Makone warns of Egypt style uprising in Zimbabwe

By Lance Guma

Co-Home Affairs Minister Theresa Makone has warned the Mugabe regime of an Egypt style uprising if they persist in provoking peace loving Zimbabweans. The MP for Harare North was reacting to the way ZANU PF thugs violently disrupted a scheduled rally in her constituency on Sunday.

ZANU PF youths who were throwing rocks attempted to disrupt the rally but were instead sent scurrying for cover by angry MDC-T supporters. The police, who initially ignored the MDC-T calls for help for about 2 hours, only went to the scene when it became clear the ZANU PF youths had been over-powered.

Speaking to SW Radio Africa on Tuesday Makone said: ‘The best way to breach a dictatorship is to follow a reasonably peaceful path like what happened in Egypt. What happened in Libya is not a solution because of the number of people who died and the destruction to infrastructure.”

“There is nothing more powerful than people power and one day people will say enough is enough. As a party we have opted for peaceful change,” Makone said.

Asked whether the MDC-T had failed to provide the leadership required to make an ‘Egypt’ possible she said “there is a breaking point for any society. You do not take leaders and lead people onto the street before the population actually speaks to you. You will know what needs to be done when its time to do it,” she said.

Makone said the decision by MDC-T supporters to defend themselves against the planned violence by ZANU PF mobs in Hatcliffe showed that “people are not going to be battered again like they did in 2008.” Back then she said they had asked their supporters not to retaliate but now the message was:

“You do not attack anyone; you do not offend anyone, but should anyone strike you, don’t just sit there because they will kill. You have seen them do it before. This is what ZANU PF got on Sunday from the people. The people refused to be battered again,” she said.

NB: The full interview between Lance Guma and Theresa Makone will be broadcast on SW Radio Africa during a special edition of Behind the Headlines this Friday.

To visit the SW Radio Africa website click here