voted for the people’s President Nelson Chamisa and the MDC Alliance at all levels and we are not prepared to betray the people’s victory because of a small cabal that thinks it owns Zimbabwe.”