Mberengwa district is regarded by the ruling
party as its undisputed political stronghold. That area is called the
backbone of zanu/pf. This is a myth. The fact remains that violence
as a means of suppression has been retained by the ruling party in Mberengwa
district to maintain the loyalty of the population beginning during the war of
liberation. It is that mechanism of systematic violence that is put in place
especially towards election times that has kept the steady vote for the ruling
party intact The manner in which violence was used this time around the
2005 elections reveals the workings of this system to keep the population down
and to disguise the real voice of the people of Mberengwa from being heard
outside their district.
Much has been
said by the CIO in leaking their data to the MDC leadership. Their claim is
that Midlands constituencies were all won by the MDC except Mberengwa
East and West. No rigging it is said by the CIO in their leaked report to
the MDC took place in the Mberengwa district constituencies. Evidence of what
happened before, during and after polling day on March 31 demonstrates that this
statement from the CIO regarding the 2 Mberengwas is false. That
CIO statement re the 2 Mberengwas is challenged as part of the web of
lies woven by the ruling party and government machinery to cause divisions in as
wide a context inside MDC as possible. The 2 Mberengwas are regarded as
zanu/pf's backbone in their folklore and much is done at all times to maintain
this myth. Surveys taken before the elections clearly demonstrated that
zanu/pf had lost Mberengwa East to the MDC. Events in Mberengwa East even
after these elections also show that zanu/pf has lost Mberengwa East to the MDC
party.
The Mberengwa
East election 2005 campaign was structured around 3 effective strategies. The first one was the 7 rallies that
took the candidate around the wards, the second was the meet the people at
business centres 3 car convoy which involved the campaign team travelling around
the business centres around the whole constituency and the 3rd was
the door to door visits after the rallies and visits. This exposed the MDC to the Mberengwa
East communities as well as popularised the MDC songs, themes and policies and
programmes. Wherever the MDC
campaign team travelled around the constituency there was excitement and
jubilation among the general population throughout the district. This was apparent in the manner in which
the numbers of people grew with each rally and also by the manner in which some
voluntarily stayed with the campaign team and loyally followed its timetable to
qualitatively enrich the entire election process. The mobile kitchen, an
integral part of each rally was better organised each time, it became more and
more of a local activity as the campaign grew.
Rallies
The zanu’pf
candidate as well as the independent tried and failed to attract numbers beyond
10 in the same areas where MDC had growing crowds with each meeting. In all the places visited by the
MDC candidate and the campaign team, the zanu/pf and independent candidates
had just passed and had failed to garner visible support from the local people.
Stories of this boycott happening to these 2 were related by excited crowds
whenever the MDC team arrived at its venue to conduct its campaign
programme.
Makuva 21 March
This rally was
held in the area next to the farms that were taken from the white community in
2000. War vets still live there but
life there is very hard. Many MDC
members fear to come out and be seen as participating in the political
process. However there were 80
people who braved the situation and attended the rally. There were many women. They made up 60% of the meeting. The local problems were explained as
that the security in the area was still not sound for opposition
members.
Inyala
Mine 23
March
The rally was
attended by many war vets, zanu/pf members wearing their t shirts as well as
very old people who had come from surrounding communities to attend the
rally. This was a branch meeting
attended by 900 persons. There was
a lively discussion after the candidate’s speech around MDC policy issues.
Because of the increased numbers of old people the candidate responded to the
cries of hunger and poverty by the attending by sharing out soap, mealie meal
and blankets to the old women and men who had walked long distances to the
rally
Zvomukonde 25
March
This was by far
the largest rally so far being attended by some 2000 persons. The rally began late. Some had left already as the sun was too
hot. The mobile kitchen was the
best organised as people were called by branch to eat as the meeting proceeded
until all were fed. There were more
youths and even more elderly in this meeting than in any held so far. There were
also 3 headmen, the largest number since rallies began. This rally had more MDC songs and dance
and jubilation than those held todate.
There was a heavy police presence as the venue was next to Buchwa, the
Support Unit national headquarters. There were no incidents as the atmosphere in
all MDC rallies were of a festive mood and totally peaceful. No one was forced to
attend.
Murerezi – 26
march
The Murerezi
rally was the last one in this series.
