Harare – A convoy carrying Zimbabwe’s main opposition leader was attacked by suspected ruling party supporters on Monday, his party said.
Nelson Chamisa “did not get injured although his close protection officers and security details were injured” and hospitalised, Fadzayi Mahere, spokesperson for the Movement for Democratic Change Alliance (MDC-Alliance) said.
The party said around 200 villagers, suspected to have been mobilised by the ruling Zanu-PF, barricaded roads and hurled rocks at their cars in the southern Masvingo region.
“This political violence is cause for extreme concern and a clear act of desperation by a bankrupt, illegitimate regime that has failed,” it added in a statement.
#VIDEO footage of the violent, ZANU PF-sponsored attacks on President @nelsonchamisa’s delegation in Charumbira area. Cars were seen ferrying the rented crowd and co-ordinating the attacks as violent thugs held up printed posters. pic.twitter.com/FeUXIRQoky
— MDC Alliance (@mdczimbabwe) October 11, 2021
The party said Chamisa was on his way to meet community leaders in the Masvingo area when the convoy was attacked.
Before the incident, anti-riot police had raided and dispersed a meeting at the private residence of the party’s local leader in the area.
Government spokesperson Nick Mangwana dismissed the attack as stage-managed “dramas”.
Political tensions are rising in Zimbabwe before general elections due in 2023 in which Chamisa is expected to mount his second challenge for the country’s top job against President Emmerson Mnangagwa.
ALSO READ | ‘The regime is panicking,’ says Zimbabwe’s MDC after police arrest 19 at pre-election protest
Late last month, 19 people, including 10 journalists, were arrested during a protest in front of the electoral commission in Harare where preparations were under way for the second polls since Robert Mugabe was deposed in a coup in 2017.
Mugabe, who died in 2019, was deposed by Mnangagwa.
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Source: AFP
Picture: Getty Images
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