Jabulani Sibanda threatens to ‘roast livers’ of opponents
Sunday, 14 August 2011 18:44
BY PATIENCE NYANGOVE
CONTROVERSIAL war veterans’ leader Jabulani Sibanda allegedly warned
Masvingo villagers that the former liberation war fighters would be
“roasting livers” of sellouts in the next election.
He allegedly made the remarks at Zvehuru Primary School but he denied the
accusations when he was asked to explain what he meant last week.
Zanu PF usually refers to opposition supporters as sell-outs who want to
reverse the gains of the country’s independence.
Brighton Ramusi, a programme manager at Community Tolerance Reconciliation
and Development (Cotrad), a Masvingo-based non-governmental organisation,
maintained that Sibanda issued the chilling warning at one of his numerous
meetings, dubbed Operation Kubudirana Pachena.
“He said during the 2008 elections, war veterans were roasting chicken and
goats but this time they were going to roast human livers of those who vote
for MDC,” Ramusi said.
He warned that if Sibanda was not stopped from his campaigns, where hate
speech and threats to opposition supporters were the order of the day,
tensions would continue to rise in the province.
Ramusi accused Sibanda of inciting violence and disturbing lessons at
schools.
“People are being forced to attend his meetings through the use of
overzealous traditional leaders and war veterans,” he said.
“This is against the right to freedom of association and assembly and hence
the police are obliged to safeguard the rights of citizens.
“In this regard, Cotrad therefore demands that the police safeguard the
liberties of the citizens.”
Ramusi said war veterans were now hated by the people because of the violent
campaign.
Sibanda, who has reportedly been camped in Masvingo for several months,
vehemently denied the accusations that he threatened villagers.
“I have never said that. Those kind of words do not exist in my vocabulary,”
he said.
The Zanu PF provincial executive once asked Sibanda to leave the province
but he refused.
He is allegedly backed by a faction in the party that believes Zanu PF
cannot re-capture its support lost to the MDC formations without resorting
to violence.