When the rally began the rally organisers explained that there were
militia bands in the area who were barring people from surrounding areas from
attending the rally at Murerezi.
This was the largest and the most orderly rally to that time. It was the first time we ran out of
food. More was purchased, prepared
and the rest fed. There were for
the first time, teachers and new MDC members who had crossed from zanu/pf who
openly participated in this rally.
The candidate in this meeting was asked to take her spectacles off and
look around the crowd by one of those who asked a question. The speaker then pointed out that the
candidate was a local who is an African with ancestry and roots in Mwembe in
Mberengwa east contrary to the zanu/pf propaganda that she was a white
woman. There was also an incredible
statement by this person, it was that the candidate must bring her white husband
to Mberengwa to help develop this underdeveloping district as well as bring all
the whites who were chased out of the area to bring back their investments so
that jobs would be returned to Mberengwa district. As it was Easter Saturday
there were visiting family members from other parts of the country and
region. The atmosphere was jubilant
as people sang and danced MDC political songs.
Closing
National President’s Rallies
Mberengwa East
decided to forego the national closing rallies in Gweru, Bulawayo and
Harare. These rallies were packed
as thousands were turned away. Throughout the country MDC rallies were attended
by large numbers of people who displayed a jubilant and festive mood throughout
the country. Mberengwa East rallies
were no exception. With all these
extraordinary developments the Mberengwa East candidate advised everyone that
zanu/pf had some terrible conclusion to this beautiful MDC campaign.
Meet the People Business Centre
Visits
The Nyamhondo
Route
This ‘meet the
people visit’ was designed to take the campaign team through the difficult part
of Mberengwa East constituency. The
team covered Matedzi, Ngungumbane, Matsvatsva, Zvamatobve, Remiti, Bonda,
Mangonde, Manyenge, Chengwe, Burasha.
The sunset before the team completed this particular route. Shamba and Garinyama were left out. The team stopped at each business centre
and pasted the candidate’s poster with the MDC president’s next to hers. There was also a Vote for a woman poster
from the Women and Politics Support Network which was also pasted next to these
two.
The team then
walked up to those gathered usually over beer drinks and greeted those
present. The team then asked for
the vote of each person and joined in the general discussion on the
election. There was in Bonda some
tension at first but this was broken when the team sat down to discuss MDC with
the merry makers. Chief Nyamhondo
was present and was happy to speak with the candidate and the team. It was a big shock then that this same
chief turned out to be a Election agent, threatening voters with removal from
their homes if they voted MDC. The team was met by small groups of jubilant
rural people throughout the route.
At Chengwe 2 elderly women approached the convoy in full traditional
dance with huge drums. They seemed
to be going somewhere. As the
convoy approached and they saw the MDC symbols and regalia they suddenly started
shouting at the team and abusing them for their daring to intrude into this area
with their rubbish!! The team
pasted the usual posters around the zanu/pf candidate’s to the open disgust of
the 2 women who had long stopped dancing as they hurled verbal abuse at the
team. When the team returned the MDC posters were torn down. We re pasted.
The Svita
Route
The final visit
was to the candidate’s ancestral home.
The advance team had been inundated with demands that the candidate come
home for a rally. There were
streams of people towards the Goredema business centre, chief Muchembere’s
area. There was an enthusiastic
crowd which engaged in debate on MDC policy and programme. The team moved to Svita where war vets
had chased away the independent candidate that morning according to the story
related there. The candidate
addressed the war vets at their request and had drinks with the crowd
gathered. Mwembe was the next stop
with a mini rally and questions and answers. The team returned home while 1 car was
sent to Zvishavane to secure drums of fuel. The fuel pumps in Mataga were broken and
there was no fuel in the growth point.
When available in the black market it was 45000 for 5
litres.
The Preparations for 31 March
Elections
Election agents
were requested to stay in their areas and walk onto their polling stations the
evening before. There were some
Election agents who had to be taken from their home areas to wards where MDC had
experienced much violence. Mketi
ward had its MDC chairperson killed in 2000 land although the killers were known
there were no arrests to this day.
It was perceived as a difficult area by MDC. The Election agents packs for Mberengwa
East failed to arrive up to this day.
