By-Owen “Mudha” Ncube, a top Zanu PF official in Midlands Province and a close ally of President Emmerson Mnangagwa, has threatened to unleash an orgy of violence against opposition members ahead of the 2023 general elections.

According to audio that has gone viral, Ncube, who is a former Minister of State Security, threatened to unleash violence against “sell-outs” that will be worse than what was witnessed during the 2008 presidential run-off election.

Addressing Zanu PF supporters in Mberengwa, Midlands province, at the weekend, Ncube said:

You have been told that 2023 will be worse than 2008. We will not just leave you while you are selling out.

Even during the liberation struggle, there were sellouts but they were dealt with. Some left their grandchildren.

If you sell out, we are going to deal with you in a crude way.

Contacted for comment by NewsDay on Thursday, Ncube said: “I once told you, I don’t want to talk to you. I still don’t want to talk to you.”

More than 200 opposition supporters were killed in cold blood by suspected ZANU PF activists during the 2008 presidential run-off election campaign.

The late MDC-T leader Morgan Tsvangirai was forced to withdraw from the race, leaving the now late former President Robert Mugabe to be declared the winner.

The Southern African Development Community (SADC) eventually intervened and facilitated a power-sharing agreement between Tsvangirai and Mugabe which lasted from 2009 to 2013. |