3.8.4 At Chibuku Stadium, Chitungwiza, MDC Alliance members were playing songs with the lyric such as “ma ZANU PF mastupid”.17 ZHRC continuously advised political parties, independent candidates and the public to refrain from using hateful language as it adversely affected the way parties related to each other and had the potential of causing violence. Moreover, hateful language violated a candidate’s right to dignity and tarnished the public’s perception of him or her. 3.9 Intimidation Section 133A of the Electoral Act clearly stipulates actions which could be regarded as intimidation. During the pre-election period the ZHRC received numerous complaints of intimidation of the electorate residing in the rural areas by ZANU PF political party members. These matters fell within the confines of the definition of intimidation provided by Section 133A (a) and (c) of the Electoral Act which prohibits “threatening to inflict bodily injury upon a person or threatening to cause unlawful damage to a person’s property”. The following are some of the cases of intimidation received by the ZHRC. 3.9.1 Two candidates in Goromonzi North indicated that there was intimidation by the headman that people should either vote for ZANU PF or suffer the destruction of their properties/homes. 3.9.2 People’s Rainbow Coalition Parliamentary candidate for Murehwa West alleged that their campaigns were being affected by the ruling party actions which included threatening violence against the candidate and his supporters. 3.9.3 In ward 7, Hwedza South Constituency unknown people who masqueraded as soldiers were reported to the ZHRC to be threatening to inflict harm on residents in the event of ZANU PF losing the election. 17 Meaning of “maZANU PF mastupid” – is members of the ZANU PF political party are stupid. Page 27 of 55