This, however, is the ideal situation. In their daily political lives they are conscious that Zimbabwe is still not a country of freedoms of expression and belief – despite some progress in the time of IG [Q12]. Freedom to speak openly about politics was the lowest-rated (out of 11) performance areas of the IG, although 52% of the respondents reckoned that things had improved on this front as well. A total of 89% of Zimbabweans feel that they ‘often’ or ‘always’ have to be careful what they say about politics (compared to 10% that argue that is ‘never’ or ‘rarely’ necessary). A somewhat smaller proportion (74%) reports that they ‘have to fear’ political intimidation daily. The close association of elections with intimidation is reflected in 93% saying that they ‘often’ or ‘always’ have to fear political intimidation in election campaigns [Q42]. Table 12: Experiences of contemporary violence and intimidation in Zimbabwe (%) Statements Strongly Agree Disagree agree Violence & intimidation were bad in the past, 10 21 30 but nowadays we feel free to express our political views Our experiences of violence & intimidation mean 28 36 12 that perpetrators nowadays need only threaten violence to bring fear back to life again The youth militia & war veterans look after the 4 12 27 good interests of the people of Zimbabwe Each time Zimbabwe comes to important 37 39 7 political decisions to be made, violence & intimidation surface Fear of violence & intimidation makes people 49 25 10 vote for parties or candidates other than the ones they prefer Strongly disagree 24 5 36 3 3 Question: ‘People are saying different things about intimidation in the current era in Zimbabwe. Which of the following statements do you agree or disagree with?’ [Q47] Table 12 shows how much violence and intimidation remain omnipresent in Zimbabweans’ daily lives. The highlighted blocks show the continuous presence – even just threats bring back memories of fear, important decisions are associated with violence, violence and intimidation make people vote in certain ways, and, as in the past, they do not feel free to express themselves politically. It is a very high percentage of 74% of the respondents that felt that violence and intimidation make people vote for candidates they would usually not prefer. This shows that even if on election days in Zimbabwe people show the courage to go out and vote, their votes may very not go to the party of their choice. 33