As opposition holds first-ever public meeting in once no-go area
KUTAMA – “I NEVER thought I would see a day like this in my life, it was just unimaginable,” said Regina Phiri. “Even to think we would live this long was unimaginable,” added Phiri, a member of Zimbabwe’s main opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) party led by Nelson Chamisa, as she and other members of the party met to do a post-mortem of their first ever public meeting at Kutama – just 80 km west of the capital Harare – which is the home village of deposed dictator Robert Mugabe.
Phiri, who is contesting for position of councillor for Ward 6 of Zvimba South constituency (in which Kutama village falls) in the July 30 harmonised elections, is one of the few founding members of the opposition party in the area. She is now the most senior party member in the village as some of her colleagues have died while others could not stand the heat and fled, some of them even going outside the country.
“It was difficult… in fact it was dicing with death on a daily basis. We would hold our meetings at night in homes because it was just dangerous. We could be abducted and tortured and have our homes burnt ,” she said.
The recent campaign rally at Chikambi business centre, which is right inside Mugabe’s village at Kutama, was something unimaginable to the villagers since the formation of the main opposition party 19 years ago .
With Mugabe having been pushed out of power in a coup last November and his subsequent expulsion from the ruling ZANU-PF party , freedom has finally arrived in the village.
“The worst is over… we went through it all and we should now peacefully finish what we started, what we sacrificed for,” Concilia Chinanzvavana, an MDC legislator and party’s national council member, told a jubilant crowd, many of whom still do not believe this luxury to be real .
Chinanzvavana – whom Mugabe used to angrily mention by name when she contested to be legislator for the area in the 2008 elections – was together with a dozen other opposition members abducted and tortured only to be released after 21 days following outcry by human rights groups.
Even some of Mugabe’s relatives never supported him. The MDC’s candidate for the area’s legislative seat is Nkosinathi Nyamadzawo, one of Mugabe’s relatives who has been a long time opposition member.
“I received all kinds of threats, but that did not make me change my mind. I needed to do the right thing and that is what I continued doing. I am happy today we can have our meeting in broad daylight like this,” he said as he addressed the campaign rally that was attended by even some elderly in the village.
