Lots of hot air about peaceful elections

By Wilf Mbanga

There has been a lot of hot air about peaceful elections in the past few weeks. Just about everybody knows that this is nothing but talk. There is no serious intention to check electoral violence.

The record speaks for itself. Zanu (PF) depends on violence to win elections. It always has. Huge numbers of soldiers are always deployed in the rural areas at election time – Boys on Leave – where they intimidate villagers in a variety of ways.

Mugabe’s recent pronouncements about peace sit uneasily atop his well-earned “degrees of violence” and it is all too obvious that the grassroots of his party either know that he is not serious, or are obeying instructions from somebody else.

His message is being treated with utter contempt by people like self-styled war veteran leader Jabulani Sibanda, who this week told MDC-T supporters in Chipinge that they would be killed if they vote against Zanu (PF) at the next election.

That party has destroyed Zimbabwe and has no ideas about how to get the country working again. They have looted and pillaged the means of production throughout the country and mortgaged our considerable mineral resources to the Chinese.

They have no solution to offer to the suffering of the millions who are not on their gravy train, but are desperate to protect their ill-gotten gains at any cost.

The so-called community development trusts being set up to give locals a stake in mining endeavours are nothing but an extension of the gravy train – offering only crumbs to the people while the fat cats cream off the real wealth yet again.

It is a well-documented truth that the vast majority of the violence is perpetrated by the military, the police and the CIO – all state institutions – together with party thugs masquerading as militias.

For example we have well-known terror gangs operating with offices in the urban areas – Chipangano, Al Shabab, Top Six, etc. They are known to the police. They work for Zanu (PF). If there was any shred of political will, it would be easy for the police to smash these gangs and put an end to their activities.

Mugabe’s recent plea for tolerance rings particularly hollow in the light of police bans on MDC rallies and harassment of party supporters. This takes many forms: abduction and beatings, arbitrary arrest and imprisonment on flimsy charges that never stand up in court, arson attacks, rape and intimidation.

With elections around the corner, we will now see a resumption of disruption of the activities of NGOs – most of whom are committed to relieving poverty by fostering democracy in one way or another. The recent arrest of ZimRights Director Okay Machisa and two other officials on spurious charges is just the beginning.

If Mugabe was serious about peace, it would be easy for him to send a clear message to his supporters. All he needs do is instruct Police Commissioner Augustine Chihuri to arrest all those reported for political violence. For as long as he does not do this, nobody will take him seriously. Editorial Comment – The Zimbabwean