The constituencies reported to have held peaceful political meetings in Harare include Rugare,
Highfield, Warren Park and GlenView North. Zanu PF members marched and campaigned peacefully
for the Highfield seat as they anticipated the recalling of Moses Manyengavana who had defected to
MDC Renewal. However it was not all peaceful in some constituencies. On 26 February MDC-T
leader Morgan Tsvangirai visited Chigovanyika shopping centre in St Marys in Chitungwiza. Before
his arrival Zanu PF members had camped at the venue to disrupt his visit. One Zanu PF member
Musa Makuyana displayed a knife threatening to attack MDC-T members when Mr. Tsvangirai
arrived. An MDC-T member disarmed the perpetrator and beat him up. Another Zanu PF member
who wanted to get to Mr. Tsvangirai was stopped by one of the MDC-T security men. The chaos
worsened as Zanu PF supporters increasingly disrupted the meeting while MDC-T members fought
for the security of their leader. In the end Mr. Tsvangirai had to end his visit prematurely.
While overt violence seems to have gone down harassment, intimidation and discrimination during
food and input handouts distribution still top the list of the incidents recorded. Out of the 152
recorded violations 84 were incidences of harassment and intimidation, and 40 cases of
discrimination were reported. Most of these violations emanate from high levels of political
intolerance, impunity of perpetrators of violence and disregard for respect for human rights. Zanu PF
party activists are the main perpetrators as they force people to attend their party meetings and
contribute towards party activities. In the month of February Zanu PF party perpetrators were 192
as compared to 17 MDC-T perpetrators. In terms of victims February 2015 recorded 209 male
victims as compared to 86 female victims. The high numbers of male victims could be attributed to
their active participation in the political arena.
Political intolerance is not demonstrated by Zanu PF party members only. In Bulawayo province on
24 February 2015 Councillor Victor Chunga of MDC-T was recruiting people at Lobengula Housing
Office to participate in a program called ‘Clean the City’ for a payment by the city council. It is
alleged he only recruited people from his party and this caused an uproar with war veterans and
Zanu PF supporters who protested loudly and the Councillor ended up taking on board four well
known Zanu PF members. In another incident, on 15 February 2015 in Mutare North, at the Roman
Catholic Centre there was an intra party fight in the MDC-T camp. Former ward chairperson Abu
Masibango disrupted a ward executive meeting organised by the current chairperson whom he
accused of having links with the Renewal Team. On the day in question, Abu Masibango came to the
meeting venue accompanied by two state police officers who arrested the victim accusing him of
holding an illegal meeting. The accused was taken to the police station but released the same day.
In another incident of political intolerance on the 22nd of February 2015 a Zanu PF ward official John
Moyo of Bubi Constituency ward 18 threatened two female Zanu PF members with unspecified
action for working for a top MDC-T official. Moyo accused the two women of being sell-outs as they
were known Zanu PF card carrying members and yet they chose to work for the MDC-T official who
is considered an opponent of Zanu PF.
Zanu PF members continue to harass community members by forcing people to attend their party
meetings and also demand money to support party activities. On 11 February 2015 a Zanu PF
chairperson Artwell Ruwizhu addressed a meeting at Kitsiyatota in Bindura in Mashonaland Central
province. He demanded that people who were operating at the site should pay $5 for President
Mugabe’s birthday. Kitsiyatota is a site where people are flocking to do artisanal gold mining under
unsafe conditions with no interference from the authorities. There was an influx of gold panners at
Kitsiyatota after the First Lady Grace Mugabe made a statement encouraging gold panning to
improve people’s economic status. In another incident on the 21st of February 2015 taxi drivers in
Bindura town were forced to drive their cars in a single file from Bindura town to an area called
Progress to celebrate the President’s birthday. In another incident, in Mashonaland East province,
on 6 February 2015 Gilbert Makazhu, a strong Zanu PF member ordered residents at Kotwa Growth
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