Chamisa says will face Motlanthe only if Mnangagwa also testifies

HARARE – MDC LEADER Nelson Chamisa said on Thursday he would only testify before an inquiry into post-election violence that killed six people in August if President Emmerson Mnangagwa did the same.

In the aftermath of election on July 30, civilians died in an army crackdown on opposition protests on August 1.

Chamisa lost a legal challenge to the election results but still maintains the vote was rigged and that Mnangagwa lacks legitimacy.

A commission of inquiry led by former South African President Kgalema Motlante has heard evidence from security chiefs who this week denied soldiers had killed civilians and blamed Chamisa and other opposition leaders for inciting violence.

Video from the August 1 protests showed soldiers, some with their faces obscured by camouflage masks, opening fire with automatic weapons.

MDC secretary general Douglas Mwonzora said Chamisa and Harare East MP Tendai Biti were among MDC leaders who on Thursday received letters calling them to appear before the commission when it resumes on November 21. The others are deputy president Morgen Komichi, former parliamentary candidate Shadreck Mashayamombe. The party said it had also been sent a letter for Jim Kunaka, a former Zanu PF activist, but would be returning it to the commission because he was not a member.

“Those names that have been mentioned at the Motlanthe Commission, whether by mistake, by malice or anything… If they are to be fair, what’s good for the goose must be good for the gander, they must be able to invite Mr Mnangagwa. If he is not going to go, why should I go alone?” Chamisa said to reporters at the MDC’s headquarters in Harare.

Police chief Godwin Matanga on Tuesday told the commission that Chamisa could be arrested any time for inciting violence. Chamisa said this was part of pressure on him to recognise Mnangagwa as president.

Chamisa said there was a plan afoot to “decimate the opposition, to destroy the MDC” through bringing trumped-up charges against the party’s leadership.

State security chiefs had shown obvious bias at the Motlanthe Commission, Chamisa said.

“We’re extremely concerned with the attitude of state institutions, particularly the military and the police that they view the MDC as an opponent. We don’t seek to replace the police, the army and the CIO (Central Intelligence Organisation). We seek to replace those who are at the top; those who are abusing these institutions because that’s what the constitution asks us to do,” the MDC leader said.

Testimonies before the Motlanthe Commission by the Zimbabwe Defence Forces commander General Phillip Valerio Sibanda, Police Commissioner Godwin Matanga and Brigadier General Sanyatwe who commanded the troops deployed on the streets had painted the MDC as a terrorist organisation, Chamisa said, citing claims that the party had an armed wing made up of army deserters.

“Where have you seen a terrorist with headquarters along same road as the Parliament? We are not a prohibited organisation. That has to be understood,” Chamisa told reporters.

He was not afraid to go to jail, he added.

“Even if they take us to jail, they cannot jail the will of the people. Even if they arrest us, they will not be able to arrest the problems affecting this country. Problems are not solved by vindictiveness; problems are not solved by revenge or pursuing vengeance.

“Even if it will take us a very long time, our visionary Morgan Tsvangirai said we must always use democratic means even to fight an undemocratic governance, and this is what we are pursuing. How does giving insight to the population amount to an incitement of violence?

“If you follow proceedings at that Commission, not a single citizen has an issue against Chamisa. Commissioner Matanga says they were waiting for things to calm down before they arrest me. Why should law enforcement be waiting for the vicissitudes of political consideration?”

The claim that the MDC organised the August 1 protests was not based on fact, he insisted. He thought the protests were “unstrategic”.

“The MDC does not organise those tiny, little, ad hoc demonstrations. We’re not an ad hoc party. We’re not a rat organisation; we’re an elephant organisation. When we organise things, we organise elephant things and elephant demonstrations,” he said.

“What is clear is that the Commission is working from a conclusion, it’s choreographed. Once you start to say you ‘want to know what necessitated the use of violence,’ they have already concluded that it was necessary. They have already made a conclusion, and they want to work from an answer. We can’t have a situation like that.

“Once you say ‘who sent the people’ in the terms of reference, you are already assuming that the people were sent. What if they were not sent. This has a script; the script is to decimate the opposition, to destroy the MDC.

“In terms of those who demonstrated, the police must arrest those who were there, not look for who incited people. How could I incite people on 31^st July when I was waiting for election results? I was sure that they would declare the proper result and I was ready to go to State House. How does a person who is ready to go to State House find time to incite people and mobilise people to burn cars of a country you want to run? Why would I do that?

“It was very stupid even for people who demonstrated, to demonstrate for the results to be released because they then opened themselves to attacks and manipulation. It’s their right to demonstrate, but also I think I have a right to question. It was premature, it was unstrategic and open to be manipulated by the enemies of the people; enemies of peace; the merchants of violence – the archbishops of violence.”