#PROVINCIAL OUTLOOK
Harare
City of kakistocracy
The levels of Zanu PF and
government’s political intolerance
of opposition political parties –
especially the newly formed
Citizens’ Coalition for Change
reached alarming levels in
February.
The party, in collusion with the
police, sought to stifle campaigns
by the CCC and used the same old
tricks of arbitrary arrests,
harassment, intimidation, among
others.
The first major incident was the
setting up of tight roadblocks
along roads leading to Machipisa
Shopping Centre in Highfields,
where CCC leader Nelson Chamisa
was due to hold a rally on February
20 to launch the party’s campaign
for the March 26 by-elections.
Chamisa was due to address his
first gathering after making a clean
break from the MDC brand and
introducing a new party name and
fresh colours and branding and
this made the Highfields rally a
test ground for his support.
This happened as 13 CCC activists
had been arrested two days earlier
for simply being in a vehicle,
wearing their party regalia, singing
and driving around Harare city
centre, in what has been termed a
car rally.
On Valentine’s Day, armed police
officers arrested and briefly
detained CCC vice-president
Tendai Biti and his aide, Emmanuel
Gumbo, and took them to Harare
Central Police Station’s Law and
Order Section where they were
released without charge. The police
allegedly arrested Biti because
members of the public had cheered
him at Letombo Shops in Msasa.
As if the police action against CCC
people was not enough, Zanu PF
activists also mounted a systematic
attack on CCC supporters and in
some cases, anyone wearing the
party’s yellow colours.
On 16 February, Zanu PF youths
led by one Nyamuzihwa assaulted
an CCC activist Bright Majoni, a
vendor at Makoni Shopping Centre
in Chitungwiza town near Harare.
Majoni’s crime was wearing his
CCC party regalia.
On 18 February 2022, DJ Vaneldo a
known CCC supporter in
Highfields and his family, suffered
injuries after Zanu PF supporters
attacked them at their home.
On the other hand, ZPP recorded a
number of cases where people in
and around Harare had been
forced to attend the Zanu PF rally
held in Epworth on 12 February.
ZPP has audio recordings of
vendors and other informal traders
who had received all sorts of
threats to their trade if they failed
to attend the rally, where dozens
of State-owned ZUPCO buses and
school buses hauled people from
many parts of the country.
In addition, police officers and
soldiers who were part of the
security teams at the Zanu PF
Epworth rally, assaulted people
who attempted to leave the venue
before the end of the rally.
Harare was one of the hotspots of
politically motivated human rights
violations and this was largely due
to the fact that it is the stronghold
of the CCC, as revealed by the
record crowd that attended the
CCC rally in Highfields.
This popularity increases the cases
of police or Zanu PF activists
clamping down on CCC supporters.
On the other hand, Zanu PF is
claiming to be making inroads into
Harare and hopes to win all the
seats in the by-elections and this is
putting pressure on the ruling
party, which, as history has shown,
easily resorts to violence.
As a result of this high
contestation, Harare recorded 14
cases of politically motivated
human rights violations.
Midlands
Machetes and spears
In addition to the machete violence
targeting CCC supporters at a rally
in Kwekwe, the Midlands Province,
witnessed several cases of
politicization and looting of
government aid.
For example, in Ward 18 of
Shurugwi South constituency, a
truckload of fertilizer was
delivered at Musasa Primary and
when people had gathered to
receive the inputs, it was
discovered that at least 10
beneficiaries from each village had
been removed from the list, and
the fertilizer was, as ZPP
discovered through its networks,
diverted by the Ward councillor
only identified as Kapeta and a
government field officer, Ruth
Ndana.
The two allegedly abused their
influence in Zanu PF and
government to loot an unspecified
amount of fertilisers.
In Kwekwe and Gweru, while Zanu
PF campaigned freely, the CCC’s
attempts to hold car rallies were
suppressed mostly by the police.
In Kwekwe Central as well, a car
belonging to CCC aspiring
candidate Judith Tobaiwa was
attacked by suspected Zanu PF
supporters, and to this date no
arrests have been made.