OPPOSITION parties yesterday condemned a State media columnist believed to be President Robert Mugabe’s spokesperson George Charamba for celebrating the brutal attack of Zimbabweans from Matabeleland in South Africa.
BY NQOBANI NDLOVU
The columnist who writes for the Herald using the pseudonym Nathaniel Manheru said the xenophobic attacks had debunked myths that people from western Zimbabwe were close to South Africans.
MDC-T said it was deeply appalled by Manheru’s statements mocking victims of the xenophobic attacks.
“The MDC-T is deeply appalled by the sickening remarks of one Nathaniel Manheru, in which he mocked victims of the recent xenophobic attacks in neighbouring South Africa,” MDC-T spokesperson Obert Gutu said.
“It is shocking that this shadowy writer, who is generally believed to be a top level bureaucrat in the Zanu PF regime, would make such crude, cruel and insensitive remarks.”
Gutu said Manheru’s views reflected the thinking in Zanu PF that Zimbabweans that sought refuge in South Africa were opposition supporters.
“The Zanu PF regime has never cared about the suffering of the majority of the people of Zimbabwe,” Gutu said.
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“In their warped mindset, some Zanu PF people think that all the people who sought economic and political refuge in South Africa deserve to be punished presumably because they are MDC supporters.”
Seven people, including Zimbabweans, were killed in the xenophobic attacks that rocked KwaZulu Natal and Johannesburg.
Zimbabwe repatriated over 700 people that were caught in the attacks where thousands of foreigners were displaced.
MDC Renewal team spokesperson Jacob Mafume said was trying to shift blame away from Zanu PF for the mass migration of Zimbabweans to South Africa.
“The question that Manheru should ask himself is why Zimbabweans are dying in South Africa,” Mafume said.
“The answer is closer to home than he would have us believe.
“The answer is because his government has failed to deliver on jobs health and social security that his government has overseen the biggest non-war migration the country has ever seen.
“Zanu PF has created a country where people want to run away from permanently.”
Mafume said Manheru’s tribalistic sentiments were unfortunate as the xenophobic violence did not only affect Zimbabweans of Ndebele origin.
“It is an infantile mindset that continues to see events through a tribal prism,” he said.
“The xenophobia is targeting all nationalities and is not choosing which tribe they come from in Malawi or Zimbabwe for that matter.
“It’s as if the knife on the neck of Ndebele people will be more painful than on the neck of a Shona …those false analyses are based on a contrived narrative.”
Charamba could not be reached for comment while Zanu PF spokesperson, Simon KhayaMoyo refused to talk to Southern Eye about Manheru’s utterances.
In the past, the columnist has attacked people from Matabeleland and Midlands for insisting on justice for victims of the Gukurahundi massacres.
