Correspondent|VICTIMS of the June 2018 bombing at a ZANU-PF rally at White City stadium in Bulawayo are failing to cope with medical bills even as top party officials were flown to South Africa for treatment soon after the incident.

At least 47, including Vice President Kembo Mohadi, Minister of Defence, Oppah Muchinguri-Kashiri, Zanu-PF national commissar Engelbert Rugeje and other high-ranking government officials were injured just after President Emmerson Mnangagwa had concluded delivering his speech.

Ms Nelly Moyo from Pumula South who is yet to go for a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scan after her leg was injured said she urgently requires US$125 to pay for that procedure to avoid amputation.

“I was supposed to get the scan in October and l applied for the medication money at Mhlahlandlela offices but l have not received anything yet. They told me that it will take time to get the money. If l continue delaying the scan, it means the situation worsens. I cannot raise the money,” she said.

Ms Moyo said she is failing to raise school fees and money for uniforms for her children who are in Form Two and Grade One as she is no longer working.

“I used to be a cross border trader and my business was flourishing and could sustain my family but now I am just at home. I am no longer working and cannot raise money for my kids. Prices skyrocketed and life is now difficult,” she said.

Mrs Corine Muzokera of Bulawayo’s Mpopoma Suburb was wounded on her left leg and is no longer able to walk.

Mrs Muzokera, who was a vendor before the bombing incident, said she requires money to undergo an X-ray on February 2 next year as she no longer works.

“We have not received any assistance yet, there is a well-wisher who sometimes assists me. We sent application letters to Mhlahlandlela offices in the city centre but we have not received any help yet,” she said.

She said she is failing to pay school fees and buy school uniforms for her Form Three daughter.

“As you see l am seated here and since July that has been my life. I cannot move nor do anything that’s why l took my young sister to help us with home chores. I do not have any means to raise school fees for my children and buy school uniforms for the new term,” she said.

Investigations into a bomb blast that missed President Emmerson Mnangagwa by a whisker nearly six months ago do not seem to be heading anywhere, with the probe team still to apprehend suspects linked to the heinous act.

Insiders close to the investigations say there were no useful leads as yet on the person or persons who planted the explosives that detonated at a Zanu PF rally addressed by Mnangagwa in June.

Initially, police had zeroed in on two suspects — Douglas Musekiwa and John Zulu — whose ages were not given but were later released following an order from the High Court. As the incident which has already created friction in Mnangagwa’s administration develops into another cold case, speculation is that it was an inside job.

Divisions and factionalism have intensified in the ruling Zanu PF party ever since former president Robert Mugabe’s ouster in November last year. While questions on what exactly transpired in the second city on that otherwise fine afternoon still ramble in many people’s minds, government insists it will nab the suspects and ensure they have their day in court.