They were supposed to be 90 Election agents’ packs one for each polling
station. These were
untraceable. The candidate, faced
with this dilemma had to improvise a replacement kit. This was made up of 10kgs of mealie meal
per polling station, 2kgs of meat, a loaf of bread for each election agent, a candle,
matches, salt, 2 pens one for the election agent inside the polling station and
one pn for the Election agent standing outside the polling station, a notebook
and the 3 forms and write up for the election agent on how to carry out their
duties.
All this work
was carried out by the team of youths, also acting as security taking the
Election agents and the kits to each polling station. There was no transport available to take
the kits and the election agents to their positions, as there was no fuel in the
growth point. As the day wore on
volunteers began to come around with their vehicles and labour, to assist in the
growing catastrophe. It was only at
4 am that the fuel car arrived from Zvishavane that the Election agents were
then transported.
Ruling Elite Mberengwa East March 31
Rigging Methods
Introduction
The Rwandese
speak of ‘impunity’ as the form of
behaviour that characterised the regime's attitude in their country when it
prepared for and then when it committed genocide over the 100 days in
1994. The Zimbabwe March 31, 2005
elections displayed to Zimbabweans and the world at large that same callous
and shameless attitude of impunity by the manner in which the Zimbabwean
ruling elite/regime, without any shame, stole the election in all
constituencies, especially in remote rural areas as shown by what they
systematically did throughout the period before the March 31 day and on the
election day itself and the current ruling party post March 31 programme, in
this case in Mberengwa East constituency. The March 31 elections and what the
regime did is yet another sad chapter in mugabe’s reign that continues to
blot Zimbabwe’s proud history. The
study and understanding of how the ruling party conducted the March 31 elections
is crucial for the MDC and the international community to
empower themselves to pave succesful strategies forward to overcome
what looks like an impasse to some. As MDC we must now consciously develop
strategies to overcome the traditional ruling party political hurdles that
prevent the vote in Zimbabwe from ever being free and
fair.
The Mberengwa
East Candidate was unable to vote at Mataga Hall polling station when she
arrived because her name was not listed in the pages of the Voters’ Roll in
that venue on March 31. She proceeded onto the Command Centre on the advice of
the MDC election agent, to seek clarification re- the absence of her name in the
Voters’ Roll at Mataga Hall polling station.
1a The
Command Centre Responds and Acts
The Zimbabwe
Election Commision (ZEC)
representative at Mataga when asked by the MDC candidate about the
absence of her name in the Voters’ Roll explained with a lot of pedantic detail,
that the candidate’s name was in the Voters’ Roll at the Command Centre. That copy of the Voters’ Roll was then
taken to Mataga Hall by one of the officials delegated to assist the Candidate
to vote. The official at the
Command Centre assigned to assist the Candidate shamelessly gave a lengthy and
elaborate explanation when the 2 of them arrived at the Mataga Hall that it
appeared that page 170 of the Mataga Hall Voters’ Register was missing, a page
that was immediately replaced in the eyes of everyone present.
1b The MDC Candidate
Finally Casts Her Vote at Mataga Hall But……
The MDC
candidate then voted and afterwards relayed the news of the whole debacle
to her husband in Harare. During their telephone conversation, the phone in
Mataga just cut in the middle of the conversation. However enough data was
relayed to Harare for the press to be alerted of the anomaly at Mataga Hall
polling station. When questioned by
the press about the missing name the ZEC representative quickly pointed out that
the error was rectified. This was a lie.
1c The
Page with ‘H’ is Torn Up Again
An eyewitness
has come forward to reveal that as soon as the candidate left after
voting on March 31 the presiding officer at Mataga Hall polling station
sought the services of the officer responsible for issuing identity documents at
Mataga growth point to once again tear out the newly replaced page at
Mataga Hall polling station. That same official tore up the page out of the new
Voters’ Roll and threw it in the bin in full view of all present in the Mataga
Hall. The person who gave that
piece of detail states that she was overcome by the impunity with which that
officer tore out the new page in full view of all those present. It was like his act of tearing out that
H page was an act to threaten those present, like a challenge to anyone who
dared to inform on what was done as soon as the candidate had cast her vote.
