The founding president of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), Morgan Tsvangirai, is in Masvingo province on his on-going nationwide consultations with community leaders, party structures and ordinary citizens on key issues affecting Zimbabwe.
In a statement, the MDC-T said the Masvingo consultations kicked off in Gutu “where the people's president is meeting traditional leaders, church leaders, pensioners and other community leaders.
“The meetings are private engagements where there are no party slogans, the only business being the crisis facing the country and the governance culture we should sculpt post-Mugabe in 2018.”
The party claimed that the ruling party is scared of these grassroots meetings. “So fearful has the regime become of these consultation programmes, particularly with traditional leaders that the Gutu DA (District Administrator) called an emergency meeting with chiefs and headmen to scuttle the MDC leader's engagements.”
The MDC-T noted that despite this move, “the turnout was good as most turned up to discuss the future of the country they love with President Tsvangirai.”
There was no immediate reaction from provincial and district state officials.
After his meeting in Gutu, Tsvangirai is expected to hold a similar indabas in Bikita and Zaka.