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Public bus operators ordered to display Mugabe portrait
Tafirei Shumba, ZimOnline
March 14, 2008

http://www.zimonline.co.za/Article.aspx?ArticleId=2861

Suspected ruling Zanu PF party youths are forcing public commuter bus operators to stick portraits of President Robert Mugabe on their vehicles, threatening unspecified but severe punishment to those who refuse to comply, Zim Online has learnt. On Tuesday, minibuses plying routes between Harare's city centre and the suburban areas were suddenly seen driving around displaying colourful campaign posters emblazoned with the portrait of a stone-faced Mugabe waving his militant trademark fist. Harare is a stronghold of the opposition led by Morgan Tsvangirai of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC). Initially it had appeared the commuter buses, sporting the presidential portraits, were merely isolated and restricted to a few eastern middle class suburban routes. But investigations by ZimOnline revealed on Wednesday the A3-size Mugabe posters were in fact appearing plastered on minibuses on nearly all city routes including the densely populated southern working class areas, where the veteran leader is loathed the most.

Zimbabweans go to the polls on Saturday 29 March in combined presidential, parliamentary and council elections in which the opposition has already alleged cases of violence and intimidation against its supporters in the pre-polls campaign period. Mugabe,

84, and seeking a fresh five-year term, faces his biggest electoral test in the presidential race against his respected former finance minister Simba Makoni and the popular and charismatic Tsvangirai. Bus drivers told Zim Online that youths, they believed were ruling party activists and who were wearing T-shirts emblazoned with similar Mugabe portraits, had stormed termini earlier this week, marshalling bus crew to assist in sticking the posters onto their vehicles. "The youths caught us by complete surprise, within seconds they were all over the place pushing and shoving commuters and demanding to see drivers and conductors of selected buses whom they ordered to stick the President's posters on the kombis (minibuses)," said one conductor at the Fourth Street terminus just outside Harare central business district.

"They took down the registration numbers of our kombis and said they would monitor each of the kombis to ensure we did not pull down the president's posters threatening to deal with those who resisted," said the conductor, who identified himself only as Kingston. The sprawling Fourth Street terminus is situated within the same perimeters with the Harare provincial offices of Zanu PF. Attempts to get comment on the matter from the party office were fruitless with the relevant officials said to be out campaigning. A driver at the Market Square rank, who would not disclose his name saying he feared for his personal safety, said: "What it means displaying these posters on my bus is that the bus owner, driver, conductor as well as the passengers support Zanu PF, but that is not necessarily the case."

On Tuesday evening a group of commuters at the Fourth Street rank refused boarding the minibuses displaying Mugabe's posters digging in their heels for nearly 30 minutes before they finally boarded apparently because they could not get alternative means of transport home. One of the commuters remarked: "This is a form of intimidation on the kombi drivers and on passengers but that will not affect how I am going to vote." An officer at Harare Central police station said the law enforcement agency was not aware of any commuter bus owner or crew being forced to display posters of Mugabe on their vehicles. "We haven't received any such reports of kombis and the President's posters," said the policeman, indicating no action would be taken until bus owners lodged a formal complaint with the police.

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