Violence Indaba!!

POLICE were unable to act to prevent the violence that forced MDC-T leader Morgan Tsvangirai to call off a planned weekend rally because they had been banned from the event, President Robert Mugabe said on Monday.

The MDC-T claims police details “stood-by and watched” as dozens of its supporters were attacked and property damaged when Zanu PF activists stormed a football ground in Chitungwiza where Tsvangirai was set to hold a rally on Sunday.

"They (police) watched us as these Zanu PF youths destroyed our property and assaulted our members," MDC-T secretary general Tendai Biti said after the disturbances.

Tsvangirai confronted Mugabe at their weekly meeting on Monday, but the Zanu PF leader said the MDC-T had contributed to the problems by insisting that it did not want police at its gatherings.

“The President intimated to him (PM Tsvangirai) that the Police Commissioner-General (Augustine Chihuri) was not at the venue of the clashes and had not deployed in Chitungwiza because the MDC-T made it clear to the police that they were not welcome to their meetings as the MDC-T was able to police itself,” Mugabe’s spokesman George Charamba told state media.

"(The) Prime Minister (was told) that the Police Commissioner-General can only deploy where he is wanted and where an incident has happened, the Commissioner-General will move in on the strength of the law. That was made clear to the Prime Minister."

Despite Mugabe’s reluctance to blame the police for failing to bring the violence under control, he and Tsvangirai agreed to call a meeting of the Zanu PF central committee and the national executive committees of the two MDC factions on Friday where leaders of the three parties will speak out against violence."

“We have now agreed that on Friday we are going to convene a meeting of Central Committee and national executive councils of the three parties to discuss the issue of political violence,” Tsvangirai told reporters on Monday.

He, however, warned that the violence could undermine preparations for elections expected to be held early next year.

A date for the poll is set to be agreed once the ongoing constitutional reforms are completed.
“We will come up with a date but of course with conditions for credible elections... if the current situation prevails then the elections will be a sham," Tsvangirai said.