HARARE, Oct 2 (Reuters) - Zimbabwean police said on Monday they might prosecute opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai for threatening President Robert Mugabe.
Police spokesman Wayne Bvudzijena said police were examining a speech Tsvangirai made on Saturday with a view to establishing grounds to charge him.
``We are still studying the speech although I cannot say when this will be completed,'' Bvudzijena told Reuters.
``The charge will arise on what the investigating officers will arrive at,'' he said, declining to comment further.
Tsvangirai, president of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), said in the speech the party's leadership had agreed on the need for mass action to force Mugabe from office and would soon decide when that would happen and what form it would take.
``What we would like to tell Mugabe today is that please go peacefully. If you don't want to go peacefully, we will remove you violently. The country cannot afford Mugabe a day longer than necessary,'' he told a rally on the MDC's first anniversary.
He later told journalists that when he spoke of violence he meant only unspecified mass action.
Bvudzijena told the state news agency ZIANA on Monday that any threats of violence are unlawful.
``There are legitimate claims for police to act and moves are already in place,'' ZIANA quoted Bvudzijena as saying.
MDC secretary for legal affairs David Coltart said Tsvangirai had no legal case to answer.
``The MDC's position is that Morgan Tsvangirai was giving a warning to President Mugabe to consider history. There is a long line of dictators who have refused to go peacefully -- and the people have removed them violently,'' Coltart said.
``In that context, I do not believe that Mr Tsvangirai has committed any crime. It would be extremely ill-advised for this government to proceed against him,'' Coltart told Reuters.
The labour-backed MDC has emerged as the main opposition to Mugabe's ZANU-PF party after winning 57 of 120 elected parliamentary seats in a June election, ending the virtual monopoly the ruling party had enjoyed since independence from Britain in 1980.
Political violence in the run-up to the parliamentary elections left at least 31 people dead, most of them MDC supporters.
Mugabe's own job was not at stake in June. His current six-year term expires only in 2002.
Last week the MDC said a grenade attack on its headquarters was the work of a police agent, but the government says there is growing evidence the MDC itself was behind the attack.
Photo's of the police raid on the MDC offices follow:
This man was involved in the police raid on the MDC offices and would not
identify himself 
:
(Left) Know this man?
You tell us who he is - he
wouldn't.
From The Daily Telegraph (UK), 3 October
Zimbabwe government warns opposition over protest plan
ONE of President Robert Mugabe's senior aides called yesterday for Morgan Tsvangirai, Zimbabwe's opposition leader, to be prosecuted. The call came from Didymus Mutasa, secretary of the ruling Zanu-PF party's central committee, after Mr Tsvangirai addressed a crowd of 25,000 on Saturday and warned Mr Mugabe: "If you don't want to go peacefully, we will remove you violently." The remark dismayed senior figures in Mr Tsvangirai's party, the MDC, who said it could be used to justify action against the opposition. A leading MDC member said: "They were unfortunate words. They call into question our commitment to democratic change."
The inevitable backlash began yesterday. A banner headline in the official Herald newspaper read: "Tsvangirai faces arrest, prosecution." Mr Mutasa claimed that the true character of the MDC had been revealed. He said: "Tsvangirai should call himself the leader of the movement for violent change. For a party leader to advocate violence is a terrible thing, but we are ready and prepared for it." He said the remark "would not be allowed to pass" and added: "Tsvangirai should be brought before the courts and charged with incitement to violence."
Supt Wayne Bvudzijena, a police spokesman, said that an investigation was underway. He said: "A prosecution will be brought forward if we feel the statement warrants it." The MDC plans a general strike and demonstrations to force Mr Mugabe's resignation by Christmas.
From The Star (SA), 2 October
MDC head faces rap for threat to oust Mugabe
Harare - Zimbabwe's state media said on Monday that police might prosecute Morgan Tsvangirai, the opposition leader, for threatening President Robert Mugabe. Ziana, the state news agency, quoted police spokesperson Wayne Bvudzijena as saying police were examining a speech Tsvangirai made on Saturday with a view to establishing grounds on which to charge him.
Tsvangirai, president of the MDC, said in the speech that the party's leadership had agreed on the need for mass action to force Mugabe from office and soon would decide when that would happen and what form it would take. He told a rally on the MDC's first anniversary: "What we would like to tell Mugabe today is: 'Please go peacefully. If you don't want to go peacefully, we will remove you violently. The country cannot afford Mugabe a day longer than necessary'." He later told journalists that when he spoke of violence he meant only unspecified mass action.
