'You cannot beat us, you are going to get a shock'
Returning Zimbabwe opposition chief says people will rout Mugabe
Return: Morgan Tsvangirai visits a hospital in Harare GETTY IMAGES
Zimbabwe's opposition leader, Morgan Tsvangirai, returned home yesterday, claiming that the "appalling'' violence endured by his supporters would deliver an even greater electoral defeat to President Robert Mugabe when the two meet for a second round of voting in five weeks.
Mr Tsvangirai, who left for South Africa six weeks ago, was surrounded by his security men as he arrived at Harare airport and then sped to a hospital to meet supporters wounded by rival Zanu PF party members.
"I return home with a very sad heart,'' he said. "I have met and listened to stories from innocent people targeted by a regime seemingly desperate to hang on to power. Democrats have been targeted by the dictator who has lost the support of the people.''
Mr Tsvangirai said the Southern African Development Community (SADC), a regional organisation which is to mediate the Zimbabwe crisis, had pledged to send observers and peacekeepers to monitor the polls, but he claimed that unless they were in place by June 1, they would be of no use.
Mr Tsvangirai, who leads the opposition Movement for Democratic Change party, won 47.9 per cent to Mr Mugabe's 43.2 per cent in the presidential poll on March 29, but needed more than 50 per cent of the vote to avoid the run-off which is scheduled to take place on June 27. The election was marred by allegations of government intimidation and vote-rigging.
Since the elections, more than 40 MDC activists and party supporters have been killed and tens of thousands have been assaulted and forced to flee their homes.
"They [Zanu PF] have beaten themselves into serious rejection by the people of Zimbabwe,'' said Mr Tsvangirai.
"All those I saw in hospital today were saying to me, 'we will finish him off, don't let us down'. So on that score I am inspired by people reeling with pain but still prepared to go all the way. If Mugabe thinks he has beaten people into submission then he will have a rude shock.''
Praising the courage of his supporters, Mr Tsvangirai said that since the election in March, "the regime has targeted young men and women who have stood shoulder to shoulder with us over eight years, has hunted them down, pulled them from their houses and systematically murdered people''.
He also spoke about the murder of Tonderai Ndira, 32, one of Zimbabwe's best-known political activists, whose body was found along with those of several colleagues near a Zimbabwe National Army centre outside Harare that has often been used as a torture centre.
While Mr Tsvangirai was speaking, news came through via messages delivered to mobile phones that the bodies of two more activists had been found in the same area.
It was also announced that the newly elected MP Iain Kay was refused bail after being arrested last week and accused of "inciting violence'' on a tour of his constituency -- while he was preaching reconciliation.
© Telegraph
- PETA THORNYCROFT in Harare
