village heads. It is alleged that opposition youths are being discriminated against in these
projects. The launch, a few months ago, of another organization led by former Member of
Parliament for Hurungwe West, Temba Mliswa, known as Youth Advocacy for Reform and
Democracy(YARD) has also added to the conflict-ladden climate in the area.
Highlights:
On 6 February 2016, Election Resource Centre (ERC) coordinator in Sanyati was
approached by police officers asking him about the ERC meeting held at ARDA, and
questioning whether the organisation had permission to operate in the area. ERC
director, Tawanda Chimhini, confirmed to ZPP that police had approached meetings
by community action committees, which had been set by ERC to enable communities
to hold their elected officials to account. Chimhini said the police wanted his
organisation to have a Memorandum of Understanding with the local government, the
legality of which ERC challenged. They (police) then asked to see ERC registration
documents which ERC presented to them before letting the matter go and allowing
the meetings to continue.
On 7 February 2016 at Mamina Business Centre, Ward 5, Mhondoro Ngezi, Taurai
Matunga allegedly harassed Tapiwa Murugweni (not real name) (56) on allegations
that his son was involved in ZimPF activities. He was accused of supporting Joice
Mujuru while he was a council worker and a Zanu-PF supporter. He was told that he
got that job through Zanu-PF so he should remain loyal.
On 12 February 2016, in Chegutu East, Elias Mudewairi an MDC-T supporter of
Ward 23 was labelled a sell-out when he was visited by some friends from Australia.
He was labelled a sell-out by David Ncube of Zanu PF. The Australian visitors were
asked to name the person who gave them permission to come to Zimbabwe. The
village head of Ward 23 was not happy to see white people in the area and was told
that the visitors said they had received permission from the government. It was after
confirmation that permission was from the government the people became friendly to
the visitors.
On 16 February 2016, Joseph Zvitiki, a Zanu-PF chairperson for Ward 11, Sanyati
held a meeting with village heads and told them not to hold meetings with NGOs.
This follows a meeting that was held by ERC at Roman Catholic Church. The
meeting by some MDC-T members among other people, and so it was labelled an
MDC-T meeting.
On 17 February 2016, Pastor Mwandiambila of Prayer Champions an interdenominational prayer group was summoned to Pfupajena Police Station following a
prophecy he had given during one of the services. It is reported that the service was
done at Mwandiambila’s house and it is during that service that he prophesied that the
government was going to collapse. The police banned the prayer group from
conducting any activities. The police could not be reached for comment.
In Zvimba West at Kaondera Secondary School in Murombedzi, Ward 9, school
development committee chairperson, Timothy Zunde (not real name), an MDC-T
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