An angel threatened

By Zvamaida Murwira THE collapse of the unity talks between the two MDC factions has now turned nasty as some people within the opposition party are allegedly issuing death threats to Glen Norah Member of House of Assembly Mrs Priscilla Misihairabwi-Mushonga.The legislator, who is also the deputy secretary-general for the Professor Arthur Mutambara faction, has reportedly been receiving death-threatening telephone calls.The faction’s spokesman, Mr Gabriel Chaibva, said the threats started when the lawmaker distributed fliers in her constituency explaining the circumstances leading to the collapse of their unity talks with the Morgan Tsvangirai faction."While we do not yet know the motive or reason behind these threats, we suspect that the caller or callers might be reacting to a flier that was distributed in the MP’s constituency. "She sought to explain the circumstances that led to the collapse of the coalition talks between the two MDC formations," said Mr Chaibva."The MP has also revealed that since the very first day that the flier was distributed, her supporters, especially her parliamentary assistant who is running the MP’s office in the constituency, has received several abusive calls from a few anonymous callers who have threatened the constituency assistant. "We believe that the calls are coming from a few individuals who did not want the issue relating to the collapse of the coalition talks explained to the electorate."Mr Chaibva said Mrs Misihairabwi-Mushonga has been receiving the threats over the last three days from anonymous callers threatening to kill her boss.On Tuesday, said Mr Chaibva, Mrs Misihairabwi-Mushonga’s maid received several calls from a male voice in which the caller issued threats on the life of the lawmaker.Talks between the two feuding factions collapsed last month and Prof Mutambara has accused Mr Tsvangirai for frustrating the efforts by refusing to address a joint Press conference announcing the unity.He described Mr Tsvangirai’s conduct as weak and indecisive, saying they had wanted him to be the sole opposition candidate in next year’s harmonised presidential and parliamentary elections.Mr Tsvangirai has since hit back, saying Prof Mutambara should not waste his efforts directing his attacks on him but the Government, which he said was the stumbling block.