Categories: Stories

Tsvangirai told Mozambicans are used to beef up ZANU-PF vote in  Mt Darwin?

Speaker after speaker spoke of the now common script of endemic fear and intimidation of the communities but mainly of the abuse of traditional leaders by forcing them to do the Zanu PF bidding.

A retired policeman told President Tsvangirai how he was forced to be an assisted voter, adding that several teachers and school heads were also assisted to vote by known Zanu PF youths.

The community leaders particularly the traditional leaders, told the popular MDC leader of their abuse by Zanu PF, narrating how they were forced to engage in partisan food distribution and to coerce and frog march people to vote for a particular political party.

It was heartening to hear this forsaken community pledging to finish it all off by voting in a new dispensation in the watershed election of 2018.

The people here said they had known no peace as they had experienced violence both by the Smith regime during the liberation struggle and even the post-liberation government of Robert Mugabe. People were maimed and even murdered for voting for change in 2008.

A stone's throw from where President was engaging community leaders is the place where MDC stalwart Matthew Pfebve was murdered in a  tragic case of mistaken identity by Zanu PF thugs who wanted to kill his brother, Elliot.

The traditional leaders told President Tsvangirai that during election time, their villages were overwhelmed by Mozambicans provided with Zimbabwean identity cards to enable them to vote for Zanu PF. They said this happened in every election and they expected a flurry of Mozambicans to flood their areas to participate in the Zimbabwe election of 2018.

However, they all pledged that it had now dawned on everyone that Zanu PF had reached the end of its tether and had no plan to rescue Zimbabweans from the poverty the same party had caused.

President Tsvangirai urged them to turn out in their numbers to register to vote so that they express their grievances by voting for change in 2018. He said only a new government will be able to rescue the country from the myriad of challenges that it currently faces.

This afternoon, President Tsvangirai holds a similar engagement in Glendale. Tomorrow, he will be in Guruve and Mvurwi, interacting with community leaders on the crisis facing the country and sculpting a new governance architecture for the country post-Mugabe in 2018.

Accompanying the President is National party Chairman Lovemmore Moyo, Deputy Organising Secretary Amos Chibaya, Women's Assembly Chair Lynnette Karenyi, National Youth Chair Happymore Chidziva, Deputy Treasurer General Charlton Hwende and provincial leaders.

Luke Tamborinyoka
Presidential Spokesperson and Director of Communications

(200 VIEWS)

This post was last modified on March 1, 2017 4:54 pm

Page: 1 2

Charles Rukuni

The Insider is a political and business bulletin about Zimbabwe, edited by Charles Rukuni. Founded in 1990, it was a printed 12-page subscription only newsletter until 2003 when Zimbabwe's hyper-inflation made it impossible to continue printing.

Recent Posts

Zimbabwe among the top countries with the widest gap between the rich and poor

Zimbabwe is among the top 30 countries in the world with the widest gap between…

November 14, 2024

Can the ZiG sustain its rally against the US dollar?

Zimbabwe’s battered currency, the Zimbabwe Gold, which was under attack until the central bank devalued…

November 10, 2024

Will Mnangagwa go against the trend in the region?

Plans by the ruling Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front to push President Emmerson Mnangagwa to…

October 22, 2024

The Zimbabwe government and not saboteurs sabotaging ZiG

The Zimbabwe government’s insatiable demand for money to satisfy its own needs, which has exceeded…

October 20, 2024

The Zimbabwe Gold will regain its value if the government does this…

Economist Eddie Cross says the Zimbabwe Gold (ZiG) will regain its value if the government…

October 16, 2024

Is Harare the least democratic province in Zimbabwe?

Zimbabwe’s capital, Harare, which is a metropolitan province, is the least democratic province in the…

October 11, 2024