Suspended Chitungwiza mayor survives assassination attempt

By Tichaona Sibanda
23 October 2006

Misheck Shoko, the suspended Chitungwiza mayor, said Monday he survived an assassination attempt after unidentified gunmen opened fire at his house early Saturday morning. He has reported the incident to the police.

Shoko said he is lucky to be alive after the assailants, who he strongly suspect to be from Zanu (PF)’s security organs, fired three shots at him from close range but surprisingly missed. He also recovered a spent cartridge outside his house.

‘If I had switched on the lights, the assassin would have got a clear shot. All they saw were shadows of myself and my wife. Because I was fighting back, throwing back the stones they had used to smash my windows, I think they were caught offguard with the fierce resistance I put up,’ said Shoko.

One thing was clear, he said, the assailants had trailed him from the moment he started campaigning in some rural wards in Dema. He said they were travelling in a fairly new Mazda pick-up truck, suggesting it could have belonged to a chief in one of the rural areas he visited Friday.

He had just got home from a gruelling campaign trail in Mashonaland East when the attackers shattered all the front windowpanes in an effort to gain entry into his house. Whey they failed they tried to cut off the burglar bars but Shoko was in no mood to be attacked without putting up a fight.

‘The noise probably woke up my neighbours who came out to investigate and this is the time the assailants fired three shots. The reason they want me dead I think is that I am solidly behind Morgan Tsvangirai. The attack won’t change anything. I will continue supporting the MDC until change arrives,’ Shoko added.

The attack comes at a time when Home Affairs Minister Kembo Mohadi issued a threat that they were considering banning Tsvangirai from addressing rallies until he stops calling for anti-government protests.
Mohadi reportedly told ZimOnline Sunday that he and Police Commissioner Augustine Chihuri were still consulting on the possibility of banning Tsvangirai and other MDC officials from holding public political meetings. Shoko said he was not surprised with the threats because it had always been government policy to ban the MDC from addressing rallies.