Tsvangirai treason trial closes in Harare

Tsvangirai treason trial closes in Harare

TSVANGIRAI arrives with his wife Susan at the High Court in Harare on Wednesday

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By Agencies
26/02/04
MILITANT ruling party supporters armed with clubs, stones and axes tried to kill Zimbabwe's main opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai, who said he was lucky to escape unhurt.

Describing the incident as one of many "assassination attempts" , Tsvangirai paid tribute to his security men who whisked him away as the group of 200 plus Zanu-PF supporters invaded the venue of a meeting he had been holding with his provincial executives in Mvurwi, north-east of Harare.

"This is all part of their naked attempts on my life. They will not rest until they take my blood," said Tsvangirai. He said he had finished his meetings with officials from his party's provincial executive committee when several truckloads of supporters descended on the venue, a house owned by one of the provincial executives. They started to throw stones at opposition vehicles and beat MDC supporters who had been invited to the meeting.

Several were "seriously hurt" and a part of the house at which the meeting took place was burnt down. Efforts to independently confirm Tsvangirai's claims failed as civic society and other opposition supporters had vacated their homes in the town on Friday night. Telephone calls went unanswered.

The police in Mvurwi said they had heard of the incident and were investigating. Tsvangirai said the meeting had been cleared by the police after he applied for permission in line with Zimbabwe's draconian security laws. But the police did not respond when the fracas started. They had also not provided any prior security. Tsvangirai managed to escape as the chaos unfolded.

"It was pretty bad. There were a lot of them and if they had reached me with their weapons, anything could have happened," he said.

Tsvangirai and his wife, Susan, were attacked by Zanu-PF party supporters in Chivhu, a small rural town in southern Zimbabwe, as they left a supermarket in February. He escaped unhurt.

President Robert Mugabe's supporters once tried to throw Tsvangirai out of the 10th floor of a building in the city centre. He was saved by office workers after his secretary shouted for help. Before the 2000 parliamentary elections, Tsvangirai's 4x4 vehicle was trashed by ruling party supporters after an ambush as he travelled from a campaign rally.

Tsvangirai said: "You don't eliminate the message by shooting the messenger. Even if they kill me, the voices against Mugabe's tyranny will remain."
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