By Paul Nyathi

MDC-T President Nelson Chamisa says that ZANU PF is abusing the late Joshua Nkomo family by deliberately drawing the family to comment on a misinterpretation of utterances he made at an MDC Alliance rally in Bulawayo over the weekend.

A disappointed sounding Chamisa blamed forces within the ruling party for deliberately misinterpreting his statement in order to raise the Nkomo family emotions against him.

Speaking in an early morning interview on Skyz Metro FM a Bulawayo community radio station on Tuesday, Chamisa said that forces against him deliberately opted to misinterpret his statement on his visit to the Joshua Nkomo National Museum in Bulawayo before his rally.

“I have seen the misinterpretation. I said that I met them and they were very excited to meet me and they said they were so excited to meet me so much that they wish they could give me a rod to use to drive out thieves,” said Chamisa. “It was just a happy moment.”

“The misinterpretation has even drawn the Nkomo family to make a comment which I feel is an abuse to the family by ZANU PF,” he added.

“The Nkomo family should not be drawn to comment on issues that have no facts,” said Chamisa.

Speaking to various media houses including ZimEye.com on Monday, Joshua Nkomo’s son Sibangilizwe Nkomo said that Chamisa never met with any members of the Nkomo family but only met with employees of the Joshua Nkomo National Foundation which is run by the government under the Department of National Museums and Monuments.

Nkomo said that the family would never offer to give any of Joshua Nkomo’s rods to anyone outside the Nkomo family.

Chamisa said that he was driven to visit the Joshua Nkomo heritage site to give honour to the liberation icon who was heavily undermined by the ZANU PF government through the years.