There are stories with details that are flowing in to the MDC in Mberengwa East
from poor rural women, men and school children who feel disgusted with the
daylight robbery (the stealing of an election) carried out by the ruling party
with absolutely no shame on the part of those who ensured that the election was
indeed stolen from MDC once again.
ii
The Scene at the Voting Line on March 31
No one of the
team slept that night of 30 March with all the work that had to be done. Most
MDC members went early to the polling station nearest to them, as agreed
during the campaign, to be at the top of the line. The typical situation
experienced by most MDC people in Mberengwa East who went to vote was
experienced by the MDC Candidate in this manner. At 6.30 am the candidate walked with
some team members to vote. There was already a talkative group of people at the
polling station at Mataga Hall. The argument among them was over how to line
up. There was an aggressive male
who told everyone of us present where we had to stand. The MDC team challenged him as to where
he derived his authority from as he behaved like some headman, zanu/pf directed.
When the doors opened the candidate walked in to be asked by the police detail
what her name was. She told him,
Holland. Surprised he showed her
where to go. There was at all the
polling stations an air of unfriendliness to any one suspected of coming to cast
a vote for MDC. The kraal-heads were already present with the households in
their books to ensure that these cast their vote to the ruling party. Just being at the voting line was an act
of bravery in Mberengwa East.
Inside the Polling
Station
The atmosphere
inside the polling station was even more intimidating for MDC people as one saw
the line up of zanu/pf staunch members as the predominant staff manning each
polling station as election agents. There were 9 such persons when I
went in to vote after the drama at the line outside. These included the police
details who hovered around in their uniforms casting intimidating looks at each
voter as they came in to cat their vote. In Mberengwa East 2 chiefs are
reported to have been polling agents inside 2 polling stations, threatening
people from their communities, with eviction from their traditional homes
if they dared to vote against the ruling party. There are reports of
kraal-heads also acting as election agents mumbling the similar threats to those
coming to vote who came from their 'book'.
iii
The Missing Pages Episode – A Tactic to Intimidate the
Candidate
The whole
missing page episode was conducted in such a way that it was yet another method
to intimidate the candidate and women suspected of coming to vote for the
MDC. For example at the Election
agent searched without success for the candidate’s name in the voter’s roll, the
presiding officer invited the candidate to take a seat as the search for her
name continued.
iv
Procedures Inside the Polling Station
In the 30 minutes that the MDC
candidate sat down to await the outcome of the search for her missing name,
every second person who cast their vote requested for assistance to vote, as
they claimed that they could not read or write or see. There was noone of those
who sought assistance who could be classed as a person with disability. The staff at Mataga Hall were rude to those
they suspected to be coming to vote for the opposition. For example in
that short period of time two women were rudely told to leave the polling
station as their names were not on the Voters’ Roll as well as the candidate’s.
The instructions to go home were give rudely by the Election agent. After 40 minutes a young man in police
uniform came to rudely instruct the candidate to leave the polling station.
As the day wore
on it was clear that zanu/pf machinery was at work. MDC Election agents were refused entry
into the polling stations by the presiding officers despite that every polling
station was provided with details of names of MDC Election agents by the
ZEC. Mhokonya is a polling station that
was located near the area where the commercial famrs were seized from the white
community in 2000. MDC suspected that the ruling party would rig
the vote through stuffing ballot boxes around polling stations in that
area. On polling day the MDC election agents seconded to Mhokonye polling
station were not allowed to enter that polling station. The MDC election agent
immediately posted a complaint to ZEC about that anomaly. It was later emerge
that other MDC election agents were not allowed to enter their polling stations
as well. The data that was colected by MDC election agents reflects
this anomaly. Data missing altogether because the presiding
officers of some polling stations refused MDC election agents entry into
the polling stations they were seconded to. In some cases the election agent outside
was not allowed to stand outside the door of the polling station, resulting in
data gaps which has made the data analysis difficult. Only 74 polling stations
have some data collection reflected in their forms while 52 completed the 3 MDC
forms to some degree.
