“They have started posting senior soldiers to make sure that Zanu (PF) wins harmonized elections expected this year at all costs,” said a senior Zimbabwe Prisons Service official told The Zimbabwean this week on condition of anonymity.
“We have been holding strategy meetings for the past three months. Only those ranked Superintendent and above from ZRP and ZPS and Major and above from the ZNA were recruited to execute the campaign. We were all given new pickups to use throughout the campaign. The strategy is to come peacefully during the day, but to get rid of all those pushing anti-Zanu (PF) agendas at night. Our major targets are young people, especially first time voters as they are believed to influence a change in our country,” he added.
A senior police official stationed at Bulawayo Rose Camp confirmed the report. “Some of our senior staff members are already in Nkayi, Lupane and Tsholotsho where they were deployed recently as Zanu (PF) continues to intensify its campaign game. We were told that only those who have been there since the days of the liberation struggle could push this programme. It was also said the opposition only represents Western interests,” he said.
A soldier based at Mbalabala Barracks said, “People shouldn’t expect a picnic where soldiers are deployed. Our commanders are already on the ground waiting to unleash terror on those opposing Zanu (PF)’s interests. All those deployed were given brand new cars.”
Recently in Masvingo, Zimbabwe Defence Forces Commander Constantine Chiwenga held a series of meetings with war veterans and military bosses ordering them to support President Robert Mugabe and his party.
War veterans’ spokesman Kid Muzenda was quoted in the media after this meeting saying that he promised all the former freedom fighters more land if they campaign for a Zanu (PF) victory.
Meanwhile, recent media reports said soldiers deployed at Mataga Growth Point in Mberengwa in December were still harassing villagers in the area for failing to produce national identification documents and for allegedly backing Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai’s MDC-T.
The soldiers are alleged to have imposed unofficial curfews and are carrying out late-night visits to suspected MDC-T activists’ homes as intimidation intensifies. Sources said the soldiers had held several meetings with four Mberengwa chiefs, Mataga, Mataruse, Chingoma and Mahlebadza, urging them to ensure their subjects “vote wisely” in the next elections.
Chief Mataga confirmed to the media that he had met with the soldiers but declined to disclose details. “All we know is that they are on a Maguta programme,” he said.
The Joint Operations Command, which brings together the army, police and intelligence chiefs, has played a strong commissariat role for Zanu (PF) in elections, and recently army sources said Operation Maguta was being revived to justify the presence of soldiers in many rural communities.
Zimbabwe National Army director of public relations Lieutenant-Colonel Alphios Makotore and Assistant Commissioner Charity Charamba refused to comment on the matter.
All attempts to reform the military or the broader security sector have been met with fierce resistance from Zanu (PF), which vowed at its congress in December 2011 that security sector reforms would never be allowed in Zimbabwe.
Post published in: News