Police block MDC rallies in rural Manicaland

By Tichaona Sibanda
20 June 2006

The MDC led by party President Morgan Tsvangirai has been unable to hold any rallies in rural Manicaland because police in the province have refused them permission to do so.

Elton Mangoma, the party’s deputy treasurer general, told us Tuesday that intelligence gathered by their security department suggests police are too scared to allow them any access into Manicaland.

He said the only time they were allowed to hold a rally was in Buhera last week, but that ended prematurely when police told them it was ‘time up’ 30 minutes into the rally.

‘The intelligence we have as a party here in Manicaland is that police seek advice from Didymus Mutasa whenever the MDC applies to hold a rally anywhere in Manicaland. As such, you can see for yourself where the police are getting the instructions from,’ Mangoma said.

Didymus Mutasa is the feared state security minister and is well known in Manicaland for unleashing an orgy of violence against MDC activists.

The Tsvangirai led MDC has in the last two months ventured into rural Zimbabwe in an effort to win the hearts and minds of the rural folk, long considered die-hard supporters of the ruling Zanu (PF) regime.

But the party has been less successful in Manicaland, allegedly due to Mutasa, who is also feared within the police force in the area. There is a documented case against him where, in 2005 he slapped a senior police officer at his house for not toeing the line. Most Zanu (PF) legislators in Manicaland have strong links with the CIO and army.

Cabinet ministers Christopher Mushowe and Michael Nyambuya have served in the CIO and army respectively and the province has basically been off-limits to the MDC. Party leader Morgan Tsvangirai comes from Buhera in Manicaland, where some of the worst acts of political violence occurred in the run up to the 2002 Presidential elections.

Tsvangirai is expected to be in the area on Wednesday to bury his father, Dzingirai Chibwe, who died on Sunday at Murambinda hospital.