Herald Reporters
President Mugabe has warned MDC-T leader Morgan Tsvangirai and senior opposition officials that the Government will hold them responsible for the orgy of organised violence that has rocked some parts of the country and would soon invoke measures to curtail it.
Addressing thousands of Zanu-PF supporters at Siakobvu Business Centre in Kariba and Rimuka Stadium in Kadoma, President Mugabe said the Government had noted with grave concern the organised violence against people, especially Zanu-PF supporters, through the burning of houses and kidnappings, among other heinous crimes.
Government, he said, would soon invoke what is known in law as "vicarious responsibilities and liabilities" against MDC-T leaders and senior party officials saying the terror attacks were premeditated and organised, exposing them to liabilities.
"Zvino chitema chakaipisa cheMDC mweya wehuSatani wekupisa dzimba dzevanhu. Zvino zvikarega kumira watichanenera ndiTsvangirai nevamwe vake.
"These cases of arson, kidnappings and violence on people coming from the MDC have shown a definite pattern which we read across the country. There is a definite plan of violence, an organised system of violence aimed at disturbing law and order. Let them be warned that we will invoke what is known as vicarious responsibility and liability which means we will hold them responsible for the violence across the country," he explained.
This invocation, he said, was only applied in special circumstances that threaten to disturb peace.
President Mugabe explained that normally parents are not held responsible for the misdeeds of their children, but when their operations show an organised streak then people are left with no choice but suspect complicity by the parents.
"This wave of violence has to stop and Government would not allow people to suffer and for people to wantonly disturb law and order . . . we cannot allow it to continue."
Cde Mugabe made the remarks after he was briefed about the violence being perpetrated by MDC-T supporters in Mola communal lands where they have reportedly barricaded roads using logs and have gone on a spree of arson that has displaced people and left others injured.
Three people have since been arrested in connection with the disturbances while some MDC-T supporters have left the opposition party to rejoin Zanu-PF.
Mr Fanta Masaka said he rejoined the ruling party after realising that MDC-T had nothing to offer.
He said people should not vote with their stomachs and desire for such niceties as sugar because they did not match the heritage that President Mugabe and Zanu-PF has bequeathed to them through land redistribution and indigenisation programmes.
Turning to the forthcoming run-off, President Mugabe said he was chosen by the people at the 2004 Zanu-PF congress and he accepted to return the people’s trust.
MDC-T, he said, dithered on whether to participate in the election while waiting for a signal from their masters in the West.
"VeMDC vakamboti hatidi, voti tinoda kunge musikana ari kunyengwa. Tsvangirai pazvakabuda kuti hapana ahwina akabva atizira kuBotswana uko akazongodzoka anzi naAmbassador wekuAmerica (James McGee) dzokera tikachiona chichidzoka chichimhanya. Akakumbira armoured car kubva kuBotswana namaguards asi vakati kwete kana uri murombo tinogona chete kukutengera ticket rendege rekuti udzoke kumusha ndokudzoka kwaakazoita," said the President amid laughter from the crowd.
President Mugabe said Zimbabwe was under threat from Western imperialist forces fronted by MDC-T and people need not look further than events after the March 29 elections when whites thought the opposition had won.
He said most farmers who lost their land and had gone to neighbouring countries such as Zambia, Malawi, South Africa, had returned to reclaim their land.
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