5.4 Membership of political parties In line with widely manifested international trends, the bulk of Zimbabweans report that they are not members of political parties. A total of 71% declared that they are not members of political parties at all [Q73C]. Membership could be under-declared in Zimbabwe, given that it can often be dangerous to belong to a political party in a society where animosities and violence between parties are frequent. Amongst respondents in this survey, 65% of the MDC-T supporters and 60% of the ZANU-PF supporters were not members of their respective parties. In addition, of the declared supporters, 22% for each of the parties were only inactive members. It appears though that fewer Zimbabweans may today be active party members than was the case in September 2009. In 2009, 15% reported being inactive party members – in December 2010 the percentage had risen to 20%. Active party membership, in terms of this survey trends, had declined from 15% in 2009 to 8% in 2010. 50

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