rural communities continue to take advantage of the vulnerable and manipulate the aid to settle political
scores and to garner political support. As a result, some citizens have been denied the so much
needed aid on the basis of their political persuasion. Some village heads have used their traditional
power to benefit unfairly from the availed aid, thereby disadvantaging some community members.
Unfortunately, in some cases, community
members have taken the law into their hands
by assaulting such perpetrators who are bent
on denying them their basic right to food
although assurances have been made that
no citizen will go hungry.
Such cases of assault fit well into the adage
“a hungry man is an angry man”; hunger
does not know political affiliation and
everyone must access aid regardless of their
A Headman aligned to Zanu PF
identified as Makisi in Mashuma, Ward 17
Hurungwe West under Chief Nyamhunga was
assaulted by villagers on 24 January 2020. It
is alleged that, during a social welfare maize
grain distribution at Mashuma business
centre, Headman Makisi was bashed by an
angry mob after he had replaced a female
villager from the beneficiaries list with his
wife’s name. This did not go down well with
the woman who then shoved the Headman,
when Makisi tried to retaliate other
beneficiaries intervened and assaulted him.
background and political affiliation.
The use of state apparatus such as the police to target opposition party members is a clear indicator
for the urgent need for security sector reform. The Zimbabwe Constitution in Section 219 (3) clearly
stipulates that the police service must be non- partisan and national in character. The MDC Harare
Province Deputy Youth Treasurer and Epworth Councillor Kudakwashe Chatambudza was arrested a
day before the State of the Nation Address by the MDC president on allegations of making petrol
bombs; only to be released without any charges preferred against him after the intervention of the
Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR).
The complicity and partisan nature of the ZRP continues unabated and is fuelled by the conflation of
the party and the state. This was evidenced in the police’s lack of procedural action to the destruction
of tuck shops and warehouses belonging to MDC supporters. The targeted properties were destroyed
by Zanu PF supporters on 22 January at Magaba home industry in Mbare in response to the MDC
President’s SONA. In a shocking move the police arrested victims who had approached them to report
the attack and property destruction.