Political Reporter

The Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC) has been accused of stonewalling local journalists who wanted to interview victims of the Murehwa violence claiming that doing so would expose victims to greater risks.

In a statement yesterday, fellow news outlet, NewsHawks, complained that CCC has refused requests by journalists to interview the Murehwa victims to understand what actually transpired before they were beaten by some thugs.

“While the Murehwa political violence case has been widely condemned by various voices, ironically including ZANU PF, the opposition CCC is preventing journalists from interviewing victims of the brutality to expose the perpetrators. Victims want to talk but CCC claims it’s unsafe,” said NewsHawks.

NewsHawks added that CCC took victims from Murehwa to Harare and was not entertaining requests by journalists to have the victims expose the perpetrators.

“Since the beginning of the week, CCC brought the elderly victims to Harare for medical attention but has been stonewalling journalists, implausibly claiming security and other dubious reasons. They claim if they are interviewed and expose the perpetrators, they would be at risk,” added News Hawks.

Political analyst, Terrence Chipwanya commented that CCC should allow the victims to expose those who victimised them instead of hiding them away from the media.

“If the violence was not stage managed, CCC should then allow journalists to interview the victims. The victims should be allowed to expose the perpetrators of that violence. It seems CCC wants to use that incident to blame the ruling ZANU PF party and Government for unleashing violence on its members,” said Chipwanya.

Meanwhile, ZANU PF has denounced the violence that erupted in Murehwa and has urged all political players to remain calm as police finalise its investigations.

Yesterday, the Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP) informed that one suspect, Never Chimutashu was nabbed in connection with the Murehwa violence and is set to appear in court soon.