There were in
Ronda polling station for example 46 voters (zanu/pf) who registered on
17th March after the closing date of 4th March for
registration of voters. The pattern
according to government Election agents who want to remain anonymous, was
reflected in all polling stations. Underage schoolchildren appear to have
been registered under this category. Further investigations are being
conducted to clarify events in this category.
vii
Groups of militias prevented MDC youths from going to the polling station
to vote on polling day. An estimate given
by the Mberengwa East MDC District Secretary Zenzo Hove is that from the
information collected to date from villagers around each polling station there
is an average of 100 persons who are estimated to have been turned away
from polling stations to prevent them from voting on March 31. Young people were the foremost
target of the militia in the exercise to turn away people from casting their
vote on election day. MDC support group members spotted 5 such
groups in action and interrupted that militia's activity for that
hour.
Identity
documents for people to register to vote were not issued in Mberengwa district
office for several weeks/months before election date depending on who went to
seek an ID document. This ink
shortage was only directed at youths suspected to be MDC members, supporters and
sympathisers. This disenfranchised many people, especially the
youths.
Secret meetings
with traditional leaders were held by the zanu/pf candidate during the campaign
period to intimidate them in these meetings to force those household heads in
their books to vote for the ruling party. These traditional leaders were
coached to take their people to areas far from the nearest polling station to
them to cast their vote on March 31.Again information is filtering out that the
ruling party in these meetings told households that only the parents could
vote. The children in family were not to vote in the March 31
elections. This was another factor that ensured that the young who are the
MDC members were prevented to vote at the family level. Heads of
households were told that families who did not obey this ruling party
directive would be removed from all benefits such as being listed for food
benefits, development projects such as food for work, as well as scholrships for
family members. Door to door meetings were held nightly during the
campaign period to forward this message to every household in the
district.
Information was
passed that MDC was an illegal party.
Sometimes it was that MDC had fled the area because of violence or that
MDC was a front for local whites who were discredited, and for the British and
American governments who were defeated in Iraqi. The stories were
endless.
xi. Assisted
Voters
By far the
largest numbers of voters throughout Mberengwa East were assisted voters. This tactic was used on the elderly who
are dependant on welfare which comes to them through the lists put out on the
community by the kraalhead who takes this to the local councillor who then takes
this to the GMB where maize is distributed through those on the zanu/pf
list. Those on the MDC list are
denied maize, participation in projects and scholarships for their
children.
xii Post March 31 Ruling
Party Meetings at Villages
kraal heads are
currently conducting ruling party meetings to reinforce the practise that all
those who voted on their own and who did not seek assistance to vote on March 31
will not be listed for food benefits, projects and children’s educational
benefits. Reports of these meetings
are flowing into MDC at Mataga with details of dates, the names of the
kraal-heads involved as well as those who were present.
xiii Ronda polling
station
Leaked
information from Ronda polling station is that the boxes which were properly
sealed with all present and signed for were apparently reopened after polling
agents left, the reason given to those still remaining was that the boxes were
not properly sealed the first time around when every one was
present.
xiv. Surveys re
Rural Seats for MDC
Surveys carried
out predicted that several ruling party rural seats were lost to zanu/pf and
would be won with large margins by MDC.
Each of these surveys showed that Mberengwa East constituency was one of
the rural seats that would be won by MDC. Chronicle newspaper journalists
actually visited the MDC candidate in her home in Mataga to congratulate her on
her victory that their paper predicted for later that evening when the counting
would take place. Mrs Holland told
the journalists that she would, like most MDC candidates, win her seat but that
the seat would be stolen this evening and handed over to zanu/pf through massive
rigging that was underway as they talked.
The journalists argued that she was wrong. They still have not come back to
acknowledge their mistake to the Mberengwa east candidate. Mrs Holland had always been curious how
the rigging would be done this time.
The Mberengwa East report clearly demonstrates how the rigging in
Mberengwa East was done by those entrusted with the task of ensuring free and
fair elections in 2005.
Recomendations
The
political situation is fluid. Locally the Presidential elections are now
made imminent by recent events. Zimbabwe has been thrown into a new
political dynamic which will lead the country into elections sooner than later
because of the ruling party's theft of the March 31 Parliamentary
elections. To remain on top of the sitaution, the MDC must continue to build
on the ground it gained during the recent campaign by intensifying party
building and constant political engagement within constituencies
where the MDC structures want to do the party building work as an immediate way
forward.
