It was reported that there was a lot of intimidation taking place in Mutare West
being perpetrated by Zanu PF members and House of Assembly aspiring
candidates. It was reported that when the candidates gathered and addressed
people on 13 September, they said Zanu PF would never surrender the
constituency to the opposition as it funded the activities of the party since there
were plenty of diamonds. State security agents were allegedly patrolling the 11
villages telling people of ‘short sleeves’ that voting was a waste of time as Zanu PF
was never going to surrender power. The aspiring candidates were identified as
Manengureni from ward 28 and a Mafararikwa from ward 16.
In Chimanimani West, ward 2, it was reported that the Zanu PF party had started
door to door campaigns. In Mhandarume, ward 2, the program started on 14
September 2022 with Washington Gondo leading the campaign. They were
allegedly intimidating villagers who were thinking of not voting for Zanu PF. They
were also said to have been asking some questions and recording the responses.
Some of the questions were as follows: Did one register to vote? What would one
want the president to do for them and their community? Would they be voting for
Zanu PF in 2023? According to some residents, the campaign was targeting
mainly opposition CCC supporters. The exercise, though they were calling it voter
education, was intimidating. Some people also claimed that they were told that if
CCC wins in ward 2 in 2023, soldiers would be deployed to assault people.
On 7 September, in Rujeko, Masvingo Urban, it was reported that Zanu PF
supporters were at each other’s throat in a case of intra-party squabbles. These
took place after they graduated from the short courses which were introduced by
the First Lady Auxillia Mnangagwa as a campaign strategy ahead of the 2023
elections. The program was supposed to be attended by every resident but it was
attended by Zanu PF supporters only and a number of women were turned away
as they were allegedly not Zanu PF party card holders, but accused of belonging
to the opposition CCC party. After they graduated they were now making
dishwashers, and others were waiting to go for nurse aid attachment. Only a few
were selected depending on who one knew in the Zanu PF party structures and
the rest were being left out, so this was said to have led to intra-party violence
within the party.
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