MDC-T REACTS TO HARVEST HOUSE FRACAS

It appears that the MDC-T leadership predicted the ongoing attempts by violent thugs linked to
deposed MDC- Alliance president Nelson Chamisa to violently take over the citadel of
opposition politics, Morgan Richard Tsvangirai House.

Addressing an e-rally to mark the 21st anniversary of the MDC on Saturday, Chamisa threatened
to violently take over Morgan Tsvangirai House, boasting that not even police officers or
soldiers can stop him. This comes, notwithstanding the fact that a recent high court ruling
pronounced that the Dr Thokozani Khupe led MDC-T is the legitimate occupant of the party’s
highly symbolic Morgan Richard Tsvangirai House.

In an interview with the media on Sunday in reaction to Chamisa’s speech, the acting MDC-T
spokesperson Khaliphani Phugeni said Chamisa was giving his supporters a signal to violently
take over Morgan Richard Tsvangirai House.

"He was doing what is called dog whistling. He was basically sending a signal to his followers
that go and take that building violently, against a court order, a peace order and a high court
ruling.

“When they come to Harvest House, which we know they will, don’t be surprised when you see
police officers in full force because he has told us that whether we are there or the police officers
are there they will come. So when they come and the state moves in to make sure that nothing of
that sort happens you shouldn’t have problems with that,” Phugeni said.

Phugeni further urged the international community to take note of the call for violent action by
the Chamisa group.
“We don’t want to see America tweeting very unhelpful tweets and we don’t want to see Mmusi
Maimane tweeting because he is silent now when Chamisa is dog whistling to his supporters to
go and violently take over our party headquarters which he lost in a court of law and where there
is a valid peace order against him and his supporters.

“I hope that Mmusi Maimane and the US embassy are taking judicial notice. I hope that all these
people that critic out of wilful ignorance are taking judicial notice of all this. Violence does not
pay. It doesn’t help for him to speak about non-violence and at the same time sending signals to
his people to go and be violent as they have been in the past.

Of course we know that because he rained stones on us for three hours and wanted to kill an 80
year man in Bulawayo. We know that he can do it because he wanted to burn us alive in a hut.
We know that he can do it,” said the MDC-T information tsar.

All hell broke loose in the MDC following the death of the party’s president, Morgan Tsvangirai,
in February 2018, leading to dogfights within the party.

The battles took a decisive turn after the Supreme Court upheld a high court ruling in March,
which had nullified Chamisa’s hotly disputed ascendancy to the helm of the party following
Tsvangirai’s death. The MDC-T has since expelled Chamisa from the party.