by Tawanda Musariri
Bulawayo Ward 1 Councillor Mulandu Ncube of the Movement for Democratic Change led by Nelson Chamisa has together with two other MDC activists been jailed for an effective one year for political violence targeting fellow supporters of the same party.
The trio waged an ogre of violence during the party’s May 4 primary elections in Bulawayo. He, together with Felix Mhaka and twelve others were arraigned before the courts to answer to political violence charges. While it were Mhaka, Ncube and Eric Gono who were convicted, ten others were cautioned and left free while one is still on the run to answer to the same charges.
Among those arraigned before the Bulawayo magistrates’ court include Provincial Chairperson, Gift Banda.
Ncube is no new comer to the courts after he, together with Mhaka, Raymond Magombedza and Donaldson Mabutho were dragged to the same court for attacking fellow party supporters in 2014 during the party congress where they hoped to influence the direction of the congress vote.
The Blantyre Post quoted the Daily News of March 5, 2018 where both Ncube and Banda were also fingered in political violence in Bulawayo where Thokozani Khupe and her aides were attacked. This followed souring of relations over leadership of the party following the death of party president, Morgan Tsvangirai on valentine’s Day. Eventually, the aggressors won the larger chunk of the party and its assets but without the legitimacy. Nelson Chamisa leads this illegal grouping of political bandits while Khupe leads the legitimate faction.
In passing sentence, the Bulawayo magistrates’ court suspended six months of the sentence on condition of good behaviour and commuted the remainder to 210 hours of community service.
Elsewhere, the MDC stands accused of assaulting and injuring five Zanu PF supporters in Mabvuku this week after the parties clashed on a venue that had been double booked for campaign purposes by both parties. The injured were treated for varying degrees of injury at a local referral hospital.
Last Wednesday, Chamisa ignored to restrain his bodyguards from assaulting his party’s candidate for Gutu Central Constituency, Mr Crispa Musoni as he attempted to dialogue with him over discord in the constituency. The MDC prodigal son, Tendai Biti also fell victim to the MDC violence after he left the party with his sympathizers to form the People’s Democratic Party. The leader of the Coalition of Democrats Elton Mangoma was beaten to pulp when he left the violent-prone party to form his own outfit, the Renewal Democrats of Zimbabwe.
Violence has lately become the new political language in the MDC Alliance. The party’s threats at besieging the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission offices must not be discounted like any harmless political posturing.
