MDC-T BLOWS $50 000 BUSSING RALLY GOERS 23 injured as MDC-T kombi hits cow
MDC-T shelled out more than $50 000 to hire buses to transport party supporters to an MDC-Alliance rally held at White City Stadium in Bulawayo on Saturday as part of an elaborate scheme to inflate their leader Mr Nelson Chamisa’s “political stock”, MDC-T’s former spokesman Mr Obert Gutu has said.
It is believed the MDC Alliance has been recycling the same crowd at its rallies in a bid to show popular appeal for Mr Chamisa, who is accused of upstaging former vice president, Dr Thokozani Khupe, the party’s only vice president elected at the 2014 congress. Dr Khupe now leads a faction of the MDC-T after she was reportedly fired by Mr Chamisa’s faction for failure to attend party meetings.
Mr Chamisa controversially landed power through the national council – the highest decision making organ in the MDC-T in between congresses – and national executive at founding leader Mr Morgan Tsvangirai’s funeral wake in February.
Mr Tsvangirai succumbed to cancer of the colon on February 14 this year.
Mr Gutu, who was expelled from MDC-T on March 23 for alleged intransigence, yesterday told our Harare Bureau that he had irrefutable evidence that the opposition party splurged $50 000 to bus supporters to Bulawayo.
“I am a seasoned lawyer and I don’t just say reckless things. I really have facts and figures that they spent $50 000 in order to further their politics of the optics,” said Mr Gutu.
“If there is anyone who thinks that I am misleading them, they are free to legally challenge me”.
He further indicated that their faction of the MDCT, which they claim to be the legitimate MDC-T, has most of the grassroots support.
“We are absolutely optimistic that we have the TWENTY-THREE MDC-T supporters from Masvingo were on Saturday injured in an accident in Filabusi while travelling back home from an MDC Alliance rally that was held in Bulawayo earlier in the day.
e driver of the kombi lost control of the vehicle while allegedly trying to avoid a cow on the road along the Bulawayo-Masvingo in Filabusi.
The injured were rushed to Filabusi District Hospital and White Hospital in Zvishavane.
In an interview yesterday, one of the victims who is also the MDC-T Chivi North district secretary, Mr Joachim Chiware, said the driver tried to evade a cow that had strayed onto the road resulting in the accident.
He said he could not provide finer details as he only regained consciousness in hospital.
“After the driver lost control of the vehicle while trying to avoid a cow that had strayed onto the road, I don’t really know what happened afterwards. I only found myself at White Hospital in Zvishavane,” said Mr Chiware.
“That is when I also learnt that others had been rushed to Filabusi Hospital. Three of us were rushed to Zvishavane, while 20 people were rushed to Filabusi
numbers. Right now, I am currently in Mashonaland East where we are meeting with an overwhelming number of our supporters,” Mr Gutu said.
The forthcoming harmonised elections, expected in District Hospital with 13 of them being admitted with serious injuries.”
MDC-T acting spokesperson, Ms Thabitha Khumalo, said the party was aware of the accident although it was yet to get finer details of what really transpired.
The accident occurred when party members were coming from White City Stadium where the MDC Alliance held its first rally in Bulawayo under the leadership of Advocate Nelson Chamisa.
MDC-T had brought its supporters from across the country to attend the “Siyanqoba” rally.
Meanwhile, MDC-T vice president, Engineer Elias Mudzuri. has challenged the party’s partners in the MDC Alliance to justify their inclusion in the coalition.
Posting on micro blogging site Twitter, Eng Mudzuri said MDC Alliance partners need to be more visible on the ground.
“While our MDC Alliance rallies are important, the election winning formula lies in constituency and ward based campaign strategies. Our Alliance partners also need to be more visible on the ground to address communities and stakeholders where they are strong,” Twitted Eng Mudzuri.
His comments come as MDC-T has raised concern that only its supporters are visible at rallies.—@ nqotshili
July, Mr Gutu intimated yesterday on microblogging site Twitter, would “confirm who are the fake and who are the real politicians”.
He accused the Chamisa-led faction of “selfdelusion” and “self-deception”.
The Sunday News reported yesterday that several buses, most of them from Chitungwiza and Harare, poured out thousands of supporters at the Bulawayo venue.
The rally, which was Mr Chamisa’s first in the country’s second-largest city since he took over the reins, reportedly began on an ugly note with the party’s unruly youths blocking parts of Hyde Park Road with burning tyres, forcing motorists to divert their route and use Khami Road.
The sloshed youths, who also reportedly singing abusive songs, also harassed passing motorists who were not headed for the rally.
Nate Shingi, who posted pictures of buses at Saturday’s rally on his Twitter feed, was brutual with Mr Chamisa for trying to create a “perception and illusion” that he has overwhelming support.
“I was 100 percent right when I said Chamisa is a conman giving the perception and illusion that he has support everywhere he goes.
“Bussing people is fraud and the ballot will reward him kindly. This fraudster who evaded congress didn’t think there would be evidence. See buses,” said Shingi.
Last month, Dr Khupe, through her personal assistant, Mr Witness Dube, claimed that bussing supporters was part of a calculated plan by the MDC-T to cast Mr Chamisa as a big political figure.
There was also a curious case on March 24 when the MDC Alliance held a rally in Murehwa.
Sources said the Zinara-run Enterprise tollgate, situated at the Shamva turn-off, registered an unusually high number of buses on the route.
Staffers at the tollgate reportedly battled queues that jammed the road, especially in the evening as the buses made their way back from Murehwa centre where the rally was held.