Chivi villagers have little to support Zanu (PF) for

For all the rhetoric that President Robert Mugabe has been making about wanting to go to a free and fair election, reports that villagers in Chivi have been threatened not to attend Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai's rallies at Mhandamabwe and Mashava are the real taste of the pudding.

Zanu (PF) is defeated in the hearts and minds of the people and is now surviving only by threatening and killing Zimbabwean people in order to secure political control, capitalising on fear – which can only last for a short while.

The very bravery that sent Zimbabweans to the liberation war will see them getting over their fear of youths who are only participating in Zanu (PF)'s youth programmes because there is so much unemployment in the country and this is where they receive food.

But soon the youths will also realise that it is because of Zanu (PF)'s policies that they are unemployed – firstly Zanu (PF) leaders looted  the farms  and forgot all about the youths in their scramble to privatise national land

Now they are looting of the companies and depriving the youths of job opportunities, because they are not going to be able to run the companies, only strip them bare and go an marry another wife.

Once the youths start questioning these policies, they will also realise that they are being used, and the fear that Zanu (PF) relies on among the villagers will melt away. Zimbabweans went to the war of liberation for freedom of choice and now Zanu (PF) wants to deny them that freedom of choice.

Political violence and violent ways of forcing people to do what Zanu (PF) wants has not been eradicated; none of the perpetrators of the 2008 violence have been brought to book, so it is clear that Zanu (PF) thinks it can use the same tactic again.

Claims that uniformed soldiers were involved in threatening the villagers not to attend rallies by the country's Prime Minister prove that it is not just individuals organising the political violence, but that it is co-ordinated by the Zanu (PF) structures.

In the run-up to the election in 2008 Zimbabwe National Army units were deployed to rural areas to campaign for Zanu (PF) by beating up MDC supporters; it is clear that they are still busy there and are now being reactivated.

All villagers know about the camps that they have been setting up, but they also know that the soldiers cannot shoot everyone, after all the soldiers are their own sons and daughters.

Widespread defiance is the only way to stop them, everyone already supports the MDC as they voted for it, and, as it becomes clear that elections are going to be held soon, the people will start coming out and telling the soldiers to shoot if they want to.

Everyone knows who are the Zanu (PF) youths who used to campaign for the Zanu PF; they know that it is the same school drop-outs and drunkards who have nothing else to do who are being used to threaten villagers.

If the Zanu PF youths are going to be planted at the rallies to jot down names of those who attend, those who are attending will also be jotting down the names of the Zanu (PF) youths at the MDC rallies – because they are known.

Soldiers in army fatigues at Mhandahwe shopping center telling villagers that if they go to Tsvangirai’s rally they will face severe ‘disciplinary action’ are simply showing  how desperate Zanu (PF) is to stop the MDC, but it has no strategy because its time is up.

Zanu (PF) youth militia forcing people to buy Zanu (PF) cards for $2 in order to raise money for the the broke party, will also find people have no money and cannot afford the cards, or others will just buy party cards so that they are not bothered.

But this will not translate to support for Zanu (PF), not in Chivi nor in the hunger-stricken districts of Zaka, Bikita and Gutu. Food assistance should be given free of any party affiliation, which the government of national unity should ensure through proper monitoring of the distribution of food.  Comment is Free This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it