7 people of Zimbabwe have a particular significance as do statements suggesting that a reduction of the population consisting of ruling party loyalists. Statement by Didymus Mutasa In 2002 he said: “We would be better off with only six million people, with our own people who support the liberation struggle. We don’t want all these extra people.” (Quoted by the UK Sunday Times.) Threats against opposition and protestors and incitement to attack opposition supporters Threats against the opposition and protestors are probably the most common of all the instances of hate speech and intimidation, and these must be seen against the background of an enormous number of reports of gross human rights violations issued since 2000. 2 ZANU (PF) firmly believes that because it fought and won the liberation war it alone has the right to govern the country in perpetuity. Consistent with this view, throughout the 1980s the Government proclaimed its intention to pass legislation to make Zimbabwe a one-party State. Although it dropped this plan in 1990, it continued to take measures to ensure that the country remains a de facto one-party State. In the 1980s the Mugabe Government showed its preparedness to resort to violence on a large scale against political opponents. Its complete intolerance of political opposition and its willingness to use violence and intimidation against the political opposition has continued throughout the rule by ZANU (PF). During the 1990s, the political opposition was weak and posed no real threat. Nevertheless, in the 1990 and 1995 elections, ruling party supporters and State agents violently attacked members of the opposition before and after the elections. By the late 1990s, the country was experiencing grave economic hardship, stemming primarily from serious mismanagement of the economy and large-scale corruption. The Government’s popularity was rapidly declining. It was faced with serious food riotsand demonstrations, and then with the first major challenge to its stranglehold on power – 2 These reports are not mere allegations, and have even been validated by the Zimbabwean courts. Here see Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum (2006), An Analysis of the Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum Legal Cases, 1998–2006. Published by the Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum. June 2006, HARARE: ZIMBABWE HUMAN RIGHTS NGO FORUM. Their words condemn them: The language of violence, intolerance and despotism in Zimbabwe.