SW Radio Africa news - The Independent Voice of Zimbabwe
With just 15 days left before the July 31st poll, ZANU PF supporters are threatening MDC supporters with a repeat of the 2008 election violence.
The party has been employing various intimidation tactics, particularly in the Masvingo and Mashonaland provinces, where ZANU PF youths and soldiers have been threatening to kill those who will not vote for the party.
Peace campaigners Heal Zimbabwe Trust, who monitor incidents of violence across the country, say that in some areas such as Chipinge South, war vets have set up an intimidation base at Gondwi Primary School.
In the same Ward 29, a Colonel Mudyahoto is also said to be going round the community telling MDC-T supporters to remove their posters as his party is enraged with them.
Also in Chipinge South’s Chitepo Village, Elias Madhlazi and Simon Madhlazi are reportedly threatening villagers with violence, should ZANU PF lose the elections.
“In the Greenfall community (former Arda-Chisumbanje), Enock Porusingazi is said to have told MDC T supporters that violence of the same magnitude as happened in 2008 will be unleashed on them if they do not vote for ZANU PF.
Still in Chipinge South, Chief Karakadzai Madhuku has told his subjects that they will “see hell” soon after the elections if ZANU PF does not win.
HealZimbabwe recorded similar threats across Masvingo where the situation is said to be tense. In Gutu West Mudavanhu Mudzamiri, a soldier based at 4.2 barracks, plus ZANU PF youth chairman Kudakwashe Manjengwa and Headman Albert Nyanda told villagers at Gapare Business Centre “that if they still want to live, they should support ZANU PF.”
In Shamva South, in Mashonaland Central, aspiring MDC-T councillor Shadreck Sibanda had his house and granary burnt to ashes by suspected ZANU PF supporters on July 8th, for being in possession of his party’s regalia.
On the same day, MDC-T supporter Gerald Muzanenhamo was attacked and injured for refusing to disclose names of his fellow MDC-T supporters.
On July 13th, violence monitoring group the Zimbabwe Peace Project Trust (ZPPT) reported that four members of the MDC led by Professor Welshman Ncube were waylaid by ZANU PF terror group Chipangano.
The ZPP said the four were on their way to Gokwe from a rally in Chikomba when Chipangano pounced on them, accusing them of disturbing the ZANU PF re-election campaign.
“The Chipangano members ordered the shaken MDC activists to surrender their campaign material, which included 60 T-shirts, cash, posters and other visibility materials,” read part of the ZPPT report on Facebook.
Observers say that despite the increasing levels of intimidation, violence has so far been muted compared to 2008 when hundreds of people were killed, with HealZim saying it had participated in 176 memorial services related to the 2008 violence.
Rashid Mahiya, the director at HealZim, attributed the surge in intimidation in Masvingo and Mashonaland provinces to the rallies that have been going on in the areas.
“Although political temperature is bound to rise as we approach the election date, what is happening in this case is that some parties are reading defeat in the attendance figures at their rivals’ rallies,” he said.
He added: “In 2008, more people were killed in the Masvingo and Mashonaland provinces than in others, and ZANU PF youths are trying to use the memory of those events to try and frighten people into voting for the party.
“We hope that there won’t be another run-off this time around, as that is the time we are likely to see an all-out outbreak of violence,” Mahiya added.