Internationally MDC must activate its contacts and
create new ones urgently, to keep the topic of events in Zimbabwe on
top of every calendar abroad during the rest of 2005. If MDC fails in this
international approach South Africa by its chosen political stand on Zimbabwe
will continue to be the decisive voice on Zimbabwe's way forward. MDC must
take the driver's seat on Zimbabwe locally and
abroad.
Urgently MDC must develop a political strategy for its
rural constituencies. To achieve this there should be set up immediately
within the party a 'Think Tank' composed of voluntary stake holders and experts
who are many in Zimbabwe.
The
party must urgently move to regenerate itself. The campaign
threw up some party activists at every level. These must be
formally absorbed and included in the process to strengthen the party in
the coming weeks.
Conclusion
Mberengwa East
communities are devastated by the results, although they were forewarned by the
MDC candidate at each rally and in every discussion that MDC would not be
winning the rural seats this time around. This was the theme of all the rally
messages from the MDC candidate.
The MDC
candidate also said that both the work MDC candidates throughout the country did
to prepare for the 2005 elections will pay MDC good returns in the next few
months. The MDC message has sunk
deep in our supporters’ minds. As
the economic and social situation
dramatically take yet another deep negative dive a new situation which requires
urgent political action is emerging very quickly already. The campaign has taught us as MDC where
we need to do the work to improve the party structures and consolidate the
party’s capacity to deal with the situation we face as Zimbabweans in our
country today. In Mberengwa prices
rose the day when election results were being announced. The price rises were for all
commodities.
The next phase
these elections have thrown Zimbabweans into requires clear thought. It demands that MDC is deep rooted among
all sections of our society. Those
abroad must not be preoccupied with the perceived weaknesses of those of us
inside Zimbabwe. They must continue
to give moral and material support to those in the trenches at home. This is the
time when Zimbabweans at home and abroad must struggle to understand one
another's position where we are located today. It is time to use our
talents to solve this tragic situation we find ourselves in as a people.
Zimbabweans at home and abroad are able to eventually get this situation
resolved.
The recent
return visit to Mataga was good for the morale of constituency members and for
the candidate. Discussions and
information exchange was very healing on both sides. The disgust at the impunity
displayed on March 31 by ruling party officials has left communities in deep
shock.. However even ruling party members do not seem excited by their
victory. There is a certain
uncertainty in the ruling party members’ behaviour countrywide. Even they are shocked by the scale of
the theft of the March 31 election victory from MDC.
The struggle
continues to Victory
Sekai
Holland
Harare, 14
April 2005
ANALYSIS OF FORMS OF RIGGING USED IN
MBERENGWA EAST CONSTITUENCY
·
Partisan Role of Chiefs, Kraalheads, Councillors and
Supervisors
We
spotted several groups of people assembled by the Chiefs and Kraalheads under
trees at dawn at Vambare, Makuwerere, Shayamavhudzi, Rhonda,Chirovandovo,
Manyenge as we drove round distributing our Election agents on the morning of
the Vote. The Chiefs and Kraalheads threatened these voters by telling them that
anyone who voted for the MDC would not be entered on the lists of those who
would be allowed to buy maize or mealie meal from the GMB or to participate in
Food-for-work programmes.
·
On Chiefs Acting as Election Agents.
At Nyamhondo, Chief Siyayi Mufusha acted as a ZANU PF
Election Agent
At Ngungubane, Chief Mkwananzi personally
allocated ZANU PF Election Agents to Polling Stations.
At Masvingo, ZANU PF Councillor Chirasha
“bussed” voters to Masvingo Polling Station using a government vehicle to make
sure they voted as instructed.
At Ingezi Primary School, Kraalhead N.
Tichagwa was a ZANU PF Election agent.
At Mazorodze Polling Station, Chief Nyamondo
was a ZANU PF election agent
These practices were so prevalent that they
were reported by almost every one of our election agents.
·
On Assisted Voting.
At Shayamavhudzi our Election Agent, Mr
Sivhezeni Dziva reported 73 assisted voters. There were also large numbers of
assisted voters at Bonda, Matedzi, Mahindi, Svita and Vuronga and others. It was strange that voters requiring
assistance as illiterates included retired Headmasters. On one occasion an
assisted voter was asked to sign his name and he did so without a problem. This
form of rigging accounted for substantial numbers of voters during which our
agents were not able to check what was happening as only the Supervisor, a ZRP
and a Monitor were allowed to witness the process.
