Zimbabwe Vice President Joice Mujuru (R), Prime Minister
Morgan Tsvangirai (C) and member of the House of Assembly
of Zimbabwe for Kuwadzana Nelson Chamisa attend a
presentation in Parliament Building in Harare last month.
REUTERS/Philimon Bulawayo
Zimbabwe's premier says President Robert Mugabe's party
is losing its grip and resorting to violence after the young
son of a local party official was burnt to death by suspected
supporters of the elderly president.
Mugabe (89) in power since 1980, and his longtime foe, Prime
Minister Morgan Tsvangirai, were forced into a power-sharing
government in 2009 and will resume their rivalry in elections
expected around July.
Christpowers Maisiri (12), whose father is in Tsvangirai's
Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) party, was set on fire
while sleeping in a hut with his brothers last weekend in
Headlands district, 170km east of Harare.
The MDC quickly blamed Mugabe's ZANU-PF party, saying the
alleged killers were after the boy's father, Shepherd.
ZANU-PF denied killing the boy and accused the MDC of trying
to fan pre-election tensions in the southern African state.
"ZANU-PF is under siege. They are in a corner and this is a
desperate act from a party that is losing power," Tsvangirai
said while addressing mourners and supporters attending the
burial in Headlands, a tobacco-growing district.
Fighting back tears, Shepherd Maisiri said he had been
subjected to violence and intimidation from ZANU-PF
supporters since 2000. His son had been born in the bush
because his parents had to flee from opponents, he said.
Tsvangirai said he had shown Mugabe pictures of the charred
remains of the boy during a cabinet meeting on Tuesday and
that the president had "shrunk" in disbelief and ordered a
full investigation.
Tsvangirai accuses Mugabe of using violence to cling to
power. The former trade union leader was forced to quit a
presidential run-off race in 2008 after 200 of his supporters
died in political violence blamed on ZANU-PF members.
"We are hurt but not intimidated. This has to end, starting
with the arrest of the people who committed this heinous
crime," said Tsvangirai. He said he could not vouch for
Mugabe's sincerity when calling for peaceful elections.
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