Full statement:
Monday, 29 August 2016
MDC is not a terrorist organisation
Reports in the Sunday Mail edition of August 28, 2016 portraying the MDC as a terrorist organisation are extremely disturbing, grossly offensive and patently untrue.
The fact of the matter is that the MDC is not training any terror squads allegedly to destabilize Zimbabwe. For the record, the MDC is a lawful and peace-loving social democratic political party that was formed in September,1999. False reports to the effect that the MDC has been training its youth wing in para-military tactics and urban violence should. therefore, be dismissed with the utter contempt and disdain that they rightfully deserve.
If anything, it is the MDC, over the years, that has been the victim of relentless and sustained State-sponsored violence, thuggery and banditry. Zimbabweans still vividly remember how President Morgan Tsvangirai and other top opposition politicians were brutally assaulted by some rogue Police officers and CIO agents in Harare in March, 2007. So thuggish and brutal was the assault that it eventually forced SADC to urgently intervene in order to resolve the Zimbabwean political crisis and impasse.
President Robert Mugabe recently said that there shall be no Arab Spring in Zimbabwe. We totally agree with him. It is not the intention of the MDC and its leader, President Morgan Tsvangirai, to violently and unconstitutionally overthrow the Zanu PF regime. Of late, it is the Zanu PF regime itself that has been unleashing wanton violence and brutal physical force on peaceful demonstrators. On Wednesday, August 25, 2016, the Zimbabwe Republic Police embarked on an orgy of violence in downtown Harare ; beating up and vandalizing innocent and peaceful demonstrators who had been embarking on a lawful march led by the MDC Youth Assembly.
In the process, some Zanu PF thugs and CIO agents set alight two motor vehicles belonging to the ZRP and the Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation. These Zanu PF thugs also looted several city shops, including Choppies supermarket that is partly owned by Vice President Phelekezela Mphoko.
The MDC, together with seventeen (17) other opposition political parties under the NERA platform, also embarked on a peaceful demonstration, calling for electoral reforms, on Friday, August 26, 2016. This demonstration had been sanctioned and authorized by a court order that was granted by Justice Hlekani Mwayera. In flagrant violation and disobedience of Justice Mwayera's court order, the Zimbabwe Republic Police, once again, unleashed wanton violence and thuggery on peaceful demonstrators.
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