By Richard Chidza
HARARE – Zanu PF has warned there could be a bloodbath if Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai wins next year’s Presidential elections.
In an interview with South African-based television channel e-News Channel Africa, Zanu PF spokesperson Rugare Gumbo chillingly revealed how hardliners would find it difficult to hand over the reins of power to Tsvangirai.
The Daily News also managed to exclusively view the whole hair-raising interview.
“I can say it will be a mess. That is what I can tell you; it will be messy. We will be asking for too much from our guys (the military) to accept these people who we all know fought against them and were responsible for the deaths of many of their comrades,” Gumbo said.
“They (hardliners) are human beings; they feel pained by the actions of the opposition and also by the West. I have told people several times that look we laughed at what happened in Libya and we laugh at what is happening in Syria. These things can also happen here. There will be deaths. People could be killed and maimed and so on,” he said.
Gumbo’s warning comes hard on the heels of a recent interview with the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) by Justice Minister Patrick Chinamasa in which he made veiled threats to Tsvangirai, insinuating the military would stage a coup detat if he wins the next elections.
“He (Tsvangirai) cannot win. He has been campaigning and mobilising against the interests of Zimbabweans on many issues, whether talking about land, seeking to reverse the gains of the liberation struggle,” Chinamasa told BBC’s Andrew Harding.
“And this is where the military comes in…. Young people participated in the liberation struggle to gain control over our resources. Many friends died and are buried in unmarked graves. Now if anyone is going to say: ‘When I come into power I am going to reverse that,’ they (the military) have every right to say: ‘Please – you are asking for trouble. You will be asking for trouble.’
Pro-democracy groups, including the MDC have accused Zanu PF of militarising the electoral process, insisting that hardliners in the military would prevent Tsvangirai from assuming power in the event that he wins.
In the same interview, Constitutional Affairs Minister Eric Matinenga said Zanu PF was preparing for another violent election as happened in the run up to the Presidential runoff in 2008.
“Zanu PF is preparing Zimbabweans for another charade as happened in 2008. They are simply saying and if I may use these words ‘if you believe we are going to have a free and fair election then you must believe water flows upstream.
“They do not want elections because if you try and tick our democratisation progress under the Global Political Agreement you will see we fall far short,” Matinenga said.
He said Zanu PF is setting the ground for a no win situation in the next election that will culminate in another GPA so that Mugabe will die in office.
Gumbo said the MDC was sponsored by white farmers and the Westminster Foundation, consisting of the conservatives and the democrats, to reverse the land reform programme.
“How do you expect the military to support these people who were fighting them? Some of these guys’ parents fought against these whites. It’s not that easy for the people in the army to accept and tolerate such a thing (Tsvangirai win) when they know their colleagues suffered; perished during the war. It will be asking too much of them,” said Gumbo.
“There is a history that people fail to understand. For someone to have become a member of Zanu PF’s military wing (Zanla) during the war, they had to be a member of Zanu first. You cannot then expect these guys not to be Zanu PF; they are members of the party,” he said answering a question why military generals supported Zanu PF.
From the infamous straight jacket declaration by then army chief Vitalis Zvinavashe on the eve of the 2002 elections to Douglas Nyikayaramba’s characterisation of Tsvangirai as a national security threat, senior military figures have consistently made threats against Prime Minister’s win.
Zimbabwe is preparing to hold a constitutional indaba to pave way for the crafting of a new constitution crucial for the holding of elections.
But the process has been marred by haggling amongst the three parties in the inclusive government, including accusations that the military wants to derail the process, allegations it has dismissed.
President Robert Mugabe has already said elections to end the inclusive government will be held in March next year amid growing concerns by the two MDC formations that the environment is not yet conducive for holding of elections.
He, however, insists that the electoral playing field “does not need a tractor to be level, they will never get a better environment than this.” Daily News
