Militias Scuttle MDC-T Campaigns In Bubi

By Nyembezi Khumalo

  Bubi, July 23, 2013 – Zanu-PF militias have threatened to axe to death an aspiring MDC-T legislator, Mark Harold Ncube, if he conducts campaigns in resettlement areas located here.

Ncube told Radio VOP that the Zanu-PF militias have declared Bubi’s resettlement areas in Matabeleland North province a no go area for the MDC-T on allegations that the party is against the land reform programme.

Thousands of villagers were resettled in Bubi during the violent and often chaotic fast track land reform exercise of 2000 that President Robert Mugabe has defended as necessary to empower black Zimbabweans who were previously displaced during the colonial period.

“I have no access to the resettlement areas. The environment there is just hostile against the MDC-T and the Zanu-PF supporters have not made it a secret that the areas are no go areas for my party.

“As recent as Sunday, the Zanu-PF supporters were moving around each and every homestead searching for MDC-T regalia and burning it,” Ncube said.

Ncube will square off against Zanu PF Bubi incumbent MP, Clifford Sibanda, Geneza Sibanda an Independent candidate, John Zolani Dlamini  of Zapu and Mkhuseli Hadebe of the MDC party faction led by Professor Welshman Ncube.

Ncube alleged that the Zanu PF supporters told him not to brainwash villagers with MDC-T information in the resettlement areas of six Bubi wards.

Sengezo Tshabangu, the MDC-T Matabeleland North provincial chairperson also confirmed the reports when contacted for comment.

“It’s a cause for concern for us. We have reported the matter to the Joint Monitoring and Implementation Committee (JOMIC),” Tshabangu said.

Recently, reports stated that villagers in Kombo resettlement area in Insiza, Matabeleland South alleged that Zanu PF activists and war veterans were threatening to evict them from their homes for refusing to stop supporting the former opposition party.

Zanu PF activists were reportedly compiling a list of all MDC-T supporters in the resettlement area who will be evicted from their homesteads for not towing the party line.