Kitsepile Nyathi
30 December 2011
A suspected bomb attack partially destroyed offices of Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe’s Zanu-PF party in the city of Gweru, state media reported yesterday.
Police have refused to disclose the cause of the explosion but The Herald newspaper said the party blamed its political opponents for the attack.
“We are still waiting for police investigations to be completed but we strongly suspect that this was an act of aggression by our enemies, especially the Movement for Democratic Change led by Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai,” the Zanu-PF spokesman, Mr Passmore Washaya, was quoted as saying.
“It looks like the suspects missed their target and the explosion ended up shattering windowpanes without causing further damage. “We are, however, still waiting for the police to complete their investigations so that we can ascertain the extent of the damage.”
But MDC dismissed the allegations that it was involved in the bombing, saying it does not need to use violence against President Mugabe’s party in urban areas because it enjoyed popular support. “These are unfounded allegations and if the suspects were from the MDC party, by now there could have been a number of arrests,” MDC spokesman James Tsuro said.
“There is no reason why MDC would bomb empty offices and besides our party is not violence oriented. “There is no point for us to resort to violence when it is a known fact that virtually all the urban dwellers are MDC supporters.” The incident has raised suspicions of an internal job with critics claiming that Zanu-PF is trying to justify a crackdown against opponents ahead of elections expected next year.
No convictions
However, despite the arrests no one has ever been convicted of the arrests, raising suspicions that Zanu-PF would be trying to justify its claims that its opponents were behind political violence. What has made the latest incident more intriguing is that the Zanu-PF offices are housed in the same building as the police and the feared Central Intelligence Organisation.
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Zimbabwe: Mugabe’s Party Offices Attacked