HEAVILY armed security officers on Friday raided an MDC-T house in Harare searching for alleged arms of war amid fears of a fresh crackdown on the party's top leadership following the fallout with Zanu PF.
The raid came hard on the heels of reports that guns and ammunition disappeared from Pomona Barracks in Borrowdale in unclear circumstances.
It also coincided with Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai's return from a whirlwind tour of South Africa, Mozambique, the DRC and Angola where he lobbied for the region to pressure President Robert Mugabe to fully implement their power-sharing agreement.
MDC-T secretary-general Tendai Biti yesterday said 50 security agents rummaged through the house in Chisipite, assaulted occupants and forced a caretaker to dig in the garden in search of the alleged weapons.
The police did not have a signed search warrant, he said.
Biti, who is the Minister of Finance, said the raid came after his party had just received intelligence that the police were planning to raid other MDC-T houses in Harare.
"We consider this a serious invasion of our privacy, of our party and leadership," Biti said. "It's a gross provocation of our movement."
"We have no doubt that from now on there will be attempts to frame the MDC-T and its leadership as a treasonous party."
The MDC-T feared that the police could have planted arms of war in the garden after they took the caretaker, Moffat Sigauke, into the house while many officers remained outside.
"When they took Moffat into the house, the majority of them remained in the garden and we fear that they might have planted arms there," he said.
Biti said President Mugabe has a history of framing his political rivals with treason charges in a bid to cling to power.
He said Mugabe used the same tricks to frame the late Vice-President Joshua Nkomo before Gukurahundi and the late Zanu (Ndonga) leader Rev Ndabaningi Sithole of treason in an effort to hound them out of politics.
"These are old tricks by an old and tired dictatorship," said Biti, who represented Sithole during his trial.
Sources said at least 12 soldiers have been arrested in connection with the disappearance of 19 AK-47 rifles, one pistol and ammunition from Pomona Barracks last week.
The "thieves", said the sources, used a bolt cutter to gain entry into the armoury.
However, sources in the security services wondered how weapons could be stolen at the heavily guarded armoury.
Police spokesperson Superintendent Andrew Phiri referred all questions to the army.
"Don't you think the best person you can talk to is the army spokesperson? If there were soldiers arrested the army will make a statement to the police so they are the right people to talk to," he said.
Army spokesperson Colonel Overson Mugwisi could not be reached for comment yesterday.
But Biti said there were hardliners in Zanu PF who were determined to see the collapse of the inclusive government.
He said the desperation by the hardliners was going to increase following MDC-T's disengagement with Zanu PF as well as his reluctance to release funds from the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
Despite efforts by Zanu PF to frustrate his party out of the inclusive government, Biti said the MDC-T will not budge.
"We will look the dictatorship in the eyes (and) we will not blink. We want to see who will blink first and it will not be us, I tell you," Biti said.
In response to Tsvangirai's appeal to the region, the Sadc troika will be meeting in Harare this week to mediate in the crisis in the GNU.
Tsvangirai pursued a regional diplomatic initiative last week that culminated in a briefing with DRC President Joseph Kabila who is the current chairman of Sadc, seeking support ahead of the troika's visit on Thursday.
Prior to that, Tsvangirai met President Armando Guebuza of Mozambique and South African President Jacob Zuma last week.
Mozambique chairs the Sadc troika or working group, which includes Swaziland and Zambia.
Zuma said Zimbabwe "should not be allowed to slide back into instability" and was prepared to step in to support the implementation of the GPA. Biti said Tsvangirai had "a fruitful engagement" with the leaders he met.
"The message is that the troika is coming here on October 29 for mediation," Biti said.
Last week the MDC-T also met with civic society representatives to brief them on the party's decision to disengage with Zanu PF.
But a defiant Mugabe on Friday said he will not give in to the MDC-T demands.
Mugabe, Tsvangirai and Deputy Prime Minister Arthur Mutambara are expected to meet tomorrow (Monday) where the MDC-T disengagement will top the agenda. The Standard
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written by Maidei, October 25, 2009
written by Myekeleni Manzini, October 25, 2009
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