Nelson Chamisa, the leader of Zimbabwean opposition party, the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), has accused the ruling Zanu-PF party of killing former MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai who died earlier this year from cancer.

“I am saying this for the first time. There are people who connived to kill our leader Morgan Tsvangirai,” Chamisa said as he addressed thousands of his supporters at a campaign rally at Chibuku Stadium in Chitungwiza, about 30 km south-east of Harare, NewsDay reported on Friday.

The opposition leader said that Tsvangirai’s death was part of Zanu-PF’s “scorched earth policy” to weaken opposition politics in the country.

But, he added, Zanu-PF has miscalculated the response of Zimbabweans and only succeeded in “rekindling a brighter flame that would consume them” in next week’s polls.

Tsvangirai succumbed to cancer of the colon in February this year, shortly after President Emmerson Mnangagwa, and his deputy Constantino Chiwenga, paid a visit and offered him a pension, pledged to pay his medical bills and gave him ownership of a government house he was staying in.

Harare later provided a state-assisted funeral for Tsvangirai.