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.