HARARE -- Zimbabwe's main opposition party on Saturday vowed a repeat of Kenya's recent election violence if veteran President Robert Mugabe rigs joint presidential and legislative polls due in March.
"You saw and heard what happened in Kenya. It's nothing compared to what we will have here if Mugabe rigs the elections again," said the Movement for Democratic Change's secretary for information, Nelson Chamisa.
Clashes in Kenya following last month's disputed presidential polls have left more than 600 people dead.
"You can't have a thief rob you twice and let him keep his hands," Chamisa told hundreds of party supporters at the launch of their election programme in a suburb of Harare.
"We are gathered here to launch the new Zimbabwe Campaign, a campaign for free and fair elections and we want those elections to be free and fair."
Mugabe, in power since independence from Britain in 1980, was accused by the MDC and Western governments of rigging the last elections in 2002.
While the MDC once posed the most serious threat to Mugabe's rule, it has been severely undermined by internal divisions with nearly half of its lawmakers no longer loyal to long-time party leader Morgan Tsvangirai.
Chamisa however said the MDC would mend fences and present a united front in the March elections whose exact date has yet to be announced.
"We want a united front," he said. "We want the like of (rival faction leader Arthur) Mutambara and Daniel Shumba to play their part."
Shumba, a former official in the ruling Zimbabwe African National Union - Patriotic Front (Zanu PF), launched his own party two years ago.
MDC secretary general Tendai Biti told the crowd: "Zanu PF is a paper construct, when you push it, it falls. We are going to push it and it's going to fall.
"Zanu PF has done what the war failed to do and that is to destroy the economy."
Zimbabwe is in the throes of economic crisis with inflation last announced at nearly 8,000 percent in September. Economists estimate that the real figure is now closer to 50,000 percent.
AFP
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READER OPINIONS
Vtm • reavoice@yahoo.ca Subject: Fighting for freedom Wed, 16 Jan 2008 10:28:20 • is always morally justified. Your lives are your own. Live them as you will. Kill anyone who interferes. Killing ****** will rid you of ******.
So go... shoot him dead.
This policy worked for the US in 1776, 1865, 1945. It's been used elsewhere.
Return force for threats, return death for abode and mistreatment. The man you kill will never bother you again. Consider just one example: The Romanian people had had enough of Ceausescu's abuse and mistreatment. So in 1989, they dragged him out and shot him. Then they machine-gunned his wife, too.
Death solves all problems. No man, no problem.
TV
Collen • zimnews@mail.com Subject: MDC is right Wed, 16 Jan 2008 09:32:35 • Mugabe said, 'He came to power by barrel of a Gun so people can only remove him by a barrel of gun. MDC is a government because Tsvangirai has won 2002 presidential elections.
Mugabe must not only be allowed to have monopoly over violence. MDC has an obligation to use force against Mugabe. Zimbabwe is a War already what is left is for the oppressed people is to fight back to defend their families and property from ZANU PF thieves and robbers. MDC go ahead oust MUGABE you can use force. Mugabe used force against Smith. In Africa you have to use force presidents who cling on power are barbaric.
Collen Makumbirofa
zimnews@mail.com
Collen
Collen • zimnews@mail.com Subject: MDC is right Wed, 16 Jan 2008 09:31:40 • Mugabe said, 'He came to power by barrel of a Gun so people can only remove him by a barrel of gun. MDC is a government because Tsvangirai has won 2002 presidential elections.
Mugabe must not only be allowed to have monopoly over violence. MDC has an obligation to use force against Mugabe. Zimbabwe is a War already what is left is for the oppressed people is to fight back to defend their families and property from ZANU PF thieves and robbers. MDC go ahead oust MUGABE you can use force. Mugabe used force against Smith. In Africa you have to use force presidents who cling on power are barbaric.
