After his rallies in Hwange and Victoria Falls were banned on Sunday, Tsvangirai yesterday changed his approach from public rallies to walking about in the opposition stronghold of Bulawayo’s restless townships in a bid mobilise voters.
Accompanied by his party’s campaign team, Tsvangirai visited poor and politically explosive townships such as Makhokhoba, Nkulumane, Phelandaba, Luveve, Magwegwe and parts of the central business district.
Wherever he went, the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) leader was mobbed by excited crowds urging him to “finish off” Mugabe in the runoff.
“Welcome to Bulawayo, Mr President,” shouted one of the supporters as they rushed to greet Tsvangirai, who looked pleased and confident despite the ban on his rallies and the arrest of scores of party activists.
“We want you to finish off Mugabe on June 27,” they said.
Tsvangirai has been finding it difficult to campaign since his return home two weeks ago after more that a month of operating from Botswana and SA.
Zimbabwe is gripped by worsening political violence, which has claimed scores of lives, mostly of MDC activists.
The MDC and human rights organisations accuse the security forces, army, police and intelligence units of waging a covert but brutal campaign against the opposition in a bid to save Mugabe’s political career.
Mugabe, who is free to campaign wherever he wishes, has ordered a “warlike” approach to what he has described as a “do-or-die” campaign. He said the looming poll would take place in “circumstances of an all-out war”.
This was a signal for his militant supporters to use violent tactics. Attacks on and arrests of opposition leaders and activists, civic leaders, journalists, lawyers, diplomats and ordinary people accused of dissent have created a climate of fear, a little more than three weeks before the runoff.
MDC faction leader Arthur Mutambara was arrested on Sunday and charged with “publishing statements prejudicial to the state and for contempt of court” after he recently wrote a newspaper article criticising Mugabe for his government’s handling of elections in March, which the veteran ruler and his Zanu (PF) party lost.
The elections were beset by controversy after the electoral commission failed to release presidential poll results for more than a month.
The editor of the Standard, Davison Maruziva, who published Mutambara’s opinion piece, was also arrested. MDC MP Eric Matinenga, who is also the chancellor of Zimbabwe’s Anglican Church and a prominent barrister, was arrested on Saturday in Buhera for allegedly “inciting violence”.
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At least 74 MDC supporters were arrested, bringing to more than 500 the number of MDC supporters picked up since March. Fourteen members of Women of Zimbabwe Arise were arrested in Harare for protesting. The MDC says 50 of its supporters have been killed since the March 29 election.
The MDC is being blocked from reaching some rural areas, Mugabe’s former strongholds, and denied access to the public media, making its campaign difficult.
“They are trying to disable and throw our campaign into disarray,” MDC spokesman Nelson Chamisa said. “But this is only making us more determined and the people are more resolute to vote out Mugabe this time round than ever before.”
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