HARARE –The trial of a Zimbabwean lawmaker facing charges of allegedly singing a song that insulted President Robert Mugabe resumes today as Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai’s party warns of a plot to decimate its structures ahead of polls expected next year.

Morgen Komichi, a senator from Tsvangirai’s MDC-T, is due to appear before a magistrate in Bindura on allegations of insulting Mugabe at a rally held in January.

Allegations against Komichi are that he denigrated Mugabe after he sang a song that likened the long-serving Zimbabwean leader to a dead old donkey.

Komichi appeared before the Bindura magistrate two weeks ago and was given free bail.

The MDC-T condemned what it said was “an expansion in the persecution and prosecution” of its leadership in a bid to decimate the party in Mashonaland Central.

“Known ZANU PF activists in the province are known assailants, terrorizing MDC supporters on a daily basis and these have not been

prosecuted,” an MDC-T spokesman said last week.

He cited the case of Chief Kasekete of Muzarabani North who is allegedly stripping village heads of their positions and awarding them to known ZANU PF supporters and war veterans, most of whom tortured and murdered MDC-T supporters in the run up to the sham 2008 June elections.

“Most known assailants in the Mashonaland provinces have been left to roam free and yet MDC members are arrested, prosecuted and persecuted on flimsy charges such as singing a song at a rally,” the spokesman said.

By Zimonline