Campaigning hots up as elections approach in Zimbabwe

By Tichaona Sibanda

There’s just 20 days to go before Zimbabwe holds its hotly anticipated presidential and legislative elections, with the penultimate leg for State House hotting up as bitter rivals Morgan Tsvangirai and Robert Mugabe hit the campaign trail.

On Thursday Mugabe launched his campaign for re-election after 33 years in power, with a rally at Nzvimbo growth point in Chiweshe, while Tsvangirai has not let up since he began his quest for the highest office on Tuesday.

He was in Mashonaland West Thursday, visiting Mhondoro, Zvimba and Chinhoyi. The political environment could not be more polarized. Billboards and durawalls are now adorned with party colours of the main contenders and street corners, kombis, food stalls, places of work and worship have all become platforms for debate.

Amid all this mayhem there is very little evidence to suggest regional and international observers are monitoring this count-down to the July 31st elections. Harare based journalist Itai Dzamara told SW Radio Africa most observers are expected to start trickling in this weekend.

‘This is against the SADC rules on free and fair elections…they stipulate that observers have to be on the ground three months before the election date,’ Dzamara said.

Both candidates have revamped their presidential campaigns, with ZANU PF fine tuning theirs during Wednesday’s politburo meeting. Following a late start by Mugabe he now has his helicopter ready to cover the country’s provincial capitals for his star rallies.

Tsvangirai meanwhile is criss-crossing the country by road, at times covering up to 500km a day. By the time he’s done, which will be two days before the poll, the Premier would have addressed 60 rallies compared to Mugabe’s 10. SW Radio Africa