southern half of the country. Whilst it was evident that Zimbabwe was confronted by serious threats to its security from South Africa and also Renamo2 bandits along its eastern border, the response to a “dissident” threat internally was excessive and brutal (CCJP & LRF. 1997). Human rights groups documented extra-judicial killings, murders, torture on an epidemic scale, displacements, enforced starvation, detentions, and many other violations. This came to an end in 1987 with the Unity Accord, and the amalgamation of the two main political parties, ZANU PF and PF ZAPU, and the country entered a period of relative peace and security, enhanced by the regional changes in Mozambique, Namibia and South Africa. The peacefulness was marred only by the violence that seemed to accompany elections in Zimbabwe. Both the elections in 1990 and 1995 were marked by political violence and intimidation (Moyo. 1992; Makumbe & Compagnon. 2000).3 This trend has largely continued until the present. The general atmosphere of peace prevailed for more than a decade, but the period also witnessed the growth of opposition to ZANU PF‟s hegemonic government. This was particularly evident in the growing power of the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU), strikes by civil servants, and finally the emergence of a strong movement for constitutional reform in the establishment of the National Constitutional Association (NCA). Whilst the state was not initially much threatened by the growing opposition, it became evident in 1998, with the nation-wide food riots in 1998, that there was fertile ground for political opposition amongst the citizens that were suffering increased hardship as a consequence of the Economic Structural Adjustment Programme (ESAP). The food riots saw the re-emergence of the blunt coercive power of the state: thousands were detained, thousands were brutally beaten, and a small number killed (Human Rights Forum. 1998; Human Rights Forum. 1999). It was also the first time that the army was deployed against the citizens of Zimbabwe. The year 1998 thus marked the beginning of a period of sustained gross human rights violations that have been evident not only during elections but now have become a feature of everyday life. In 1999, Zimbabwe witnessed the near-public detention and torture of the two Zimbabwe Standard journalists, Mark Chavunduka and Ray Choto, and the following year, after the momentous defeat in the referendum of the ZANU PF-sponsored constitution, and the emergence of significant political opposition in the form of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), the land invasions, the beating of peaceful protestors in Harare, and the massive political violence that accompanied the 2000 General Elections (Human Rights Forum. 2000; Human Rights Forum. 2001). The violence that accompanied the so-called Fast Track Land Reform Programme (FTLRP) is well-documented by human rights groups, and the reports show abductions, extra-judicial killings, torture, rape, beatings, death threats and a plethora of other violations. The commercial farm workers bore the brunt of these violations (GAPWUZ. 2009). Elections became the particular focus for political violence as ZANU PF now faced the serious threat to its power posed by the MDC. Here, elections in 2000, 2002 and 2008 were 2 RENAMO, the Mozambican National Resistance (Resistência Nacional Moçambicana), was originally sponsored by the Smith regime prior to Zimbabwean independence in 1980, and thereafter by the South African government until 1992 and the signing of the Rome General Peace Accords. 3 The elections in 1985, and especially the post-election period after ZAPU had held onto all the seats acquired in 1980, were the most violent elections prior to the 200os, but are better seen as one aspect of the Guklurahundi experience. 7