Judge for yourself: Transcript of BBC Hardtalk interview with Nelson Chamisa

Sackur: I doubt that there’s any rule book in your party which suggests that young thugs should physically intimidate people inside your party that have a different views on who should be leader but that’s what’s been happening.

Chamisa: Well we have had challenges and I must say that the challenges are as a result of the DNA, the default setting in the politics of our country where violence has been a major issue we are trying…

Sackur: You are supposed to be different

Chamisa: In fact this is what I’m dealing with as a new leader, as a new face …..

Sackur: Well if you are dealing with it do tell me what has happened to these young men who surrounded Thoko Khupe at the funeral in the same village where the funeral was taking place of Morgan Tsvangirai she was forced to take shelter in a hut and as the local reporting suggests, there were young men who tried to set that hut alight and as far as she was concerned, it was an attempt on her life and these people responsible for that action are supporters of yours.

Chamisa: All those people who were identified because everything was under a video camera have been dealt with. We have said we are not going to have bad apples affecting the basket of good apples of democracy, we will not accept any violent element, any violent element within our midst. This has been our position…

Sackur: Forgive me but the bad apples still seem to be in the basket, you say you dealt with them, that incident happened in February, on the fourth of March in Bulawayo Ms Khupe’s supporters were again attacked at a meeting that she was speaking at.

Chamisa: This was a different meeting all together, a different geographical setting all together ….

Sackur: I know, so the bad apples are still there?

Chamisa: And then there’s an investigation that was done to deal with those issues that we have said let’s move forward by making sure that in our midst we do not want people who thrive on violence. We have been victims of violence for the past 18 years we have been at the receiving end of State-sponsored violence. I myself am a victim of that violence, nearly left for dead several times at the airport, at the various circumstances but I have said we cannot use violence to transact politics in a new dispensation. 

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