Vice President Phelekezela Mphoko has made astonishing claims MDC-T leader Morgan Tsvangirai was once involved in an assassination attempt on former VP Joshua Nkomo.
But his comments have invited strong rebuke from the ex-prime minister’s spokesperson who further threatens a civil suit against the controversial VP.
Mphoko weekend took many by surprise when he said Tsvangirai had no moral authority to visit and try to emphathise with victims of the early 1980s Gukurahundi atrocities because of his alleged involvement in an attempted murder of President Mugabe’s once bitter enemy.
“Tsvangirai was around a few weeks ago and said as MDC-T, they want to fix the Gukurahundi issue and said Zanu PF has failed and he can do it. Let us not forget that when Cde Nkomo’s car was shot he (Tsvangirai) was at the forefront, when an officer in charge was killed in Tsholotsho he was there too. The same person wants to address the Gukurahundi issue now,” Mphoko said.
He did not elaborate.
His comments come after Tsvangirai recently visited communities in parts Matebeleland North where he promised to compensate Gukurahundi victims he if became President.
“Here was a whole Vice President, with neither shame nor compunction, grossly maligning and besmirching an innocent citizen and making a sick joke out of a national tragedy on national television,” said Luke Tamborinyoka, Tsvangirai’s spokesperson in a statement on Sunday.
Tamborinyoka said it was a known fact Gukurahundi President Mugabe was the chief architect in a genocide that killed an estimated 20 000 majority Ndebele civilians he accused of harbouring dissidents who were sympathetic to the late Nkomo.
Tsvangirai’s spokesperson said Mphoko was “apparently appearing to be high on some illicit and noxious substance” when he made the claims.
“Next time, Mphoko’s minders must assist him to resist the temptation to parade himself in front of television cameras, particularly if he knows he has just smoked something illegal, toxic and dangerous as he appeared to have done yesterday.
“He may indulge in anything he fancies, but he must never make himself a national spectacle, humiliating both party and government by smearing an innocent citizen with blood in a desperate bid to make a murderer out of them.
“It was a cheap script that only an illicit drug addict could have the courage to muster and parrot on national television.”
Tamborinyoka said “Mphoko’s charade in front of television cameras was a miserable, freshman’s attempt at spin by a semi-literate G40 kingpin who was clearly out of his depth”.
In apparent reference to Higher and Tertiary Education minister Jonathan Moyo who lost his father during the period, Tamborinyoka said Mphoko could have tried to seek advice from “some of his colleagues in the same faction who lost their parents during the senseless Gukurahundi period”.
“At least they could have sat him down to impress upon him that this was no laughing matter; that Gukurahundi was too grave a matter to clown about,” Tamborinyoka said.
“Mphoko will soon be hearing from President Tsvangirai’s lawyers about his false and defamatory allegations. He surely owes the nation an elaborate substantiation of his fanciful allegations that do not befit the high office that he holds.
“He will surely have his day in court.
“Indeed, judging by his latest performance, what appeared all along to be a bastardized rendition of his name may be the apt version of what he truly is, after all!”
It is however not the first time Mphoko has tried to spin the Gukurahundi story in attempts to absolve President Mugabe from responsibility.
Mphoko has claimed before the killing of civilians in Matebeleland and Midlands provinces was a Western conspiracy meant to destabilise then newly independent Zimbabwe. Radio VOP
Discover more from Nehanda Radio
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
