Executive Summary
Clientelism, political intimidation and vote buying in Zimbabwe have become a structural
phenomenon, part of the local political culture as demonstrated in the by-elections that have
taken place this year. In most cases campaign irregularities are targeted at the urban and
rural poor who have limited access to resources like land and basic commodities like food.
The Norton pre-election environment points to a disturbing trend of vote buying and
intimidation which is a dangerous precursor to the 2018 elections. The trend has been noted
in most of the by-elections that have taken place between 2013 and 2016. The by-elections
were largely necessitated by the MDC-T booting out members of parliament that had
defected to People’s Democratic Party (PDP) and dismissal of Zanu PF legislators that were
accused of joining Joice Mujuru’s faction.
ZPP has, through its monitoring mechanisms, realised that some of the elections have not
been marked by overt physical violence but almost all have recorded a large number of
cases of intimidation, harassment and discrimination prior to a by-election. ZPP has noted
that the use of intimidation has been juxtaposed to clientelism and vote buying. The ruling
Zanu PF has created and sustained a complex web through which ruling party officials (as
patrons) offer land and food to voters (clients) in exchange for votes and political support.
Voters who share opposing views or are suspected to be sharing opposing views are denied
access to land and food. Zanu PF officials in most cases took advantage of their access to
food aid, agricultural inputs and residential stands to lure voters. This was the case in the
Norton by-election where independent candidate Temba Mliswa won the election against
Ronald Chindedza of Zanu PF and David Choga from the National Constitutional Assembly
(NCA) in an election marked by interparty violence, intimidation, discrimination, abduction
and assault. Prior to the election, ZPP noted various cases of vote buying through the use of
food aid and residential stands. Food aid and residential stands were distributed and
witnessed by senior government and ruling party officials and benefitted only Zanu PF
supporters.
The by-elections across the country have set a bad precedent ahead of the 2018 elections
and have also heightened political tensions. Previous elections have been characterized by
overt violence but the covert forms of violence which characterized some by-elections are
equally worrying as the intimidation can escalate to open violence. The use of residential
stands and food also distorts the electoral field and denies those in need (but with differing
political views) equal access to much needed resources.
In spite of the violations related to the Norton by-election, ZPP recorded a sharp drop of 655
victims of politically motivated violence from 1320 in September and 1416 in August. The
drop resonates with the June and July statistics that stood at 356 and 647 victims
respectively. The violations documented at provincial level also show that there has been a
decrease. During the month of October nine provinces reported less than 30 cases with
Mashonaland West reporting the highest violations ranging between 30 and 60 cases. In
August, however, seven provinces reported less than 30 violations and in September there
were six. During August and September Harare had the highest violations as over 90 cases
were reported during both months.
While the victims by political party have not remained constant, MDC-T has had its members
as the majority of victims. In August MDC-T had 13.5% victims and in October the number
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