MDC-T activists bury supporter

Politics
ZHOMBE — Over 300 MDC-T activists gathered on Sunday evening to bury 88-year-old Frank Peter who succumbed to injuries sustained during an alleged attack

ZHOMBE — Over 300 MDC-T activists gathered on Sunday evening to bury 88-year-old Frank Peter who succumbed to injuries sustained during an alleged attack on the party’s supporters by armed soldiers last November.

Report by Staff Reporter Peter was one of the 50 MDC-T supporters who had gathered at Samambwa shopping centre on November 29 for a rally, when they were allegedly attacked by armed members of the Zimbabwe National Army.

Addressing mourners at the funeral in Kulume village some 120km from Kwekwe, Peter’s grandson Regis, accused the army of killing his grandfather.

“Soldiers put my grandfather into an early grave. 15 years ago, he was diagnosed with a tumor on the urinary tract and he had an operation and when the soldiers beat him on November 29, it affected his operation and from that day on he has been going to hospital almost non-stop,” he said.

Midlands North MDC-T provincial chairman Costin Muguti called on supporters and family members to shun Zanu PF, which he alleged was responsible for the soldiers’ actions.

“The first time I met Sekuru Peter was after he was assaulted by the soldiers at an MDC-T rally and he was bleeding through his operation. We took him to a private hospital in Harare where he received treatment, but he never completely healed,” he said.

“This is the work of Zanu PF, which has put us all in a prison of fear, intimidation and violence which sadly is State-sponsored.”

Muguti urged supporters to remain calm and express themselves through voting Zanu PF out of power in tomorrow’s election.

“We know that some of us are angry, but let us not channel that anger to the wrong place. Let us direct it to the ballot paper and make a statement against this evil,” he said.

The soldiers, who were armed with AK47 rifles, were part of a group camped at Samambwa Secondary School, overseeing distribution of farming inputs under President Robert Mugabe’s $20 million inputs scheme.

TM has also indicated that they will be closed, although efforts to get a comment from the supermarket chain were fruitless. Most shops have pasted notices that they will be closed on election day.