requires many details from the caller. The students suspect that they are probably
being registered to vote.
Mashonaland West
Chaotic Zanu-PF elections were reported in the month of November in Mashonaland
West. Some were ongoing cases from the previous month, in October, that had not been
resolved. Elections were cancelled in October at Benhura area in Mhondoro Ngezi and
still failed to take place on 3 November due to misunderstandings between members.
Such intra-party conflict was observed at elections held in Mhondoro Ngezi, Hurungwe
West and Zvimba South. Party members turned against one against another and accused
each other of cheating while some election candidates were rejected.
MDC-T leader, Morgan Tsvangirai, held rallies in Chegutu East and Chinhoyi which
Zanu-PF members tried to interfere with in one way or the other. The rally in Chegutu
East went on smoothly but the local councillor Michael Marecha, believed to be from the
ruling party, allegedly tried to prevent the announcement of the rally in Dombwe schools
by a party representative. In Chinhoyi, Zanu-PF youths allegedly came after Tsvangirai
had already left the venue and harassed people.
Highlights:
At the rally held by MDC president, Tsvangirai, on 6 November 2015 at Alaska
grounds in Chinhoyi, supporters openly sang party songs and enjoyed the
entertainment by Nyau dancers. However, Zanu-PF youths descended on the
venue after Tsvangirai had left. They denounced the MDC-T party and went after
Ward 14 residents who had attended the meeting. The youths tore MDC-T posters
and attacked the people with stones. The situation almost turned chaotic as the
attacked retaliated and the Zanu-PF youths fled and jumped into a truck that drove
away.
On 9 November 2015 at Sengwe, senior members of Zanu-PF in Hurungwe West
who failed to stand in as district candidates had harsh words for interim
candidates. They accused those who qualified to be sell outs. Joseph Sande the
former youth chairperson allegedly prevented the people’s favourite, Georgina
Hoka, from taking the position of women’s league chair. The reason she was not
allowed to take the post is that her late husband was a member of MDC-T. Sande
was defeated by a newcomer as people supposedly did not want him as he is
notorious for being cruel during the elections. He is said to have taken part in the
assault of village heads towards the June 10 elections in 2008. Generally the
women in the area whose husbands are opposition members were denied to
participate in community activities even though their husbands were forced to
surrender their party regalia.
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