Zanu PF wants war — Biti

By Tatenda Dewa | Harare Bureau |

A Zanu PF demonstration by unemployed youths on Wednesday is a scheme by the ruling party to cause civil unrest with the help of the security sector, Tendai Biti, the president of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) said in a statement.

Thousands of youths besieged central Harare in a demonstration that was pregnant with slogans against leaders of social movements that recently mobilised citizens to protest against President Robert Mugabe’s rule.

“The ongoing shenanigans currently unfolding in Harare are obnoxious and unacceptable. It is self-evident that the securocrats are mobilising coerced, lumpen elements to invade the streets of Harare,” said Biti in a statement.

The police stood by and watched as the youths demonstrated, in contrast to the heavy-handedness the law enforcers normally adopt when government critics are protesting.

Biti, a former Finance Minister in the short-lived coalition government, said President Robert Mugabe’s government was an abnormal regime that loved violence.

“They want war, this lot. They want chaos, this lot. They want an excuse of re-imposing the state of emergency. They have an itch (but) the itch needs to be scratched,” he added.

He urged Zimbabweans to remain peaceful “and operate within the four corners of the law” because “we do not want their war”.

The PDP leader described Zanu PF as a guerilla movement that had failed to get out of the war mode since independence 36 years ago. Nehanda Radio