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Bulawayo Bureau
MDC-T leader Mr Nelson Chamisa has sensationally claimed that “Zanu-PF plants” were behind the assault on his bitter rival Dr Thokozani Khupe during the burial of Morgan Tsvangirai in February.

Dr Khupe, recently fired as the party’s deputy president, was assaulted in Buhera by MDC-T youths, along with MDC-T secretary-general Mr Douglas Mwonzora and legislator Ms Lwazi Sibanda in a vicious succession war to replace Tsvangirai, the party’s founding leader.

Despite confirmation by Dr Khupe and others that they had been assaulted by youths linked to Mr Chamisa, who seized power in a violent and chaotic fashion, the MDC-T leader unashamedly told a South Africa television station, ANN7, on Monday that “Zanu-PF agent provocateurs” were behind the attacks.

Responding to a question by the host on what measures his party had taken after the violence on Dr Khupe and others, Mr Chamisa said: “We are leaving no stone unturned. We have done a lot in our power and launched a commission of inquiry, which brought some very startling revelations that the violence we saw at the late president Tsvangirai’s burial was actually violence coming from our colleagues in Zanu-PF who planted agents to embarrass our leadership.

“This is something we have taken up with the police and we are not taking it lightly. Even within the party, those people who were found to be associated, even as they were being mobilised by those provocateurs, are certainly going to be dealt with. In fact, we have already begun the process.”

Former MDC-T spokesperson Mr Obert Gutu, sacked from the MDC-T along with Dr Khupe and former organising secretary Mr Abednigo Bhebhe, rubbished Mr Chamisa’s claims.

“This is absolute nonsense,” he said. “We don’t want people who hide behind a finger. We are not kindergarten boys and girls. Chamisa should know that these are serious national issues and he should tell the truth.”

Zanu-PF Secretary for Information and Publicity Cde Simon Khaya Moyo said at the rate at which Mr Chamisa was going, he could not even say the word “truth”.

“Khupe spoke on the incident,” he said. “The police have already spoken about this and the people that were apprehended are obviously not Zanu-PF. Chamisa should tell us how Zanu-PF comes in or maybe he should go to the police and ask for records on the incident before he misleads people.

“This obviously tells us that he can’t even tell the word truth. Zanu-PF is not a violent party and we don’t condone violence. This is why we keep on emphasising to all the people of Zimbabwe that we want free, fair, peaceful and credible elections.”

Cde Khaya Moyo said the party has made it clear to the police that they must arrest anybody who disturbs peace, regardless of which party they belong to.

After the attack in February, Dr Khupe said Mr Chamisa had sent thugs to kill her.

“They wanted to kill me, one villager tried to rescue us by letting us hide in his thatched hut and when we were in the hut, they started throwing stones at us,” she said. “They even tried to set the hut on fire but because it was raining, the thatch could not catch fire and the hut was filled with smoke.

“They were swearing saying ‘Today you are going to die in this hut. We no longer want you because you are blocking the ascendancy of our person. They were saying Chamisa! Chamisa!                                Chamisa!”

Mr Chamisa’s web of lies come at the back of false claims that the late Vice President Dr Joshua Nkomo’s family had offered him the national hero’s revolutionary’s sceptre (intonga), as they told him he was the first “national leader” to visit the Joshua Nkomo Museum in Matsheumhlophe suburb since Dr Nkomo’s death in  1999.

In February, his party had to apologise to the United States government after Mr Chamisa, a theological college graduate, lied that President Donald Trump pledged a $15 billion bailout to Zimbabwe if the opposition won the forthcoming elections.

The apology came after the United States Embassy in Harare refuted the claims he made at a rally in Mutare.