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The Daily Agenda
Bulawayo Agenda
May 14, 2008

Gwanda
All police officers and their families should vote for Robert Mugabe in the election for the Presidency since Tsvangirai was sure to sack them when he got into office. This was said at a meeting in Gwanda last Friday (9 May) where Senior Assistant Commissioner Muderedzwa, the officer commanding Matabeleland South Province was addressing senior officers. The audience included Officers Commanding Gwanda, Beitbridge and Bulilima-Mangwe Districts, all superintendents in the province, officers in charge of stations, sections and their deputies

During the packed meeting which the informant termed a 'rally', Muderedzwa, a war veteran, read extensively from the so-called Biti document which has already been proven to be false. In the document, it is claimed, when MDC took over, all senior officers would be fired from the force. It was therefore incumbent on them and their families to vote for Mugabe in order to keep their jobs. He revealed that this time around all police details would vote through the postal ballot system and would cast their vote in front Assistant Commissioner Mlilo and Chief Superintendant Ndlovu (CID) to make sure they voted correctly.

A team comprising Superintendants Sigauke from Plumtree and Abraham (from transport) would go round stations 'educating' people how and where to vote. A similar exercise headed by Sup Mukombero would cover police officers' wives as well.

It is reported that the mood among police officers is that of defiance, with some saying that they would not be intimidated by the move to force them to vote for a particular candidate. They said that they would vote whoever they chose even if it was in front of their superiors. Mureredzwa was accompanied by Assistant Commissioner's Benge and Mlilo, both war veterans

Mberengwa West
Five women and six men arrived in Zvishavane today after fleeing from Chingechuru Village in Ward 33 under Chief Mudavanhu where war veterans have laid siege on MDC supporters. The people responsible for the violence are war veterans Tavarisa Banga, Jinara Banda, Collen Mangena and youths identified as Mikload Nkomo, Andreas Nkomo. Shopowners Inzwirashe Manhiri and Margarate Ngwenya are hiding in Zvishavane.

Nkosinathi Mangena, a ZIMCET Peace educator in Zvishavane was taken in by CIOs and interrogated for 8 hours on last Friday. They wanted to know about the activities of Zimcet, Crisis in Zimbabwe and ZESN. He now fears for his life.

Gokwe
Noel Muguti, The MDC parliamentary candidate for Gokwe Nembudziya fled his home this morning after rampant assaults on opposition party members in the district.

Manama
A man who was assaulted by Zanu PF youths at Manama is admitted at Gwanda Hospital with serious head injuries.

13 May 2008
Bulawayo
There was drama this morning at TM supermarket, Fife Street as till operators were forced to vacate their workstations to join a huge crowd of shoppers who were queuing for sugar outside the supermarket. Distribution of sugar was supervised by suspected war veterans. These war veterans demanded that shoppers produce proof of residence before they could be allowed to purchase the scarce commodity. Not surprisingly, the only shoppers who managed to get sugar were police officers and their spouses.

Binga
ZANU PF militia and CIOs are said to have left Hwange this morning to back up their colleagues in Binga who were last week chased away from Binga by a group of organised villagers. This group of militia had been originally sent to Binga to root out and deal with any opposition supporters. The youth militia and CIOs from Hwange have been sent to discipline those Binga villagers who were involved in last week's clashes.

Gokwe
Police and locals in Gokwe clashed yesterday after members of the police force beat up some members of the public. The locals retaliated by burning down a ZANU PF base which had been set up in the area. Meanwhile, police from Gweru were deployed this morning to assist their colleagues in Gokwe. The situation is tense in Gokwe as residents have said that they shall fight any form of intimidation and violence to protect themselves.

Lupane
Lupane Agenda organized a consultative meeting on Sunday. The meeting was addressed by Bulawayo Agenda Executive Director, Gorden Moyo. Mr. Moyo later visited victims of violence in the Shabulana area. The meeting was attended by over 200 villagers. As a result of the meeting, ZANU PF officials, together with CIO officers in Lupane are reported to be planning a raid of the Lupane Agenda offices to look for the organisation's membership register, t-shirts and Freeplay radios.

Matobo
War veterans went on a rampage over the weekend in Silozwe ward, Matobo, confiscating Freeplay radios from members of Matobo Agenda and MDC-Tsvangirai. They accused the villagers of listening to anti-government propaganda. Six of the radios were confiscated from Matobo Agenda committee members. The war vets, who have camped in Silozwe, threatened the members with unspecified action for distributing radios to the community. Meanwhile, the Silozwe MDC-Tsvangirai ward councillor, Ethel Nyamkuta, is in hiding as she fears that her life is in danger.

Mberengwa
Seven people, (two teachers and five locals), were yesterday severely beaten up with iron bars at Chief Bvute area in Mberengwa North. The seven were accused of being MDC supporters. They have since received medical attention at a local hospital.

Nkayi
There are reports of increased political violence in Nkayi. Cleopas Zololo, an activist, and his father, both from Gonye village, which is 18km from Nkayi Business Centre, have been seriously assaulted by war vets and ZANU PF militia. Cleopas was stabbed in the chest while his father has a broken arm. The two have since been admitted to hospital in Nkayi.

Plumtree
Information has been received that ZANU PF officials are after Plumtree Agenda Chairperson Edwin Ncube. He is being accused of having helped the MDC win in the March 29 election. He is also being accused of campaigning for Morgan Tsvangirai in the run-off presidential election. A sympathetic police officer advised Edwin to be careful in his movements, as there were plans to abduct him.

