A POLICEMAN killed by rogue protestors in Bulawayo during violent demonstrations instigated by the MDC-Alliance and its allies in civil society last week, was on Saturday buried at his rural home in Matsikidze Village, Chief Shumba in Masvingo.
Constable Alexio Maune (32), who was based at Entumbane Police Station, died last Tuesday on admission to the United Bulawayo Hospitals after being left for dead by violent protestors who stoned him during an orgy of violence that has left a very big scar on the country’s conscience.
The late cop was one of the several people who lost their lives during the protests that saw shops being looted, roads being barricaded while police stations and property were destroyed mainly in MDC-Alliance strongholds, marking one of the darkest episodes in post-independent Zimbabwe.
Government has laid the blame squarely on the MDC-Alliance and its proxies in civil society and hundreds of people have since been arrested and arraigned before the courts for their role in the disturbances.
A sombre atmosphere enveloped the Maune homestead in Matsikidze as the late Constable Maune’s relatives and close friends struggled to come to terms with his passing on – especially the way he met his death.
Several speakers in their graveside eulogies decried a growing culture of violence and urged Government to bring all the perpetrators of the hideous acts of violence to book.
Masvingo war veterans provincial chair Tendeukai Chinooneka, who represented the Minister of State for Masvingo Provincial Affairs Ezra Chadzamira, blasted the opposition MDC-Alliance for its propensity for violence in its relentless pursuit of State power.
Chinooneka equated the opposition and its allies who are surrogates of western imperialists to the infamous Selous Scouts who caused a lot of suffering during the fight to jettison the Rhodesian racist regime in Zimbabwe.
“What the MDC-Alliance and its partners are doing shows that we still have Selous Scouts amongst us 38 years after independence. The violent culture of the MDC-Alliance is very worrying. Their behaviour is very unAfrican. Why use violence against innocent people in an attempt to ascend to power? The whole world now knows them for what they really are,’’ said Chinooneka.
The Masvingo war veterans boss said peace, unity and love were cornerstones of a successful nation. He said a nation devoid of love and tolerance will hardly develop.
“We need peace, unity and love if we are to develop our nation, there can never be economic development that we yearn for so much in our country if we are violent.
Government should be allowed to roll out its developmental programmes in a peaceful environment where everyone values that they are Zimbabweans first before anything else,’’ said Cde Chinooneka.
He also called on Government to bring all the perpetrators of violence to book and ensure peace-loving Zimbabweans were not disturbed by the MDC-Alliance’s knack for violence.
The MDC-Alliance and its allies have come under fire for pre-planning the violence with analysts saying the opposition was bent on derailing President Mnangagwa’s economic vision for the country out of fear that if the economy recovers they will become irrelevant.
