HARARE,
Zimbabwe
(AP)
—
A
Zimbabwean
opposition
activist
slain
nearly
two
years
ago
was
finally
buried
Saturday
at
an
event
marked
by
a
low
turnout
and
clashes
between
members
of
the
main
opposition
party,
highlighting
its
decline.
Moreblessing
Ali,
46,
a
member
of
the
opposition
Citizens
Coalition
for
Change,
or
CCC,
was
abducted
in
May
2022
outside
a
bar
in
Nyatsime,
a
neighborhood
of
Chitungwiza
town
on
the
outskirts
of
the
capital,
Harare.
Her
body,
cut
into
pieces,
was found
in
a
well in
the
area
more
than
two
weeks
later,
sparking
anger.
A
man
was
later
jailed
for
30
years
for
the
murder.
Ali’s
remains
had
remained
in
a
government
morgue
ever
since.
Her
family
refused
to
bury
her
until
the
release
of
a
top
official
and
family
lawyer
who
was
arrested
after
he
said
she
had
been
murdered
by
ruling
Zanu-PF
supporters.
The
official,
Job
Sikhala,
spent
close
to
two
years
in
pre-trial
detention
and
was released
in
January
this
year
after
a
magistrate
handed
him
a
suspended
prison
sentence,
paving
the
way
for
Ali’s
burial
on
Saturday.
“We
are
relieved
that
she
has
finally
rested,”
said
Wellington
Ali,
a
brother
to
the
slain
activist.
“But
we
are
heartbroken
because
it
is
not
a
joke
going
two
years
without
burying
our
relative.
We
have
been
through
a
lot.”
He
said
the
family
decided
to
skip
the
process
of
viewing
the
body,
because
“her
body
was
getting
really
bad
and
decomposing.”
Sikhala,
who
quit
the
CCC
upon
his
release
from
prison,
said
Ali
“would
not
die
in
vain.”
“Her
death
will
play
a
role
in
Zimbabwe’s
political
trajectory.
She
is
going
to
inspire
us
to
remain
strong,”
he
said
in
a
graveside
interview
at
a
cemetery
near
Chitungwiza.
Only
a
few
dozen
people,
some
singing
political
songs
but
not
wearing
party
regalia,
said
farewell
to
Ali
at
the
cemetery.
Earlier
in
the
day
at
her
home,
police
officers
with
batons
easily
outnumbered
mourners.
Such
scenes
are
in
stark
contrast
to
the
multitudes
of
CCC
supporters
and
top
officials
who
gathered
to
grieve
Ali
when
her
body
parts
were
discovered
in
June
2022
–
shedding
light
onto
the
disintegration
of
a
party
that
was
once
a
formidable
force
in
Zimbabwe’s
politics.
In
August
last
year,
the
party’s
candidate
and
then
leader
Nelson
Chamisa
narrowly
lost
presidential
elections.
However,
the
CCC
took
control
of
all
major
cities
and
towns,
as
well
as
winning
enough
parliamentary
seats
to
deny
the
ruling
ZANU-PF
party
the
two-thirds
majority
it
would
need
in
order
to
change
sections
of
the
Constitution.
But
the
party
has
struggled
to
remain
united
since
the
elections
after
a
man
claiming
to
be
the
CCC
secretary-general began
removing dozens
of
elected
officials,
with
support
from
parliamentary
authorities,
the
government
and
the
courts.
Chamisa
said
his
party
didn’t
even
have
a
position
of
secretary-general
and
described
the
man
as
an
imposter
and
fraudster.
The
CCC
has
since
split
into
many
tiny
factions
after
Chamisa quit
the
party
in
January,
claiming
that
President
Emmerson
Mnangawa’s
administration
had
hijacked
the
opposition
and
was
engineering
its
decimation.
Some
of
Chamisa’s
former
associates
accuse
him
of
being
dictatorial,
charges
he
denies,
claiming
the
movement
has
been
a
victim
of
state
machinations.
The
few
mourners
at
Ali’s
burial
shoved
and
engaged
in
verbal
insults
as
each
faction
tried
to
drown
out
the
other
and
take
control
of
burial
proceedings.
The
brawling
opposition
activists
left
before
the
burial
was
over,
with
only
a
handful
of
Ali’s
family
members
remaining
to
complete
the
process.
Further
to
the
opposition
infighting,
some
local
and
international
organizations
such
as
Amnesty
International
say
Mnangagwa
is
using
intimidation,
arrests
and
the
courts
to
entrench
his
rule.
The
81-year-old former
guerrilla
fighter promised
democratic
reforms
when
he
replaced
longtime
ruler
Robert
Mugabe
after
a
popular
army-backed
2017
coup
but
is
now
accused
of
being
as
repressive
as
his
predecessor
and
mentor.
Mnangagwa
attributes
the
near-collapse
of
the
opposition
to
infighting
and
denies
allegations
of
subverting
democracy.
However,
some
fear
for
the
future
of
Zimbabwe’s
democracy
now
that
the
ruling
party,
which
has
since
regained
its
two-thirds
majority
in
the
lower
house
of
parliament,
is
governing
without
effective
and
organized
opposition
for
the
first
time
in
decades.
“Locally,
there
are
fears
among
people
that
we
are
moving
towards
a
one-party
state,
with
democracy
dying
a
slow
death,”
said
the
Zimbabwe
Catholic
Bishops
Conference
in
a
letter
marking
the
start
of
the
church’s
Lenten
season
in
February.