2.3 Povincial
Highlights
Masvingo
“Political ends first”
ZIMBABWE PEACE PROJECT
MONTHLY MONITORING REPORT
JULY 2021
In Masvingo province ZanuPF continued to conduct
physical gatherings in defiance of government’s
restrictions with no consequences.
The party organized meetings and campaigns in Bikita
East and Masvingo West.
In all these, villagers were not given much of a choice
and had to attend the gatherings for political
protection. By not attending, they risked being
targeted as members of the opposition and the
consequences include physical harm and removal from
the list of beneficiaries of government aid.
This is because ZanuPF has fully manipulated the
social welfare food aid process such that it has become
more of a political party process than a government
one.
In an incident in Bikita East, one of the ZanuPF
meetings was addressed by one Rukweza Muchaya,
who promised the over 40 gathered ZanuPF
supporters that they were to receive any aid that was
to be delivered by government soon and that no
opposition member would to benefit.
Midlands
“COVID a Zanu thing”
There was heightened political activity in the province,
notably in Gokwe Sesame, Gumunyu and Mberengwa
East areas.
In Gokwe Sesame, ZanuPF members were gathering
people to campaign for the Member of Parliament for
the 2023 election. ZanuPF activists Tongesai Munyere
and Tinashe Masvingise mobilized people and
convened gatherings in preparation for contesting in
the ZanuPF primary elections.
Information gaps on the COVID-19 vaccine still existed
and were so glaring in Mberengwa that some of the
villagers there believed that COVID-19 was ‘just a
ZanuPF political gimmick and that the disease did not
exist.’ With little information, villagers went on about
their business and even expressed annoyance over the
closure of schools. ZPP noted that the villagers were
frustrated to an extent of perceiving that the
government was oppressing them and equating it to11
the Ian Smith regime or even worse.