#PROVINCIAL OUTLOOK Matabeleland South More intimidation The intimidation of villagers and the politicization of aid continued and in one case at Sun Yet Sen a Zanu PF activist Muziwakhe Mlalazi threatened to invite the Zanu PF aligned National Youth Service (NYS) militia to the community to beat up CCC supporters. He further said that CCC should not be allowed to hold any meeting in the area. This case was similar to the one recorded at Coleen Bawn, in Gwanda Central where a group of four unidentified people assaulted a CCC supporter for wearing the party’s regalia. In another case, on 25 February, at Sanzukwi a Zanu PF activist Amos Dube denied food aid to an MRP member. After turning away the MRP member, Dube later misrepresented to those who had benefitted that the food, which was from the government’s Department of Social Welfare, was from the Zanu PF party and therefore anyone who supported other political parties was supposed to receive aid from that party. Manicaland Looting of inputs In Manicaland Province, just as in Mashonaland Central, politicization of aid dominated the list of human rights violations in the province, with the most cases happening in Buhera and Nyanga districts, where only two House of Assembly seats Dangamvura/Chikanga and Mutasa South. - are being contested. One example is in Zvinavashe village 7 and Mtaurwa village 9, where Zanu PF local leadership tampered with the list of households supposed to benefit from inputs and while the government employees, that is, the Agricultural Extension officers, noted the omission of some names, they referred to village secretaries who indicated they had included anyone. It was only discovered that perceived opposition supporters were the ones omitted after Zanu PF local leaders hijacked the process. There was a similar case at Baron Downs Farm in Nyanga South, where farm inputs were allegedly looted by Agricultural Extension Officers Caroline Mandikonza and Joseph Nzara and a Zanu PF area chairperson Slay Mhandu.

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