‘Police watch as Zanu-PF thugs’ storm CCC press meeting, steal banners
More than 30 suspected Zanu-PF thugs stormed and stole banners and all branding materials at a press conference hosted by the opposition Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC) on Tuesday afternoon.
The incident occurred right in front of the watching eyes of journalists gathered at the Media Centre in Harare.
CCC officials who include party spokesperson Fadzayi Mahere, secretary for elections Ian Makone and his deputy Ellen Shiriyedenga were escorted out of the premises by their security through the emergency door as the thugs camped outside the press room waiting to meet them.
Speaking at the briefing hosted under the theme “Election Watch”, Mahere accused Zanu-PF of orchestrating the violence.
She accused Zanu-PF of being scared of the opposition. The top lawyer claimed that the police were complicit in the incident as they allegedly watched Zanu-PF thugs forcibly grabbing opposition property.
“Zanu-PF youths stole our brand property and some of our identifying material,” she said.
“CCC is a movement of courage. Zanu-PF obviously is running scared because no political party that is confident to have the support of the people, storms into a press conference to try and stop it using violence.
“What is even more disappointing is that we have the members of the Zimbabwe Republic Police stationed outside. They are armed yet they could not stop these Zanu-PF thugs.
“What we say to Zanu-PF is that they need to stop using violence and abusing the police service to try and silence political opponents.”
At the presser, Councillor Makone said the party wanted the number of wards in Harare to be increased from 46 to 55, but Zanu-PF is resisting.
“We’re made to believe that a councillor for Harare should look after more voters than a councillor for Goromonzi. Rural and urban. It means, therefore, that there’s no equality of voters, and that is not constitutional.
“These are issues that we’ve made known to ZEC (Zimbabwe Electoral Commission),” he said.
