Botswana: MDC's Brutal Tyrant - Part 1

Starting this week, Monday Meeting will reproduce excerpts from David Coltart's writings on the use of violence by Morgan Tsvangirai to suppress internal dissent. In "Why I cannot join Tsvangirai's faction", Coltart tells us that "the attempt by some MDC youths to murder MDC Director for Security, Peter Guhu, on the 28th September 2004 in Harvest House was deeply shocking, because it breached a fundamental tenet of what we stood for (as MDC).

Even worse were the subsequent revelations made at the enquiry into the Guhu incident that senior ranking MDC officials and employees were either involved or sympathetic to the youths". This account was collaborated by Sokwanele, a Zimbabwean civic organisation closely aligned with the MDC, which had this to say:

"...the MDC's Director of Security, Peter Guhu, was viciously assaulted by a gang of youths within the precincts of Harvest House, the party's headquarters in Harare. Guhu was severely beaten and his assailants then tried to kill him by throwing him down the stairwell from the 6th floor of the building. Surprisingly this assault and attempted murder were not reported to the police.


There were at the time strong suspicions that the perpetrators of this crime enjoyed the patronage and support of some senior, non-elected officials who were known to be close to Morgan Tsvangirai. The matter was investigated by an internal independent enquiry, but their findings were not revealed to the party and, until the delinquent youths had committed a further blatant crime of violence, they were not subjected to any form of discipline." Incidentally, The Daily Telegraph of Britain reported that the seriously injured Peter Guhu was forced to flee to South Africa out of fear for his life.

Coltart continues: "No action was taken (by Tsvangirai) against any of those responsible for this violence and in that inaction we saw for the first time a culture of impunity developing within the MDC itself, which in some respects was the worst thing of all. Young men often have a predisposition towards violence; that happens the world over and Zimbabwe is no different. What controls that predisposition is the manner in which it is handled by leaders. If it is not dealt with, a culture of impunity develops and violence perpetuates itself.

That is precisely what happened. Those responsible for the September 2004 violence were not immediately disciplined and it came as no surprise when the same youths were used to seriously assault MDC staff members in mid May 2005". Again, according to Sokwanele, the assaults took place in Harvest House, amongst other places. It is instructive to note that these assaults took place months before participation in the senate elections became a divisive issue, pointing to a deep-seated culture of intolerance and the use of violence by those presented by their Western backers as people who will usher in a new era of enhanced democracy for Zimbabwe.

The Daily Telegraph of July 25, 2005 ("Zimbabwe opposition turns on its own") provides an additional account of assaults on "fairly prominent MDC members" by Tsvangirai's goons. "The gang of about six abducted (Frank Chamunorwa) from his home in the capital, Harare, last month. They deliberately humiliated Mr Chamunorwa, throwing him to the ground, kicking and beating him. He was close to tears as he described his experience...the assault happened because Mr Chamunorwa was suspected of plotting against Morgan Tsvangirai, the MDC leader...The assault on Mr Chamunorwa was only one of many... Another member, Diamond Karanda, 31, was beaten up inside the MDC's headquarters in Harare on June 16. He was dragged into the boardroom and assaulted so badly that he still cannot walk properly. 'It is just not right when I am beaten up in the MDC boardroom', he said."


We carry on with Coltart's narrative: "A further enquiry was held and its report was presented to the National Council meeting held on the 25th June 2005. It was resolved that one member of staff found responsible for directing the youths be expelled. The youths themselves had already been expelled in late May by the Management Committee and the expulsion of the youths was confirmed. That was undoubtedly progress but regrettably it was clear from the evidence that other senior members of the MDC and staff members were also involved or sympathetic towards the youths. Before a full debate about their fate could be held the meeting was ended (by Tsvangirai) much to the dissatisfaction of many, including myself.

To be continued.

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