Chitungwiza Mayor’s house petrol bombed
By Lance Guma
  09 March 2007

The home of Chitungwiza’s elected Mayor Misheck Shoko was petrol-bombed by suspected CIO agents early Friday morning. Shoko is said to have been in his house in Seke’s Unit G with his family when four petrol bombs exploded after being thrown in via the bedroom window. Shoko was unreachable by late Friday but Fidelis Mhashu, the MDC shadow Secretary for Education, confirmed the incident. Mhashu who lives in Chitungwiza told Newsreel the mayor and his family escaped unhurt but property worth millions of dollars was destroyed. He immediately linked the attack to mayoral elections being planned for August this year that Shoko says he will contest, despite government removing him illegally before the expiry of his term.

Although the attack took place around 2am, Mhashu says 5 hours after the attack the police had still not attended to the scene, confirming their suspicions it was state sponsored. In a separate but related incident the home of Last Maengahama, the shadow deputy secretary for local government in the MDC, was also petrol-bombed Friday. Fortunately the bomb failed to explode. He told us the regime was now targeting strategically placed members of the party. Maengahama is a National Council member and Secretary for the MDC’s Harare Province. Efforts to get comment from Chitungwiza police proved fruitless as they refused to talk to us.

Tsvangirai MDC spokesman Nelson Chamisa says the party believes that the attacks are part of a well-orchestrated campaign by the regime and its agents to harass and intimidate their members. ‘We believe that the jittery and cornered regime has now resorted to its usual terror tactics in a vain attempt to stop the rolling train of change,’ Chamisa added. The party vowed no amount of harassment, arrests, intimidation and violence would postpone, ‘the hour of change.’ The party says Shoko’s house has been attacked several times in the past culminating in his removal from elected office. Shoko is said to be a popular figure in the constituency and the MDC believes this is why the regime is trying to stop him from contesting any future elections.

High Court judge Justice Rita Makarau recently threw out Shoko’s challenge to his dismissal by government, saying he had failed to lodge it within the required 8 weeks from the date of his suspension. Shoko is the third elected opposition mayor to be suspended by local government minister Ignatius Chombo after Elias Mudzuri of Harare and Misheck Kagurabadza of Mutare.