Cases of state-sponsored political violence and police harassment have increased in the run-up to a constitutional referendum, but exiled political activists and officials said this week that this “calculated ploy” to scare voters would not work.
Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai’s mainstream MDC recently made an official complaint to the regional Southern African Development Community, after police ransacked offices of civil society organisations, abused feminist protesters and burnt to death a child, in an ugly rise in political intolerance by Mugabe’s party.
David Magagula, national spokesman of the secessionist Mthwakazi Liberation Movement, said the age-old Zanu (PF) method of trying to arm-twist people into voting had lost its relevance.
“People can see through this strategy because it has been used over and over again,” said Magagula. “While we condemn violence in all its forms, we have not forgotten that Zanu (PF) has always relied on it. Even the adage ‘Zanu ndeyeropa’ spells that out clearly, but I don’t think it will work this time. People are tired of having to lose life and limb every time there is an election and they know the only way to stop that will be by voting Mugabe and his party out.”
On Mugabe’s recent calls for police to arrest perpetrators of violence, Magagula said people should not be fooled. “Mugabe is the chief architect of all this violence and people must not be fooled by his speeches,” he said.
Post published in: News