Harare province chairman denies taking bribe to join Tsvangirai

By Tererai Karimakwenda

08 November 2005

MDC deputy secretary general Gift Chimanikire, who has aligned himself with the pro-senate faction of the MDC, was a guest on the programme The Hot Seat on Tuesday. Chimanikire defended the pro-senate position by reiterating that their faction did not want ZANU-PF to make inroads in the traditionally MDC strongholds of Matabeleland and in urban areas. He said the senate debate was about the MDC’s founding principles and about constitutional processes.

Chimanikire then went on to accuse those against the senate elections and the Tsvangirai camp of organising and paying rowdy youths to perpetrate violence against the pro-senate candidates. He told us that windows had been stoned in the Glen View area of Harare, and that 2 youths from their faction had been kidnapped and interrogated. More seriously, Chimanikire claimed some of their candidates had been intimidated and bribed so they would abandon the pro-senate faction.

Asked for an example of who was bribed, Chimanikire said Harare Province chairman Morgan Femai was given a satellite dish by members of staff in Tsvangirai’s office and switched sides soon after. We contacted Femai and asked about these allegations, and he immediately called Chimanikire a liar repeatedly. He said he changed his mind after learning the people in his structures were against the elections, and could not go against the people. As for the satellite dish, Femai said he bought it for his kids with money he gets from renting out his shop. Then he repeated over and over that Chimanikire was a liar.

On the subject of talks and reconciliation, Chimanikire said he did not know whether he could work with Tsvangirai and the others again. He said he may be open to dialogue but there was no attempt at getting together again after his meeting with Tsvangirai last Friday proved fruitless. And finally, when we asked him whether tribalism played any role in the current divisions in the opposition party, Chimanikire said it did not. He said those who use that excuse are apologists.