Staff Reporter
Two Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC) members, were arrested for assaulting a female ZANU PF member and torching her homestead destroying property worth US$6 000 in Chirumhanzu.
The duo, Wellington Muza and Gift Chingorima of ward 6, is part of a group that burnt houses of ZANU PF Takawira Party District youth Chairperson, Netsai Dzinowanda.
“CCC members are on a spree of violence ahead of the 2023 Presidential elections. This is indeed worrisome. Muza and Chingorima were arrested on 24 October 2022 for burning the house of Dzinowanda,” revealed a source.
The source said that on 20 October 2022 around 2000 hours, Muza and Chingorima went to Dzinowanda`s homestead and saw his four children. They told the children that they were going to burn their homestead. At that time Dzinowanda and her husband Simbarashe Chabuda were at by-election command centre at Holy Cross business centre where Dzinowanda was a polling agent.
On the same day at around 1800hours, Chabuda noticed a double cab Ford Ranger registration number AEK 1385 with eight people on board approaching his homestead and alerted his wife and children to quickly move out of their homestead and hide in a neighbouring bush. The parked 100 meters away from Dzinowanda`s homestead before proceeding to burn Dzinowanda`s houses and returned to their vehicles.
Chabuda managed to identify them from his hiding. He then sought assistance from his neighbours to put out the fire and Dzinowanda reported the matter to Chaka Police station which led to the arrest of the two suspects. The other suspects, Nyasha Shinya, Lovemore Paradza and Stephen Dhekeni are still at large. Apparently the car used by these thugs belongs to CCC 2023 aspiring candidate for Chirumhanzu South constituency, Chaza.
Muza is known in the area as a person of violent disposition. On 22 October 2022 after by-elections, he stoned a shop belonging to a ZANU PF central committee member Savious Piki. The backyard of his shop is being used as an election command center by ZANU PF.
A political commentator said that the violence pushed back the narrative that ZANU PF has a monopoly on violence. He said, of late, CCC had perpetrated more political violence than any other political party in the country.
