By Xolisani Ncube
Ian Makone, Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai’s chief secretary, says he is living in fear after an attempt to assassinate him was discovered on Friday last week. Makone also doubles up as secretary to the Council of Ministers, which Tsvangirai chairs.
In an interview yesterday, Makone told the Daily News his would-be assailants inserted a sharp-edged metal inside one of his vehicle’s tyres, with an intention to deflate the tyre while his vehicle was in motion — a situation that would have resulted in the tyre bursting and possibly resulting in a car crash.
Makone said he viewed the move as a ploy to assassinate him. “My driver was coming from Wedza and he had a puncture on a new tyre which had been on the road for less than two days. “As the tyre was being attended to, a sharp edged metal object was discovered inside the tyre,” said Makone.
“It is very fortunate that he was not driving at a high speed. Imagine if it was a front one which had this metal object and the driver was driving at a high speed? It was going to be another story altogether,” said Makone.
He added that he counted himself lucky that he was not in the vehicle and that none of those who were in the vehicle were injured during the incident. Luke Tamborinyoka, Tsvangirai’s spokesperson said they were not taking the matter lightly. He said they viewed the matter as a tip of the iceberg on what to expect given the forthcoming presidential and general elections.
“We are taking this matter seriously and we are going to be very observant to whatever is being done to us. This could be just a beginning of serious mischief and who knows who could be the next target and we don’t know whether it was a mistake or a deliberate attempt to assassinate Makone,” Tamborinyoka said.
With election tempo steadily rising, fear is now high within the MDC officials inside the shaky coalition government, especially those in the Prime Minister’s office, that this could be another attempt by the former ruling party to eliminate them ahead of the watershed elections. Daily News
