Reports indicate that on February 4, 2022 Zanu PF supporters assaulted the driver of the CCC candidate for Kwekwe Central, Judith Tobaiwa and removed campaign posters from Tobaiwa’s vehicle.
As the Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition, we are concerned that this interparty violence, ahead of the March 26 by-elections, points to bloody elections in 2023.
We are disturbed that despite assurances of a new dispensation, Zanu PF has continued to use violence and cohesion during elections.
In August 2021, the Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition reprimanded President Emmerson Mnangagwa after he labeled opposition parties and civil society organisations as terrorist organisations.
Our contention was that President Mnangagwa’s sentiments had the potential to fuel political violence as is being witnessed now ahead of the March 26 by-elections.
Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition reiterates that peace and tolerance are the panacea to free, fair and credible elections and we implore the ruling party, Zanu PF to desist from terror and shock tactics during elections.
We implore the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) to work with the Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP) to investigate this case of political violence without fear or favour and bring the perpetrators to book. It is disturbing that Zanu PF militia continue to act with impunity and this has been fuelling violence against opposition supporters over the years.
The Zimbabwe Human Rights Commission (ZHRC) must investigate all cases of politically motivated violence ahead of the March 26 by-elections and proffer recommendations that would lead to peace during election time.
18 April 1980 bequeathed a right to free and fair elections to all Zimbabweans. And it worries that the former liberation movement is now behaving worse than the apartheid supremacist Rhodesian government.
The people’s choice, and not violence, must be supreme!