Still in Mt Darwin East, in one of the most bizarre cases, Zanu PF activists in Mt Darwin East
have been calling on an Apostolic Sect to shut down its church over allegations that the
church has CCC supporters among its membership.
ZPP is informed that the local Zanu PF leadership sent a message advising the church
leadership to halt gatherings over the issue and on 27 May, the sect failed to convene its
service as Zanu PF supporters had besieged the church shrine and went on to hold a rally
there.
At Madondo Village in Muzarabani North, Zanu PF youths organised a ward meeting where
they told villagers that the party would not hesitate to burn homes, assault and kill
opposition supporters if the party fails to win the 2023 elections.
These are not just coincidences because at Zaranyika Village Ward 5 in Murehwa North,
Zanu PF activists torched a CCC supporter Temba’s (name altered) house after accusing him
of wearing CCC regalia in the ward. A Zanu PF youth Innocent Nyamadzawo had approached
Temba and told him to remove and burn the CCC T-shirt he was wearing, and when he
resisted, Nyamadzawo dragged Temba to Zanu PF Ward Councillor Shadreck Chinake who
forcibly removed and threw the T-shirt into a toilet pit. On 4 May, after a series of threats
Temba’s house was allegedly set on fire by Zanu PF activists. No arrests have happened yet
and this is despite the victim having given the police officers a list of suspects.
In Murehwa North, Zanu PF activists led by Taurai Chindowa, armed with a ‘voters’ roll,’
conducted door to door visits intimidating and harassing villagers claiming that, “Zanu PF
will know villagers who will vote for opposition parties as they will refer to the voters roll”.
The voters roll used to intimidate villagers was illegally acquired by Zanu PF activists during
the by-elections.
In addition to using the intimidation tactics, the ruling party has also used its influence in
government to manipulate national processes to its advantage.
In one of the well-publicised cases, first published by the Masvingo Mirror Zanu PF bussed
its supporters in a Mutendi High School bus at night and proceeded to the Civil Registry
Office in Masvingo where its supporters allegedly acquired national IDs unprocedurally in
the dead of the night.
The Masvingo Mirror captured the incident and made live calls to the District and Provincial
Registrars, who both refused to answer questions on why people were getting National IDs
at night.
ZPP also recorded similar cases across the country and in one of those, at Chatsworth, in
Gutu West, a Zanu PF ward chairperson identified as Changweda allegedly disturbed a
national identity document issuing process after she arrived at the centre and forced the
Registrar General’s officials to attend to the Zanu PF supporters she had brought ahead of
everyone else.
In some parts of Buhera West, some Zanu PF officials are banning the issuance of National
IDs to young people who do not have a letter of declaration from Zanu PF. In an audio
recording of one of the meetings held in the constituency, one Brighton, who is a Zanu PF
youth chairperson said it was the young people who were bringing in CCC into the area.
He went on to order the ban of meetings by churches and NGOs in all the wards of Buhera
West.
Listen to the audio on next page
The attempts to close down democratic space, as stated earlier in this report, are happening
at a wider scale, with active involvement of some of the most senior members of the party.
For example, Zanu PF’s Second Secretary, Kembo Mohadi held a meeting with traditional
leaders at Plumtree town offices where he told the traditional leaders to mobilize and
campaign for Zanu PF and to fully participate in activities of the party ahead of the 2023
elections.
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