Victoria Falls
CIO officers ,war veterans and soldiers yesterday visited the Zimbabwe National Water Authority (ZINWA) in Victoria Falls at 9am and asked to address the employees. The director of ZINWA who happens to be a war veteran, refused and told them to seek clearance from ZINWA head office in Bulawayo. After a brief altercation at the ZINWA offices, the group then proceeded to Busy Island, a curio market, where they addressed vendors and shoppers. They told the vendors that they were not making any consultations but wanted to tell them that the people of Victoria Falls had not voted properly on March 29. They further threatened that if people voted for Morgan Tsvangirai in the run-off, there would be bloodshed in the country.

12 May 2008
Bulawayo Agenda team tours areas affected by political violence

A team from Bulawayo Agenda led by Executive Director Godern Moyo, visited its regional offices in Victoria Falls, Hwange and Lupane to meet with the respective communities, leaders and civic society leaders and operatives. The subject of the tour was to hold consultations following the March 29 harmonised polls and the impending presidential run-off. The aim was to assess the political terrain and also to obtain views from the residents of each respective area how the prevailing environment was impacting on their day to day lives. In Lupane, the steam had an opportunity to talk to victims of the current violent campaign being meted on citizens by war veterans and youth militia. The tour ended with a public meeting at attended by over 200 people.

Victoria Falls and Hwange

Members of the public confirmed that military bases have been set up in Makwa and Mashala, (Hwange) and in Monde, Jambezi, Chief Shana area, Chibondo, Chikandakubi, Chidobe and Chisumba, (Victoria Falls). War veterans and youths have been threatening residents with death should the opposition emerge the winner in the run-off. Some individuals, purportedly war veterans, have been going around the towns compiling lists of names of members in each household. No indication has been given as to what the lists will be used for.

The towns of Hwange and Victoria Falls are both run by local councils. Because of the delay that has been taken in swearing in councilors, local service delivery has been affected. In the meetings held, it was clear that the political impasse was impacting negatively on service delivery and the day to day functions of local authorities. Since March 29, elected councilors have not yet been officially recognized. This means that councilors are unable to perform their duties. The challenge with such a situation is that residents feel that local authority activities should continue as usual and are expecting the councilors to attend to them. The local authority employees are also equally disoriented as all programmes have halted and they have no idea who should be giving them direction so that work continues as usual.

• The Zimbabwe Electoral Commission has lost credibility with ordinary citizens because of its failure to announce results on time and for the failure to set a definite date for the run-off.
• While strides have been made in the larger towns and cities to provide relief for victims of political violence, the voters in the smaller towns fell they are easy targets as they do not know who to approach should anything happen to them.
• Residents of Victoria Falls who depend heavily on the tourism sector to make a living are failing to make ends meet as the industry has been greatly affected by the uncertain political environment. One of the largest hotels in the town confirmed that most hotels were operating at below 10% of their normal capacity.
• Organizations providing food aid to the surrounding rural communities had been stopped from going out into the villages after being accused of being fronts for the opposition MDC or civic society that was pushing for regime change.
• On the whole, the people of Hwange and Victoria Falls were prepared to go and vote again in the run-off and no matter how badly they were beaten, they would still vote for the candidate of their choice.

Lupane
Members of the public who attended the public meeting in Lupane on Sunday were resolute in their condemnation of the actions of ZANU PF. They said that their lives were deteriorating by the day and that ZANU PF was not doing anything to change this. The people of Lupane said that for this reason, they would work very hard to see that the reign of this party comes to an end. The district of Lupane has the background of the early eighties atrocities and the surge of terror that the ruling party has undertaken will not change the minds of the people of Lupane on which president to vote for.

• Members of the audience stated that although the opposition vote had been divided in the March 29 elections, this time they would make sure that they all rallied behind one candidate.
• The people of Lupane are deeply concerned about the credibility of the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission and feel that the run-off election should be heavily supervised by independent international observers if the results are going to be acceptable. It also seemed that ZEC was acting to the beck and call of a particular political party by deliberately depriving the electorate of information.
• The traditional leadership in Lupane was greatly criticised for its involvement and alignment with the ruling party. The people felt that while traditional leaders were entitled to supporting political parties of their choice and exercising their right to vote as citizens of this country, their participation in political party campaigns should be strongly condemned.
• The people in Lupane are greatly concerned by the effect that the unstable political situation has had on the education of their children. Zenzele Secondary, Makhovula Primary, Ndamuleni Primary, Sibombo Primary, Ekuphakemi Secondary and Mzola 55 Primary schools in Lupane had not opened because either no teachers at all on opening day or because less than five teachers had turned up. The reason given for the teachers' absence was that they felt that their lives were in danger after they had been accused of not having performed their duties well as polling officers in the March 2008 elections.
• Members of the audience also raised concerns over the displacement of their friends and family members who were voters. They said these voters would not be able to vote in the run-off as they were hiding in constituencies where they could not vote. Members of the public were concerned that this would affect the outcome of the run-off presidential election. Another challenge that the audience raised was the placement of polling officers, mostly teachers in constituencies far away to reduce their chances of casting their votes.
• The use of food as a campaign tool would not buy ZANU PF any votes. Granted, the people of Lupane were facing hunger but they shall not vote for a party that remembers to give them food when it wants to be elected into power.

The team is due to visit Gwanda, Matopo and Gweru on a similar mission to consult the local communities and get a feel of the situation on the ground. The success of the tour was indicated by the enthusiasm with which the team was received and the change in the residents from that of fear to that of being resolute and confident in their approach to the issues at hand.

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