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 THE MDC-T is demanding drastic action against Zanu PF youths who last week threatened Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai with unspecified repercussions for not advocating for the removal of sanctions imposed by western countries.
The demand, made after Zanu PF youths marched through the streets of Harare on Wednesday is set to further widen the gulf between the two parties in the unity government.
The youths gave Tsvangirai a March 24 ultimatum to call for the removal of the sanctions.
The latest spat comes at a time when Zanu PF and MDC-T are already trading accusations over political violence in Epworth, which left several people injured last weekend.
The parties are also sharply divided over the recently gazetted indigenisation law.
The parties wrote to the Joint Monitoring and Implementation Committee (Jomic) accusing each other of engineering the violence betraying the deepening divisions in the unity government.
The MDC-T also called on Sadc, the guarantor of the Global Political Agreement (GPA) to intervene following the threats against Tsvangirai.
“The MDC-T takes these threats seriously as several attempts have been made on the life of the Prime Minister,” said the party in a statement.
“History is littered with serious attempts to eliminate him which have not been not been taken seriously by the police.”
A decade ago some unidentified people tried to throw Tsvangirai out of his highrise office window while he was still the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) secretary general.
In March 2007, he was “almost” killed by police officers who brutally assaulted him at Machipisa Police Station.
“It is immoral, un-African and inhuman to make the threats a week before the memorial service of his wife, who was killed in a suspicious accident which may well have been an attempt on his life,” it said.
The party also called on the police to arrest the Zanu PF youths saying the case was a litmus test for the impartiality of the country’s security forces, accused of being biased towards President Robert Mugabe’s party.
Rugare Gumbo, Zanu PF spokesperson, youth secretary Absolom Sikhosana and his deputy Edwin Chakanyuka addressed the demonstrators.
The trio told the youths to intensify their demonstrations against the MDC-T.
Chakanyuka said: “Kana zvikaramba tinoita zvaJune 2008 (If the demonstrations don’t work we will do what we did in June 2008.”
MDC-T says hundreds of its supporters were killed by Zanu PF militias during the violence ahead of the presidential election run-off on June 27, 2008.
Nelson Chamisa, the MDC-T spokesperson yesterday said Tsvangirai had not received the ultimatum.
“We have not received it,” said Chamisa. “But our message to our colleagues in Zanu PF is; let’s build not destroy. Such reckless talk is not helpful at all.
“Instead of plotting and scheming let’s plan, the focus really should be on rebuilding the country. No stomach has ever been fed by threats.”
Chamisa also had a word for the police: “What is good for the goose should be good for the gander.”
Jomic spokesperson Joram Nyathi said the committee will visit Epworth this week to conduct further investigations and interview witnesses to establish the real cause of last week’s political violence.
“Real cases of physical violence have gone down but there are several cases where people are threatened or intimidated,” he said.
The unity government hangs by a thread after talks between the three governing parties to resolve outstanding issues from the GPA collapsed with Zanu PF refusing to make further concessions until sanctions against the country are removed.
BY CAIPHAS CHIMHETE
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