Pfungwe and Mudzi. They were travelling on motor cycles labelled LONCIN campaigning for Zanu PF. Operating space for civil society across the country continued to shrink as the criminalisation of civic society work continued unabated. During the period under review, a number of civil society actors were either harassed or detained by the police. In Hwange, police who were reportedly searching for voter education material raided offices of Legal Resources Foundation. In Buhera South, at Kufakwatenzi village, a ZimRights workshop was abandoned after Zanu PF activists chose to end it by labelling the organisation as a front of the West, despite the fact that the workshop had been cleared by the police. Cases of partisan distribution of food declined significantly during the period under review. One reason for this decline is the fact that many people had been harvesting their crops and as a result food relief distribution has gone down. Despite the decline, many parts of the country indicated that they would need relief intervention as the country was experiencing erratic rainfall together with a shortage of inputs. April The resounding success of the COPAC driven constitutional referendum held on 16 March set the stage for the holding of the hallmark elections that would lead to the end of the four and half years old inclusive government in Zimbabwe. The three major political parties in the inclusive government embarked on a vigorous agenda in launching their political party campaigns in preparation for the watershed elections that resulted in an increase in incidents of politically motivated violence. There were 519 violations recorded during the month of April a significant increase from the 382 witnessed during the month of March. The MDC-T immediately launched its door to door campaigns across the country while Zanu PF continued with its voter registration drive targeting 1 million first time voters. As a result of the door to door campaigns and the voter registration drive 19 residents were arrested in Harare’s Hatcliffe on April 25 and charged with contravening Section 179 of the Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act for allegedly impersonating public officials. Police officers claimed that the residents who were wearing T-shirts usually worn by officials from the Ministry Home Affairs had three copies of the voters’ roll and between 18 to 25 April went around the high density suburb asking other residents to check and confirm if their names were noted on the voters roll and advising them to register to vote if their names were missing. The police charged that the 19 residents misrepresented themselves as officials from the Registrar General’s office. The voter registration exercise provided a fresh source of conflict as Zanu PF’s Mashonaland East leadership accused the MDC-T of tampering with the voters’ roll. State Security Minister Sydney Sekeramayi who is also the Zanu PF secretary for security claimed that they had identified massive irregularities on the voters’ roll where suspected MDC-T officials registered their supporters using other people’s addresses and unoccupied, condemned hostels. The internal party fight between Zanu PF and the MDC-T continued during the month as politicians fought to represent their respective parties in the forthcoming general elections. Zanu PF’s intra-party fights intensified in Manicaland with the party’s secretary for administration Didymus Mutasa being accused of interfering with grass-root structures - described as likely to “disrupt preparations for the forthcoming harmonized elections”. The same could also be said for the MDC-T in Manicaland as the party’s provincial executive was divided over the selection of candidates to stand in the forthcoming elections. Close to a 100 MDC-T supporters in March demonstrated outside their party provincial offices in Mutare against the disqualification of Mutasa South parliamentary candidate Regai Tsunga. The divisions within the MDC-T in Manicaland manifested themselves through the fight between former Daily News Editor and aspiring MDC-T MP Geoffrey Nyarota and Makoni South MP Pishai Muchauraya, with Nyarota having accused the sitting MP of threatening to kill him. 23