#POLITRICKS
“If Zanu PF ever loses, expect us to chop your arms off. We will not
get arrested since the police belong to us the Zanu PF people”
In January, Zanu PF local leaders
forced villagers to attend the
party’s meetings ahead of the
primary elections to select Zanu
PF candidates to contest in the
March 26 by-elections.
Zanu PF ward and district leaders
used the same methods of
harassment, intimidation and
assault.
The party has for long abused its
influence in government to
manipulate aid distribution
processes to deny aid to
deserving beneficiaries who do
not support the party.
As the party drew towards the
primary elections, it held several
meetings in the respective wards
and constituencies to mobilise
those who were to choose the
party’s candidates for the March
26 by-election.
Zanu PF once again used its
coercive methods to mobilise
people, and during the meetings,
officials threatened attendees –
especially in rural areas- that if
they failed to vote Zanu PF they
would be removed from social
welfare and agricultural inputs
lists of beneficiaries.
This happened under
circumstances where those who
chose not to support Zanu PF in
the past had been denied
agricultural inputs support under
the government’s Pfumvudza
agricultural inputs scheme.
At one of the meetings, held on
16 January at Siyawamwaya
Business Centre in Murehwa
North, a Zanu PF ‘coordinator’,
Munyaradzi Munetsi allegedly
threatened other supporters with
violence, if the Nelson Chamisa
led opposition party, now known
as the Citizens Coalition for
Change (CCC) was to win the
council seat for Murehwa North
Ward 8.
Reminding people of the 2008
state and Zanu PF-sponsored
wave of political violence, where
over 200 opposition supporters
were killed and thousands
injured and tens of thousands
displaced, Munetsi told
supporters at a meeting his party
would go on an orgy of violence
where they would chop off the
hands of those who would have
voted for the opposition.
“Zanu PF ikangodyiwa tarisirai
ma long and ma short sleeves, isu
hatisungwi nekuti mapurisa
ndeedu isu maZanu (If Zanu PF
ever loses, expect us to chop your
arms off. We will not get arrested
since the police belong to us the
Zanu PF people”
It should be noted however
that in 2008, while the long
and short sleeve methods
were spoken about no single
victim presented with such
Such threats cannot be taken
lightly for a number of reasons,
the first one being that indeed, in
2008, following the loss of the
then Zanu PF leader Robert
Mugabe to the now late
opposition leader Morgan
Tsvangirai, those suspected to
have voted for the opposition
suffered gross acts of violence.
Secondly, the police and other
state security agents have
continued to fail to display
impartiality and having a Zanu PF
official confirming that the police
are in their pocket should be
condemned, and the police
should come out in public to
exonerate themselves from such
reckless claims meant to
intimidate citizens and scare
them from making their political
choices freely in accordance with
the Constitution of Zimbabwe,
which in Section 58, states that
every person has the right to
freedom of assembly and
association, and the right not to
assemble or associate with others
and that no person may be
compelled to belong to an
association or to attend a
meeting or gathering.
In addition to intimidation and
harassment, the party employed
subtle coercive vote buying using
government-issued agricultural
inputs.
For example, on 20 January, a
Zanu PF Ward Chairperson Reny
Manyara, after forcing villagers to
convene at Mubaira Growth Point
in Mhondoro, he reportedly doled
out government input scheme
fertilizer and said it was in
‘appreciation for their coming’
and asked for votes in return.
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