Biti receives bullet threat in post

Finance Minister Tendai Biti on Monday received a letter containing a live bullet and a warning to “prepare your will”.

Biti, widely seen as prime minister Morgan Tsvangirai’s number two, found the apparent death threat delivered to his home in the capital, Harare.

The letter accompanying the bullet was inscribed “raira nhaka”, which can be translated as “prepare your will” or “sort out your estate”. The Movement for Democratic Change said it was treating the package as a death threat and it had been reported to the police.

Biti’s aide, Nqobizitha Mlilo, was quoted by SW Radio Africa as saying that the finance minister was “a bit low and shaken up as a result of this episode”.

Biti is secretary-general of the MDC, which has formed a unity government with president Mugabe’s Zanu-PF. He has been locked in a battle over the economy with Reserve Bank governor Gideon Gono, whom Mugabe refuses to sack.

An MDC statement said tonight: “Hon Tendai Biti has received a letter with a live bullet inside it in what the party is treating as a death threat. The letter was delivered at the MDC secretary-general’s home in Highlands and a police report has been lodged at Harare Central police station.”

The incident comes after a perilous month for the power-sharing government, involving chaotic scuffles at a constitution-writing conference, and reports of violent assaults on MDC supporters.

The statement added: “The MDC believes that these threats cannot be taken lightly, especially against the background of renewed violence and persecution of MDC leaders, MPs and members.

“The live bullet delivered at Hon Biti’s home is a tragic climax to the barrage of defamatory vitriol spewed through the public media ever since the Minister of Finance delivered a pro-poor mid-term fiscal policy position which was well-received by the various sectors of the economy.

“The terror tactics of sending live bullets to cabinet ministers is a sure sign that the desperate forces fighting the new dispensation are getting more and more desperate every day.”

MDC ministers have warned that despite the formation of the unity government political assassinations are still a risk and expressed a desire to see more security around Tsvangirai. The Guardian.co.uk