Manicaland
The intimidation and coercion of the traditional leadership to mobilise all the
villagers under their jurisdiction to support Zanu PF continued in September, as
was the case in August 2022. The Zanu PF second secretaries seem to have been
assigned by their party to work on the traditional leaders in different parts of the
country. Following the nationwide program that Kembo C.D Mohadi had
undertaken during August, Vice President Constantine Chiwenga followed suit in
September, especially in Mutare North. Traditional leaders were called to a
meeting to meet the Vice President on 15 September 2022 at Bazeley Bridge in
Mwandiambira village, ward 12. The agenda of this meeting was to allegedly
encourage the traditional leaders to mobilise for the ruling Zanu PF for the 2023
elections. Before the meeting, the traditional leaders received food hampers from
the party. With these events, traditional leaders are likely to continue to be used
by Zanu PF in the forthcoming harmonised elections to violate people's political
rights and personal security.
The seeming partisan issuing of national identity documents was also among the
provincial highlights recorded during September. Zanu PF members continued to
attempt to hijack national programs for their party's benefit while side-lining
opposition parties' members. People in the rural areas struggled to travel to
centres where the identity documents were being issued as the blitz had
deliberately omitted their areas. Zanu PF mobilised to have people ferried to
registration centres and those not known members of their party were given
conditions that they will only be ferried to obtain the national identity documents
if they pledged their allegiance to Zanu PF. Zanu PF also tried to coerce pastors to
mobilise for them. A case was recorded on 2 September in Buhera South Ward 33
where a villager approached a pastor's homestead saying he had been sent by the
Zanu PF chairperson. He informed the pastor that he was supposed to mobilise
congregants to be under the Zanu PF banner. Then they would be taken to the
Registrar General's office at Murambinda, some 120km away, to collect national
identity documents. The pastor declined the offer, leading to the messenger
issuing threats and accusing him of being an opposition supporter.
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