* Targeting unemployed rural youngsters

* To fight fire with fire

* Promise them good jobs

Sunday News Reporters

THE Movement for Democratic Change led by Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai has reportedly embarked on a massive recruitment exercise of youths, in what has been viewed as setting the tone for a bloodbath during the next elections.

Party insiders claim that the move, aimed at beefing up the party’s security structures ahead of the elections, will catch other parties unawares and hit them where its hurts most. Over the  years the MDC-T has accused graduates from the National Youth Service programme whom they have  called green-bombers of perpetrating  violence and time will tell when their “blue, red or black bombers’’ enter the political arena.

In an interview, Zanu-PF politburo member and former Minister of Information and Publicity Dr Sikhanyiso Ndlovu said he was not surprised by the revelations as MDC-T was a violent party masquerading as a democratic movement.

“The MDC-T always claims verbally that it shuns violence but we know that they have an agenda of violence. They have set-up this paramilitary wing so that they unleash a reign of terror come election time. They thrive on a crisis and as such they will not leave any stone unturned to create a picture of a Zimbabwe in turmoil for the international community.

“In the past their youths wore Zanu- PF T-shirts and they will do so again all in an effort to put the blame on Zanu-PF. But Zanu-PF is not a violent party and President Mugabe is on record that we should shun it. I urge Zanu-PF youth not to retaliate when attacked but to report to the police because that is what the MDC-T wants. They want to see running battles on the streets,’’ said Dr Ndlovu.

The MDC-T national spokesman, Mr Douglas Mwonzora, and national youth assembly secretary-general Mr Promise Mkhwananzi, gave conflicting reasons for the recruitment exercise worsening the myth.

Mr Mwonzora said the party was mobilising youth for vocational training while Mr Mkwananzi claimed they were only recruiting new voters.

Party sources claim that the party has been recruiting youths mainly from the country’s rural provinces for “national service’’ to counter youth serving under the national programme whom they believe to be biased towards Zanu-PF. The aim was to  “fight fire with fire’’.

The recruitment exercise is said to have started last month in Matabeleland South province.

The sources further revealed that the unsuspecting youths have been promised “good jobs’’ in reputable institutions should they render their “services’’ to the party.

“We have started recruiting our own youths to counter the green bombers,’’ said one source.