David Coltart: Govt Tried To Derail MDC 20th Anniversary Celebrations

MDC treasurer-general David Coltart said the government attempted to torpedo the party’s 20th Anniversary celebrations held at Rufaro Stadium in Harare on Saturday. Writing on microblogging site Twitter, Coltart said:

The MDC 20th birthday celebration was a magnificent party. The regime did everything in its power to disrupt it and deter people from going – water cannon and trolls putting out false messages. But all failed and it was a joyous party.

Not one single person of the thousands who attended was coerced, bribed or paid to attend. That this party was held in the backdrop of the murder, torture, disappearance and spurious prosecution of thousands of our members in the last 20 years is truly remarkable.

The MDC is a party which has withstood the torment and fire of tyranny. But it hasn’t just survived- it has been refined through these great trials and is now ready to usher Zimbabwe into a new era of democracy, freedom, tolerance and sustained economic development and growth.

The MDC turnout yesterday was even more remarkable than it even first appears. I have just had a reliable report that the police were out en masse yesterday deliberately turning back combis they felt contained people who wanted to attend the celebrations.

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This happened right across Harare and so was clearly part of a centralized plan to undermine the attendance at the MDC celebration. Despite this people turned out in their thousands.

This shows just how scared the ruining party is now by the rejuvenated MDC. No other party, including the ruining party, in Zimbabwe, could come close to filling Rufaro Stadium as happened yesterday. That is a factual reality.