The Zimbabwe Peace Project (ZPP) which tracks and documents cases of political violence and rights violation in the country said the political environment remained tense, with increased harassment and intimidation of ZANU-PF opponents in the month of May.
“There was a slight increase in cases of politically motivated human rights violations to 994 as compared to the 977 witnessed during the month of April,” ZPP said in a report.
A unity government formed between Mugabe and Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai is struggling to ease political tensions between ZANU-PF and the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) supporters ahead of new presidential and parliamentary elections which analysts say will most likely be held in mid 2012.
The ZPP report said cases of politically motivated violence remained high and the political atmosphere was volatile in the Midlands, Manicaland, Mashonaland Central, Mashonaland East, and Masvingo provinces.
Political violence rose in 2008 after Mugabe lost to Tsvangirai in a first round of voting when ZANU-PF supporters, war veterans, youth militia and some army personnel targeted MDC supporters countrywide to reverse the veteran leader’s defeat.
The MDC says up to 200 of its supporters died in the violations, which forced Tsvangirai to pull out from the run-off race, sparking a political crisis that forced Mugabe into power-sharing talks.
ZPP said ZANU-PF supporters were behind most of the cases of political violence in the many incidents that were recorded during May.
Midlands remained the most volatile region with 201 incidents having been recorded during the month, according to ZPP.
Although the figure shows a slight decrease in violations recorded, political tensions have remained very high in Mberengwa District where the highest number of harassments and intimidations were recorded.
In a sign of deep-seated political intolerance that still pervades Zimbabwe, an MDC activist was badly assaulted by ZANU-PF In Gokwe Nembudziya constituency for wearing a party t-shirt “in a so called ZANU-PF territory and the t-shirt was torn to pieces”.
The rights group also said military presence in the province had continued with serving members of the army reportedly spearheading ZANU-PF campaigns especially in Kwekwe and Gokwe North and South constituencies.
Manicaland recorded a big rise in cases of politically motivated violations in May. There were 200 cases, up from 136 incidents witnessed in April where the majority of the victims fingered war veterans, ZANU-PF youths and traditional leaders for the actions.
Arson attacks were also recorded and were continuing despite interventions by the Joint Monitoring and Implementation Committee (JOMIC) in the eastern Chimanimani district.
Zimbabwe has struggled with political violence since independence from Britain 1980 but political analysts say the involvement of state institutions such as the army, police and intelligence service has entrenched a culture of violence and impunity.
“The military involvement in mainstream politics has also been a major cause for concern. The serving and retired soldiers are reportedly spearheading ZANU-PF campaigns ahead of the proposed elections,” ZPP said.
Last month Brigadier-General Douglas Nyikayaramba openly declared that the army would die to keep Mugabe in power and said Tsvangirai was a national security threat in comments seen by analysts as suggesting that the army could block the former trade union leader from becoming president even if he won an election.
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