The party, so infamous for violence against opponents in the past and at present, thinks it is clever by trying to convince us that it is so desperate to know who supports it by hoisting party flags, so to speak, at people’s dwellings.
All along, I assumed that Zanu (PF) had structures that made it easy to know who its members are. Like any other political party here, it should have cells, branches, wards, districts, all the way to the national level. Surely, people in a cell would know each other, considering their geographical smallness. Cell members would be able to brief the next level about the membership base, etc.
Zanu (PF), again like any other party, has a database of its supposed supporters, who furnish their residential details when they buy party cards.
It is therefore a waste of resources and time—not that it matters much to Zanu (PF)—to label houses as a way of getting a sense of who supports it. In fact, that would betray the untidiness in that party. It is clear that the real intention of branding houses lies elsewhere. The intended objective is the direct opposite; Zanu (PF), by labelling houses, wants to know who DOES NOT support it.
The strategy is two-fold, first: it is a brazen yet desperate attempt at fundraising. Voters know what the party is capable of doing against those who do not toe its line. Many have lost life and limb and the memories are still fresh in their minds. Thus, they will scramble to buy party cards to protect themselves against marauding party activists – in the process boosting Zanu (PF)’s coffers. Secondly, the party is deliberately seeking to instill fear in the electorate. It wants to cow voters, but subtly. Many will recall what happened during the run-up to the June 2008 presidential run-off, when people were forced to submit the serial numbers of their voting slips to ward chairpersons.
The immediate purpose of that campaign was to identify those who had not voted for Robert Mugabe. The party wanted to send a message to electors that Big Brother was watching, and Big Brother would get them.
As a result, voters were left with no choice but to vote for Mugabe. They had already seen enough of the short and long sleeves—an allusion to the methods used to chop off Zanu (PF)’s arms by the wrist or shoulder. They had seen enough of the murders that had taken place across the country, and didn’t want to be next.
This is intimidation – and intimidation is the worst form of rigging. It flies in the face of democracy and makes voting an empty phenomenon, for it militates against the tenet of free choice. My greatest fear is that the branding strategy will stoke violence. It will pit neighbour against neighbour, brother against brother, as happened in 2008. It will create a culture of animosity among people during the election period.
I foresee a situation whereby, during rallies and political vigils, Zanu (PF) militia will target houses that don’t display the party’s stickers, frog-march hapless residents to their gatherings, and, worse still, beat them up or even kill them for not supporting the party.
This is what has happened in the past. Old habits die hard. During the war against colonialism, guerillas, mostly from the then Zanu, raided houses and abducted people to their rallies. They called it mass mobilisation.
In the period just before the 1980 general elections, this trend repeated itself. I was young then, but my memories of how the “boys”—the returning guerillas— commandeered people to their rallies, are still vivid. There was so much fear in the air. Of course, the people did not mind much then, considering the euphoria of impending independence.
Almost 33 years down the line, Zanu (PF) has not discarded its bad ways. It still believes that the best means to win elections is to instill fear in the electorate. What a shame! I urge the local human rights and pro-democracy sector, SADC and the international community to move quickly and start election observing and monitoring well ahead of the actual voting days.
It does not make sense to deploy observers and monitors a week or so before elections and evacuate days after, because the electoral process is not just about casting votes. It entails complex dynamics that include creating a conducive polling environment, which has to be nurtured well before voting takes place. For feedback, please write to majonitt@gmail.com
Post published in: Opinions & Analysis