Tsvangirai attracts thousands while Mujuru cancels in Budiriro

By Tererai Karimakwenda
15 May 2006

Morgan Tsvangirai held a rally in Budiriro on Sunday which attracted thousands of supporters ahead of the by-election to be held Saturday. He then spent the rest of the day visiting ordinary residents to talk about the party’s programmes. Also on Sunday, vice president Joyce Mujuru is reported to have cancelled her appearance in Budiriro due to poor attendance at the ZANU-PF rally. Our contacts say the local government minister Ignatius Chombo and minister without portfolio Elliott Manyika addressed a small crowd, promising houses under operation Garikai, phase 2 if they voted for ZANU-PF. Tsvangirai had told voters it would be ironic for them to vote for the same people who destroyed their houses and market stalls just a year ago.

Our Harare correspondent Simon Muchemwa monitored reports from Budiriro on state television and radio. He confirmed that the Tsvangirai rally had thousands of supporters and the ZANU-PF rally appeared to have a few hundred. Muchemwa said Chombo and Manyika had nothing new to say. They both promised benefits for the people of Budiriro if they voted for the ZANU-PF candidate. But Muchemwa said people remember the destruction caused by Operation Murambatsvina and how only soldiers and the police were given houses under Garikai phase 1.

Muchemwa said he was not fooled by the state media showing crowds at the Tsvangirai rally and decampaigning the Mutambara MDC faction. He said this is a tactic to keep the opposition divided and swing some votes to ZANU-PF. Muchemwa believes the existence of 2 MDC candidates will cause confusion in the minds of voters. Gabriel Chaibva, the candidate for the Mutambara MDC was once a popular official in the Tsvangirai MDC. Muchemwa said people still associate him with Tsvangirai and that’s why the Tsvangirai rally this weekend was important. They needed to sell their candidate Chisvuvure, who is new to the voters.

Violence broke out last Friday when thugs allegedly hired by ZANU-PF disrupted a rally for Emmanuel Chisvuvure, the Tsvangirai MDC candidate in the Budiriro by-election. Several supporters were arrested and about 15 were injured including a 2½-year old baby. However no incidence were reported on Sunday.

At the rally Tsvangirai urged the electorate to come out in force to show their displeasure with the Mugabe regime and the current economic and social crisis. He was accompanied by the party’s deputy president Thokozani Khupe, the Budiriro candidate Emmanuel Chisvuvure and other senior officials.

Repeating earlier calls for restraint, Tsvangirai reminded Zimbabwe’s security forces that they have a constitutional mandate to protect the people, not to abuse them. He referred to them as the custodians of the country's peace. Several students and opposition activists have been assaulted and harassed by state agents and military personnel this year. Recent reports by The Human Rights NGO Forum indicate that incidents of state-sponsored torture had increased drastically since March.