"Any threats of violence are unlawful. There are legitimate claims for police to act and moves are already in place," the news agency quoted Bvudzijena as saying. David Coltart, the MDC secretary for legal affairs, said Tsvangirai had no legal case to answer. "The MDC's position is that Morgan Tsvangirai was giving a warning to President Mugabe to consider history. There is a long line of dictators who have refused to go peacefully - and the people have removed them violently," said Coltart. "In that context, I do not believe that Tsvangirai has committed any crime. It would be extremely ill-advised for this government to proceed against him," said Coltart.
The labour-backed MDC has emerged as the main opposition to Mugabe's Zanu-PF party and won 57 of 120 elected parliamentary seats in a June election, ending the virtual monopoly the ruling party had enjoyed since independence from Britain in 1980. Political violence in the run-up to the parliamentary elections left at least 31 people dead, most of them MDC supporters. Mugabe's own job was not at stake in June. His six-year term only expires in 2002. Last week, the MDC said a grenade attack on its headquarters was the work of a police agent, but the government said there was growing evidence the MDC itself was behind the attack.
From The Star (SA), 2 October
Zanu-PF threatens violence to keep Mugabe in
Harare - Zimbabwe's ruling party on Sunday warned that it would respond to any attempt to forcibly oust President Robert Mugabe from power, with "violence". Nathan Shamuyarira, chief spokesperson for the governing Zanu-PF told state television his party and government had the capacity to respond to any violence with violence. "We are going to reply to violence with violence in order to protect the people of Zimbabwe," said Shamuyarira. Morgan Tsvangirai, leader of Zimbabwe's main opposition, the MDC, on Saturday told supporters at the party's first anniversary that Mugabe risked being removed violently from power if he did not heed calls to retire.
But Shamuyarira responded: "It's a shocking statement coming from an opposition leader who claims to be democratic. What kind of democracy is that? We are not going to sit idle when he (Tsvangirai) is unleashing violence on our people, we are going to reply." Tsvangirai later tried to downplay his statement when he explained to reporters that the violence about which he was talking was a mass action his party was planning that would put pressure on Mugabe to quit. "If he (Mugabe) remains defiant and continues as he is doing, with the mood in the country, I think he risks the chance of being violently removed by the people. The anger is deep and he should be able to read that. There are many dictators in the world who have had to make an unceremonious exit," Tsvangirai warned. He said the country could not wait for presidential elections in 2002 because it could not afford Mugabe a day longer than was necessary.
Shamuyarira accused the opposition leader of trying to deny the country the democratic procedures of elections, the peace and stability they had enjoyed. "We are going to reply in order to protect the people of Zimbabwe. We are not going to allow the people to be maimed and killed because of Morgan Tsvangirai's desire to be in power. "Zanu-PF as a party and the government have got the capacity and the will and the ability to hit back, but the blame should fall squarely on Morgan Tsvangirai and his lust for power," said Shamuyarira.
From News24 (SA), 2 October
Official demands Tsvangirai's arrest
Harare - A government official is demanding that opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai be arrested for treason after Tsvangirai said his party would remove President Robert Mugabe "violently" unless he steps down. Parliament Speaker Emmerson Mnangagwa made the demand in a statement released to state media late on Sunday. "I have no doubt that the police and the attorney general's office will act on this unconstitutional deed," Mnangagwa said in the statement. Treason carries the death penalty in Zimbabwe.
Tsvangirai, the leader of the main opposition party, the MDC, told a rally on Saturday that Mugabe would be violently overthrown unless he stepped down. "What we want to tell Mugabe today is to please go peacefully - if you don't want to go, we will remove you violently," Tsvangirai told the rally, held to celebrate his party's first anniversary. Tsvangirai later insisted his words were a "friendly warning" that a popular uprising may be imminent if Mugabe continues to cling to power while the economy continues to spiral out of control.
Police viewed his statements differently. "Any threats of violence are unlawful. There are legitimate claims for police to act and moves are already in place," police spokesperson Wayne Bvudzijena said. Welshman Ncube, MDC secretary general, said Tsvangirai was not hindered by authorities when he left Zimbabwe on Sunday for a visit to Belgium. Ncube on Monday described Tsvangirai's words as "a slip of the tongue" which in context did not contain any threat of opposition-sponsored lawlessness. The MDC won 57 of 120 elected seats in the parliamentary elections, held in June. In the outgoing parliament, Mugabe's party controlled all but three seats. At least 31 people died and thousands were left homeless in political violence ahead of the elections. Most of the victims were opposition supporters.
