The Zimbabwe Peace Project (ZPP) said the ZANU PF party of President Robert Mugabe and the MDC of Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai have both shifted into campaign mode, sending political temperatures soaring in a country where every major vote over the past decade has been accompanied by violence and gross human rights abuses.
“Political tensions have been heightened throughout the country as the country’s political leadership from mainly ZANU (PF) and the MDC-T have already started preparing for the holding of elections,” the NGO said in its latest report on political violence and human rights abuses in Zimbabwe.
The report that was released at the weekend and made available to ZimOnline on Monday covers cases of politically motivated violence and rights abuses in the month of April.
The group that regularly monitors violence in Zimbabwe said cases of violence had shown welcome signs of declining in the month of April to 977 down from 1188 in March.
The ZPP report comes as the regional SADC bloc that pressured Mugabe and Tsvangirai to form a unity government in February 2009 to end a dangerous political stalemate after disputed elections the previous year, on Sunday urged the two rivals to speed up implementation of democratic reforms envisaged under their power-sharing pact.
The political pact officially known as the global political agreement or GPA calls for the adoption of a new and democratic constitution that should lead to peaceful, free and fair elections to choose a new government to replace the coalition.
SADC leaders, who met in Johannesburg, South Africa deferred discussions on an elections roadmap or charter for Zimbabwean to August. Under the proposed roadmap Zimbabwe should hold polls only after adoption of a new constitution and implementation of other key reforms to ensure smooth transfer of power to winners.
But the ZPP report painted a deteriorating situation on the ground, while accusing some senior political leaders such as Members of Parliament (MP) especially from ZANU (PF) of stoking up hatred and intolerance by urging their followers to expel supporters of rival parties from their constituencies.
The group also condemned involvement of the pro-Mugabe police and the army in acts of violence and intimidation against MDC supporters.
In one of several cases cited by the ZPP where a senior politician is accused of encouraging intolerance, ZANU (PF) legislator Jabulani Mangena is said to have gone around his rural Mberengwa North constituency telling villagers that no other political party was allowed in the area.
“Mberengwa North MP Jabulani Mangena has been accused of addressing political rallies where he openly declares that there should be no other political party in his area,” the ZPP said. “As a result his supporters have not been entertaining any political parties to campaign in the area.”
The NGO also lamented what it described as a high military presence in the Midlands province where Mberengwa lies and in other provinces such as Mashonaland East.
There is no date set yet for Zimbabwe’s next elections. However Mugabe and his ZANU (PF) party are pushing for elections soon after adoption of a new constitution, a situation that could see the country going to polls either by the end of the year or early 2012.
But Tsvangirai – the favourite to win the next presidential vote but without any guarantee Mugabe’s allies in the military will allow him to takeover power – has said polls should not be held this year even after adoption of a new constitution.
The former opposition chief says a new constitution and several proposed electoral reforms would need to be given time to take root to ensure any future vote is free and fair.
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