By Tichaona Sibanda
18 April 2011
MDC President Morgan Tsvangirai has called on his party to unite, to counter
what he described as ZANU PF’s increasingly authoritarian and brutal streak
meant to destabilise the country ahead of a planned poll.
Tsvangirai has been on whirlwind tour of the country to meet with provincial
party structures following elections that have largely been disrupted by the
police. In other provinces some elections have been marred by vote buying.
The MDC leader says some individuals in ZANU PF and members of the Joint
Operations Command (JOC) are holding the country to ransom. ‘It is a fact
that there are some among us who are determined to take this country back to
the dark years of repression, violence and intimidation,’ Tsvangirai said
over the weekend.
In Chinhoyi on Friday night, he said people can have different points of
view on many things ‘but at a time of major challenges ahead, it was
important to maintain the unity of the party.’
He went on to say; “The MDC should come out of the third national congress,
stronger and with a clear agenda that it is a party ready and worthy to
govern”.
5,000 party delegates from across the country are expected to attend the
congress in Bulawayo from April 28-30. But there are reports the police are
trying to bar the gathering.
Our Bulawayo correspondent, Lionel Saungweme, said it appears the police,
acting on instructions from the top, are hell bent on disrupting the ‘’rebranding’
of the MDC, because of the threat it creates to ZANU PF.
‘People should not forget that between January and February, the JOC met at
Rose camp police station in Bulawayo and ordered that all MDC functions be
banned. A fractured MDC will not be a threat to ZANU PF but a rebranded MDC,
with new faces and new ideas, will be bad news for Mugabe. This is why the
partisan police will want to make it difficult for the party to have its
congress,’ Saungweme said.
The Zimbabwe Standard newspaper reported on Sunday that police claim they
don’t have adequate manpower to cover the meeting and are demanding US$10
000 a day to provide extra security.
The MDC is also being barred from using education institutions for
accommodation in the city, raising fears hundreds of party delegates will be
left without anywhere to sleep.
