Political violence in Zimbabwe ahead of by-elections in less than a month claimed the life of a Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC) supporter in President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s hometown of Kwekwe on Sunday.

Twenty-two others were admitted to Kwekwe General hospital with serious injuries.

According to the Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP), Mboneni Ncube, 35, died upon arrival at the hospital. He is believed to have been a victim of Zanu-PF supporters who waylaid CCC supporters going to a rally addressed by opposition leader Nelson Chamisa.

“Suspected Zanu-PF youths intercepted people in CCC T-shirts who were walking to the rally, and threw stones at them. The skirmishes, about 400m from the venue, resulted in the deceased being stabbed thrice with a sharp object on the back, and died whilst admitted at Kwekwe General Hospital,” the police statement said.

So far, police have arrested 16 people.

A suspect who “inflicted the fatal blow” was on the run, police said.

Before the attack, the suspected Zanu-PF supporters – according to the police – infiltrated the CCC rally and caused chaos.

The attack came a day after Zanu-PF’s rally in the same town where Vice President Constantino Chiwenga told party supporters that they would crush Chamisa and his party like lice “on a flat stone and then flatten it to the extent that even flies will not even make a meal out of it”.

Chiwenga also warned that “you can’t oppose every time. Even the best thing can’t be opposed”, comparing Zanu-PF to the biblical Goliath.

Estelle Adams-Stone, a CCC member, has since launched a Go Fund Me campaign to raise money for Ncube’s burial.

“This is a fundraiser to give him a decent send-off as his family doesn’t have the required resources,” she said.

Addressing the press on Monday, CCC leader Nelson Chamisa said his party has not retaliated to Zanu-PF’s attacks because he leads a generation of peaceful youths.

“Brutality is seasonal, violence is not permanent, power is temporal, you are your own enemy- (ZanuPF). Change is coming. That’s why you are behaving like this… we want a fight of ideas and civilisation, not where stones are being used. You say you are Goliath, I am David,” Chamisa said.

On Friday, CCC supporters were teargassed at a rally in Gokwe, a rural post 100km from Kwekwe. Chamisa said it was a “premeditated attack” by Zanu-PF.