By Marshall Bwanya
Opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) presidential spokesperson Dr Nkululeko Sibanda on Thursday accused President Emmerson Mnangagwa of being a pseudo- reformist plotting to ban the party and denying its constitutional rights to demonstrate peacefully against the scourge of corruption and economic hardships affecting ordinary citizens.
Police with riot gear fired tear gas and struck people who gathered on Wednesday to hear a speech by Chamisa outside the party headquarters amid growing frustration with the collapsing economy.
Speaking to Nehanda TV, Sibanda said Mnangagwa’s fascist policies had plunged Zimbabwe into a lawless society whose security forces held no regard for upholding basic human rights.
Chamisa’s spokesperson labelled Mnangagwa and top officials in his government as development saboteurs that were security risks not interested in the success of the country.
“Former President Nelson Mandela once said if you deny a man or people the rights they should live as free lives, you inherently give them the choice to demand the lives they should live.
“MDC president chamisa said the same thing, if this government wants to ban the MDC they should say so instead of going around acting like they simply banning the meetings.
“If the MDC is banned we will operate in this country as a banned organisation, using the tactics and methods of a banned organisation,” he said.
Sibanda warned Mnangagwa that he if he kept on pushing the people to the edge they were bound to eventually revolt against the system saying: “you can only push us this far.”
Critics have argued that the recent wave of police brutality and banning of demonstrations shows there is no distinction between the current regime and the old Robert Mugabe and Ian Smith regimes that applied authoritarian laws to maintain hegemonic power.
Sibanda said when a regime is now resorting to the overuse of security forces then it was in a critical crisis that former ex leader Robert Mugabe was never really in. Sibanda argued that it was eventually up to the people to decide if they had enough of the current government.
“The concept of the social contract says that the final authority of any country lies with the people. The people of Zimbabwe are the final authority about all matters they state and on issues in this country.
“It is up to them to discuss if they want to allow this impunity to carry on,” Sibanda told Nehanda TV in an interview posted on Thursday. Nehanda Radio