By Bernard Chiketo
MUTARE – The planned Mutare MDC demonstration date has been changed after police declined to clear next weekend’s date claiming Zanu PF had already booked that date.
MDC provincial chairperson David Chimhini told a press conference yesterday that they had to reschedule the demonstration from June 25, a Saturday, to Thursday, June 23, after they were informed that Zanu PF had booked Saturday for its own demonstration.
Chimhini, who alleged a police and Zanu PF conspiracy to sabotage the demonstration, said they were told by police to go to court if they needed proof that indeed the ruling party had made its application on June 8 ahead of their application.
“Because we did not get any proof that indeed we had been beaten to the date, then we feel that we are within our rights to allege a conspiracy to sabotage our demo by denying us a date that would have been more convenient to the majority of our people,” he said.
“We will not stop complaining about this. If the matter had been dealt with professionally, we feel we would have been shown the letter after we asked for proof that they were not conspiring against us, not to read, but to just see that it existed and that it indicated June 25 as a date they requested.”
Chimhini is still adamant that the demonstration will still be a huge success.
“There are no jobs in the country so the Thursday will still be fine with us and we would like people to come in full force and prove to the world that indeed there are no jobs in the country,” Chimhini said.
Unlike previous demonstrations in Harare, Bulawayo and Bindura where the High Court had to step in to grant the rejuvenated opposition political party clearance to hold its demonstration, local Mutare police have since okayed June 23 for the demonstration.
Morgan Tsvangirai’s spokesperson, Luke Tamborinyoka, had said his boss was expected to lead the demo from the front.
He had said that the former prime minister in the government of national unity was now in “excellent health” and champing at the bit to lead Zimbabwe’s democratic quests after undergoing an emergency operation in South Africa last month at the recommendation of local doctors.
“He is in high spirits, and as he himself has said, he is actually more worried about the country’s political economy, which is in dire state, rather than his own health,” Tamborinyoka said. Daily News