From The Daily News, 2 October
Tekere says ruling party heading for humiliating defeat in 2002
VETERAN politician Edgar Tekere says Zanu PF will suffer humiliating defeat as a party if it lets President Mugabe contest the 2002 presidential election. A former Zanu PF secretary-general, Tekere told journalists at the close of a workshop on parliamentary reporting at the Mazvikadei Leisure Resort in Banket on Friday that Mugabe had become a liability to both his party and the country. He said to win the election, Zanu PF would need to get rid of their ageing leaders and adopt a new name.
He said: "Zanu PF is headed for defeat if they go ahead with Mugabe as their candidate." Tekere said Zimbabwe would face isolation from the international community if Mugabe remained in power. "We have lost friends. We have become a persona non grata to the international community," he said. "The practical thing to do is to encourage an internal revolution in Zanu PF to remove the obsolete leadership. They should get rid of Mugabe, Msika and Mutasa."
Tekere was reacting to a statement by Didymus Mutasa, the Zanu PF secretary for administration, that Mugabe would contest the presidential election and that the country would plunge into chaos if Mugabe resigned. Tekere said it was regrettable that Mugabe had ignored loud calls for him to relinquish power. He said Mugabe was typically a man who would cling to power at any cost. Last week former South African president, Nelson Mandela, became the first regional leader to suggest Mugabe had overstayed his welcome. Mandela said: "I would have wished that somebody would talk to him to say: 'Look, you have been in office for 20 years. It's time to step down.'"
"When Mugabe decides on something he never changes his mind," Tekere said. Tekere was a commander of Zanla, Zanu PF's military wing, in the 1970s and was detained at Harare Central Prison together with Mugabe; the party's secretary for legal affairs, Eddison Zvobgo; Ndabaningi Sithole; the late Leopold Takawira and Michael Mawema. He walked out on Zanu PF to form the Zimbabwe Unity Movement in 1989. He retired from active politics in January this year. Tekere said: "Mugabe will never change. I don't think he is thinking about the future of this country after he has gone. The world starts and ends with him."
From the BBC, 3 October
Mugabe in Congo for talks
The Zimbabwean president, Robert Mugabe, is in the southern Congolese city of Lubumbashi for talks with President Laurent Kabila. This follows a meeting between the two men last week in Harare, where they discussed continuing violations of the ceasefire in the DRC. Mr Kabila also visited Angola and Namibia which, together with Zimbabwe, are his military backers against rebel forces. But correspondents say Mr Kabila's allies are exerting increasing pressure on him to co-operate with the Lusaka peace accord, and to create the conditions that will allow the deployment of UN peacekeeping forces.
From The Daily News, 2 October
Party deplores war vets reserve force
THE MDC says the transformation of war veterans into a reserve force is a ploy by President Mugabe to politicise the armed forces further. Moven Mahachi, the Minister of Defence, announced last week that war veterans had been incorporated into the Zimbabwe Defence Forces (ZDF) as a reserve force, and their affairs would be administered by the Commander of the ZDF. The MDC said in a statement the move would compromise the impartiality of the armed forces. "This is clearly a move by Mugabe to increase the strength of the armed forces which support him," the MDC said. "It is a move by Zanu PF to allow them to arm more of their supporters. Having merged these forces and created a reserve force of war veterans, what is to stop these people from being armed and deployed in rural areas?"
In a democratic country, the MDC said, it was critical that armed forces were loyal to the country and the Constitution and that they were apolitical. "To move the war veterans' association, an organisation known for its political affiliation, under the control of the Ministry of Defence jeopardises this political neutrality," the MDC said. War veterans and top Zanu PF officials led a terror campaign to intimidate their opponents in the run-up to the June parliamentary election. Thirty-one people, including five commercial farmers, were killed in the violence.
Retired Army Major Giles Mutsekwa, the MDC shadow minister for defence, said the cash-strapped government would not be able to sustain the incorporation of war veterans into the armed forces. Mutsekwa said: "The government has already overspent its budget for this year. There is criticism that much of this overspending comes from our military presence in the DRC. How then does the government propose to fund this latest venture?" He said the move was not practical. An effective reserve force, he said, needed to be well-attuned. "It needs to be a unit of people that know the same drills, have the same training and share a spirit of camaraderie and commitment," Mutsekwa said.
Meanwhile, Gweru residents have condemned the move saying it showed that the government was desperate to hold on to power. Peter Chanaiwa, a former Zimbabwe National Chamber of Commerce vice-president, said: "The decision by the Minister of Defence to have war veterans constituting a reserve force means in real terms this is Mugabe's last straw to hold on to power." A political activist, Peter Musiyiwa, said the force was Zanu PF's last card to be used to stage a coup if Zanu PF lost the 2002 presidential election.