Opposition parties finished: Chombo

HOME Affairs Minister Cde Ignatius Chombo yesterday said Zimbabwe has no room for people who want to cause unrest.

Cde Chombo, who is also Zanu PF Secretary for Administration, said this while addressing Zanu-PF members at a meeting at Davies Hall in Bulawayo.

“We have the issue of #Thisflag by Evan Mawarire, some are saying tajamuka, wajamuka urikuda kuendepi? Hatityisidzirwe ne Whatsapp isu, not us, tell those who are using Whatsapp that their time is up. Zanu-PF says churches have freedom to pray anyway, anywhere and anyhow. If you are in a free Zimbabwe you can say what you want but know what to say, have boundaries, do not be vulgar where there are people, or in the church or at an unsuitable place,” he said.

He added, “When you go overboard you find yourself running away from your own country to South Africa and start saying nonsense in that place. But we have spoken to our friends in South Africa that this person (Mawarire) that ran away to their country with our flag must come back with it. How can he take our Zimbabwean flag and use it to get attention there, was he insulted by anyone here? That is abuse of freedom, we do have freedom of speech but you do have the freedom to be wrong and be arrested too,” said Cde Chombo.

He said in recent weeks there have been people who have been burning tyres like what they see South Africans doing.

“This country is called Zimbabwe if you didn’t know and Cde Mugabe is our leader, so we should not let outsiders rule our country, thieves and thugs are not welcome. It is the job of everyone to identify these people that are inciting violence and report them to the police and they be sent where they belong,” said Dr Chombo.

Turning to housing, he said people who have been staying in council houses and those that had council stalls for the past 10-15 years should now be given ownership of those houses and stalls. Cde Chombo said he was grateful for the support being given to President Mugabe.

“I see that you are rallying behind President Mugabe and that he is not going anywhere. If (Acie) Lumumba wants to form his own party he can do it but he must go and identify other places where he can form them not in Zimbabwe. Same applies to People First party too, led by Joice Mujuru. If they want to have a party, here in Bulawayo, the city of late VP Joshua Nkomo and VP Muzenda, no, we do not allow opposition parties. We don’t want to see (Morgan) Tsvangirai or (Thokozani) Khuphe here. They will not win in this province, they are finished,” he said.

On the issue of social media Cde Chombo said, “We all have cellphones that we use for communication, but when you are now using them to insult other people, it’s illegal and you can be arrested. If you use your mobile phone to incite others to turn against the country then that is treasonous. I am pleading that you use your phones in a good way.”

He said Bulawayo should refuse to let the MDC-T fool them to burn schools, churches and other infrastructure.

Zanu-PF Bulawayo provincial chairman Cde Dennis Ndlovu said he was ready to fire all unruly elements in the province.

“I do not want to unnecessarily send cases to the National Disciplinary Committee (NDC). I will fire people here if you misbehave, we cannot waste time for senior leadership so we need maximum discipline in this province,” warned Cde Ndlovu.

He added that members of the party should not hold meetings without the knowledge of his office.

“All officials that come here should come to my office first not to have them intercepted by a group of people that are not leaders, that must stop,” he said.