Youths beat up MP at Zim rally

2005-12-04 18:06

Harare - A Zimbabwean opposition MP was beaten up at a rally at which leader Morgan Tsvangirai said on Sunday his Movement for Democratic Change would press on despite a damaging split.

Timothy Mubhawu, a MDC member of parliament, was bruised on the face when party youths kicked and punched him at a football pitch in the Harare township of Highfield before Tsvangirai arrived to address the rally.

The mob accused Mubhawu of backing a faction which defied Tsvangirai's call to boycott senate polls held on November 26.

An AFP correspondent saw the mob chasing Mubhawu before he drove off in a truck.

Addressing several hundred supporters, Tsvangirai deplored the attack on the MP, but admitted the rift in the party about participation in the polls would not be mended.

Tsvangirai said, referring to his deputy, Gibson Sibanda, and secretary-general Welshman Ncube: "To Sibanda and Welshman we are saying bye-bye."

Differences 'too deep'

Tsvangirai said Sibanda and Ncube led a faction that supported 26 party members who contested the senate polls despite his call for a boycott.

"I called them after the senate polls and thought we would resolve our differences, but I realised our differences were deeper," Tsvangirai told MDC supporters.

"These people decided to jump off the ship and they are going to sink while the ship continues to sail."

Tsvangirai scoffed at his suspension from the party leadership last week by a disciplinary committee chaired by Sibanda.

"I will never be suspended by such a simpleton," he said.

"I have a contract with the people of Zimbabwe and our agenda is to fight the dictatorship of Robert Mugabe.

"We will not waste our energy on these people who have fallen by the wayside."

The crowd at the rally chanted slogans and sang, denouncing the faction that supported the senate polls.

As Tsvangirai spoke, a group of supporters jogged past him burning T-shirts bearing the picture of Priscilla Misihairabwi-Mushonga, the member of parliament for Glen Norah township.

The supporters said Misihairabwi-Mushonga was in the faction that ignored Tsvangirai's poll boycott calls.

The MDC leader maintained that the elections were a waste of money at a time when the country was facing a severe food shortage.

Mugabe's Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front (Zanu-PF) won 43 of the 50 contested seats, while the MDC picked up seven seats in the elections that were marred by poor turnout.

But the split in the MDC has dealt a severe blow to the opposition party, which had been widely regarded as the most-credible challenge to Mugabe's 25 years of uninterrupted rule.

- AFP