widows as noted in this report in areas such as Murehwa where some elderly people were
denied this assistance because their children are members of the opposition. In Marondera
West and Sanyati, among other areas elderly people and people living with disabilities were
denied input assistance for one reason of political incorrectness or other. A widow in Mutoko
East was denied food relief on the grounds that her late husband used to be a member of the
Movement for Democratic Change (MDC-T). That these are vulnerable populations is being
ignored at the altar of political bias and political intolerance.
Such an insensitive squeeze on vulnerable people in order to coerce them into toeing the
Zanu-PF line of supporting no other party but the ruling one, has seen many languish in
hunger with the express dilemma being that if you want to access government or First Lady
assistance you must first buy a ruling party membership card. Going at US$3 each,
membership to the ruling party is exorbitant to most rural folk, a majority of whom live on
less than a dollar a day. Yet, Zanu-PF is unrelenting on the pushing of its membership cards
on the masses across the country, particularly in the Manicaland Province where this reports
notes that there has been an increased drive in membership mobilisations.
Intra-party conflict continues on in Zanu-PF with Manicaland being the most affected in
November. Factional divisions are reported as one side supporting the First Lady and the
other Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa.
Fear of hunger is obviously used as a weapon of manipulation by the ruling party resulting in
most people faced with hungry children and other dependants being forced to make decisions
using their stomachs.
This month's report also carries as a special feature an excerpt from a study which was
commissioned by Zimbabwe Peace Project (ZPP) on Fear which sheds light on the types of
fear prevailing in Zimbabwe, the impact as well as the instigators of it. This report also
carries an interview with David Rodhi Takaruza, Chief of Protocol for Transform Zimbabwe
party which was formed in 2013. In the interview Takaruza makes the point that Zanu-PF
through various entities, particularly the police, instils and promotes fear in the populace.
By and large this report shines the spotlight on a myriad of violations, such as physical
assault, discrimination, harassment, malicious damage to property, among others, as they
continue to be used to deny citizens rights such as Freedom of Assembly and Association;
Freedom to Demonstrate and Freedom of Expression, Equality and non-discrimination as part
of the declaration of rights as espoused in the Constitution of Zimbabwe.
The struggle for civil, political and socio-economic rights for the generality of Zimbabweans
continues on.
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