Makone absolves Zanu PF in Harare violence

Destruction ... Theresa Makone walks through a damaged door in Mbare last month   RELATED STORIES Mugabe, PM meet over Mbare violence

HOME Affairs Minister Theresa Makone has put herself on a collision course with Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai after appearing to question the latter’s claims that a recent wave of violence in Harare was instigated by Zanu PF.
The claim was the centerpiece of Tsvangirai’s New Zimbabwe Lecture Series in Harare on February 15, and the violence was cited by the European Union as a reason for extending sanctions on Zimbabwe.
But answering a question by Magwegwe MP Felix Sibanda [MDC-T] on the violence, Makone – whose ministry is in charge of the police – told MPs in Parliament she was not satisfied the thugs represented any party.
“It took everyone by surprise because they do not seem to have been precipitated by any particular action or move by either government or political party,” said Makone, a member of Tsvangirai’s MDC party.
She added: “As a ministry, we have put a mechanism through our structures that we can now anticipate where trouble is going to be and people are deployed on the ground.
“An effort is being made to contain this and it is not above the Zimbabwe Republic Police, and you will agree that the incidences are now sporadic and not as concentrated as they were when they started.
“So, action is being taken, but you cannot rule out the fact that merchants of evil will always be there, and that is why we always have the police. In general, they take advantage of situations like this one.
“So, be rest assured that anyone who tries to imitate what has been happening in the last two weeks will be dealt with in no uncertain terms.”

Thugs raided houses in Mbare township, and the MDC-T claimed its supporters were targets.

Prime Minister Tsvangirai used a February 15 address at the Ambassador hotel in Harare to accuse Zanu PF supporters of the attacks, and subsequent violence targeting foreign-owned businesses in Harare’s central business district.
 “… the violence that gripped Harare in the past few weeks,” Tsvangirai said, “Everyone knows that Zanu PF mobilised its youths to take over foreign-owned shops in the city. But the public media have gone into overdrive misleading the nation that the MDC was at the centre of that violence.”
Zanu PF strategist Jonathan Moyo, also the MP for Tsholotsho North, claimed last week that the MDC had engineered the violence “in its quest for bad news about Zimbabwe”.