I am not free because of the fear and repercussions that come with criticizing the government or the ruling party. Depends on the time and place and who is present. If I don’t know the people around me then I am not free. If they (ZANU-PF Youth) come for you, you have to lie that you belong to them. Our parents are ZANU and war vets. You are pressured because you are expected to pledge allegiance to one party because of the risks or what was done for you by the party Discrimination at work places, especially government departments where you can get fired if you are in the wrong side I am not free because of what I witness in my community. Especially what happens to those that do speak out. Respondents reiterated lack of freedom to express oneself as the main driver of risk aversion. Some respondents went further and argued that, within the civil service, a person can miss out on certain benefits once they are perceived to be a member of the opposition. In their efforts to express themselves, most people, not just the civil servants, were turning to use of social media which gave them power because they could post and make comments on topical issues anonymously, and thus further away from the attention of daily forms of surveillance on civilian voice. Social media was being used to call for, and mobilise the citizenry to participate in demonstrations, and many people were expressing their views via social media, as, for example the protests against bond notes in 2016. Discussants averred that citizens were not free to join any political party of their choice because the benefits attached to supporting another party such as food aid were highly politicised. Though the food aid did not come from ZANU-PF to the masses, it will be presented as having come from Mugabe. Essentially, the line between ZANU-PF and the Government has become less clear-cut and citizens are averse to expressing their views on governance issues, let alone hard questions of electoral reform, or political party candidates among others. 3.7 ZANU-PF is the risk to citizens Respondents explained that risk-taking behaviour should be behaviour that seeks greater good and underlined how the political environment was making it difficult for them individuals outside the ZANU-PF party to go against the status-quo in pursuit of that “greater good”. According to respondents, ZANU-PF as the ruling party was effectively the biggest risk to all other individuals and groupings outside of ZANU-PF. Theft and graft of money and resources I have to be part of the ruling party and as a youth l from national coffers was highlighted as won’t benefit. a ZANU-PF preserve, as, for example, If I am on the opposition side my opinion won’t be the infamous $15 billion, theft and valued. conversion of State resources from You are not free. It is conditional. You are only able to exercise freedom of speech when you are at your ZIMDEF all benefit ZANU-PF and its party’s rally e.g. Evan Mawarire became the voice of supporters, while masses go hungry and the voiceless but in the end he was silenced critical sectors, such as education and I am a risk taker by virtue of being here and health, continue to be under-funded. discussing this. 9