Collen Makumbirofa
zimnews@mail.com
mary gotora • marygotra@yahoo.co.uk Subject: NO VIOLENCE Mon, 14 Jan 2008 17:59:43 • Violence will not solve anything but instead destroy everything, what you should do is all the parties put in place a method of having a free and fair election where every move will be monitored closely, mukaita violence munofa, remember the police andarmy guys have been and will be told to shoot, munourayisa vanhu itai mega
Mbuya Chirambakusakara • n/a Subject: barbaric & irresponsible Sun, 13 Jan 2008 14:16:20 • One thing i`ve managed to teach all those related to me one or the other is that they should never fall in love or get emotionally attached to politicians. They survive by sucking the poor people`s blood. Why doesn`t Tsvangirai, Chamisa et al put their off-springs on the front-line for the proposed jambanja? Tsvangirai`s kids are safely tucked away in Australia but there`s the MDC spin-doctor trying to encourage the suffering people to give -up their lives so that them lot can live-off the publicity of such deaths. Pathetic - non of my relations will be part of that stinking scam, i`ve schooled them enough. Kibaki and Odinga will at some stage sit together and enjoy the wealth they have gotten thru the deaths of 600 kenyans, but alas, the poor who have been used, are dead and decomposing somewhere...... and this is what Chamisa is admiring....?? Pathetic, no more respect for you guys, you`ve lost all credibility
James Asani • abusalma21@googlemail.com Subject: Violence Is Not An Option Sat, 12 Jan 2008 20:06:29 • The violence we just saw in Kenya is a blemish on the African conscience and no well meaning African politician should make claims to repeat that scenario. What happened in Kenya was ethnic cleansing triggered by those who were fighting to get political power. But who suffered ? Ordinary people who had been living side by side peacefully for decades became enemies overnight. This happened because politicians make inflamatory statements of this nature knowing fully well that they are not going to bear the brunt of whay they instigate. It's the poor man who feels it. Nelson Chamisa and Tendai Biti need to be wise enough and avoid calling for violence because tomorrow this will be used against them.
Real Democracy • n/a Subject: No Demonstrations to enrich the few Sat, 12 Jan 2008 19:17:19 • I don't think this guy really knows the people of Zimbabwe, now that the Mukuyu (Kikuyu) & Luo decided to have the tribal differences solved in the guise of the election results does not mean that Zimbabweans are going to follow that trend, no, not in your dreams. Zimbabweans are to clever to be used by individuals who only want to be in power to enrich themselves and their peers. It is evident that Tsvangirai has shown his dictorial tendencies already, and has tried to impose people into positions through undemocratic means. Now you think, people will be out to cause chaos, forget Nelsin, thats dream world you living in. It will not surprise me if Zanu PF genuinely trounce the opposition, without rigging, and remember it is not a God given right that the opposition should win the elections. So this idea of trying to make people believe that elections, if not won by the oppositions is plain stupidity. We will not our relatives die for your enrichment. Get your relatives and those thugs who will do anything for a few scuds to cause chaos, and remember Mugabe's forces shoot to kill, with the international community doing nothing. Good luck, i am honestly voting for Zanu PF, or the Simba Makoni one if it is in existence.
george bachinche • bachinche@mail.com Subject: Irresponsile statement Sat, 12 Jan 2008 17:24:52 • War is the luxury of those who never experienced it
Chamisa's statement is irresponsible. He is deliberately planning violence. The Kenya outbreak of violence was unplanned, so we are led to believe.
The generation before us lived through the war of liberation and there was nothing glamous about the actual experience of war, according to those lived through it.
There was further violence in Matebeleland and parts of the Midlands in the early 1980s which caused truma in some people's lives.
I on my part will not raise my hands to fight anyone over election results, not for Mugabe not for MDC and not for whosoever.
What is curious is that it is the poor people who are being called upon to fith. That is why the rallies are held in the high density townships- Highfield, Glen Norah, Glen View Kuwadzana Budiriro etc. Why can't the same politicians make such statements in Highlands, Borrowdale, Glen Lorne, Mandara. This is where the politicians (both ZANU PF and MDC reside). Can these people see their homes being torched (yes one part torches one house and the other party will retaliate), in the name of election results?
Democracy comes with responsibility. Threatening violence is irresponsible.
It is reported that Governor Soames banned Enos Nkala and Mutumbuka during the lead up to the 1980 elections for making similar statements.
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