Further, a number of kraalheads compiled
registers of their followers under each
Party saying that they wanted to know whom
they were going to vote for. This happened at Buhwa Primary School, Machingwe
and Makuta.
·
Manipulation of Voters Roll
Mberengwa East Candidate blocked from voting
when the page on which her name was listed was pulled
out.
At 7.00 am Mrs Sekai Holland, the Mberengwa
East candidate, arrived at the polling station at Mataga intending to cast her
vote. A monitor looked
for her name and pronounced that her name was
not on the voters
roll.
The presiding officer immediately ordered her
out despite the fact that he clearly knew that she was the candidate. She
refused to leave. An altercation ensued which was defused by a relative, a Mr
Nkomo, who advised her to go and report the case to the Command Centre. They
quickly found her name and told her to return to the polling station and vote.
It was then that they found that two pages were missing from the Voters Roll at
that polling station.
·
Voters Blocked from Polling Stations
Throughout Mketi ward, young people were
blocked from reaching polling stations.
We saw groups and groups of youths returning home because they were
erroneously told that their names did not appear on the voters
roll.
·
Use of Late Registration Receipts
The deadline for Registration as a voter was
4 February 2005. Yet a lot of voters
were allowed to vote with registration
receipts dated as late as the 17th of March showing that someone
had got hold of the receipt book
and was still issuing receipts to
ZANU-PF supporters. This issue was reported at Ronda polling
station.
·
Owners of Irrigation Plots Threatened with
Eviction
At Chingoma
Irrigation Scheme, owners of irrigation plots were threatened with eviction if
they voted MDC. That shows how
ZANU-PF exploited the construction of Mundi-Mataga Dam.
OVERWHELMING PROBLEMS THAT NEED TO BE
ADDRESSED
o
Latent Fear from the Past Violence.
In 2002
Mberengwa East came under a ruthless campaign of terror by Biggie Chitoro which
gained notoriety worldwide. That dark cloud has really never lifted but still
hovers over many minds whose relatives paid a very heavy price (including the
killings of Fainos Zhou and Muchenje, the MDC Chairman of Muketi Ward). This was
evident as we drove around placing MDC posters. People feared to come close to
these posters or to allow us to place them close to their homes. Five and half
km from Vurasha we pasted some posters, but 15 minutes later when we returned,
we found that they had been removed. Yet we only saw two very elderly women
watching us when we pasted them.
Such fear could only have been removed if
POSA had been struck off and we were allowed sufficient time to
campaign.
·
Lack of
MDC structures of any kind.
MDC fought ZANU-PF on completely structurally
uneven ground.
It
had no trace of any structure on the ground – just the name that it was a
district without any branches existing in its wards. Yet ZANU PF had over the
years woven its Party structures into the traditional structures of Chiefs,
Kraal-heads and Councillors.
·
Limited Period of Campaigning
Because of POSA the 33 days allocated for
campaigning was too limited to cover any significant number of Wards in the
district.
Were it not for the resolute and
single-mindedness of the Candidate herself, Mrs Sekai Holland may have never
been seen or heard by the voters some of whom were surprised when they saw her
that she was in fact Black not White, and a Hove born right here at Mwembe in
Mberengwa.
·
Total Lack of Provincial Support.
Among the team that accompanied Mrs Holland
were two members of the MDC voluntary support group, who both work in Gwanda.
The two made a critical observation that nowhere else had they seen a total lack
of support by the Province such as that experienced by our candidate in
Mberengwa East. For instance:
o
Election Agents' packs did not arrive up to this
day.
o
Training of Election Agents did not take place
o Allowances
promised by the province have not come to Mberengwa East for distribution since
the incompleted training programme
for Election Agents.
o
Province did not provide any form of transport
or supporting staff as promised to the candidate.
o
Mr Fletcher Dulini-Ncube responsible for Midlands
South province, visited most Midlands South districts but is said to have told
the Deputy Chairperson of Midlands South when asked when he was visiting
Mbrrengwa East that he had responded that he had no programme for Mberengwa
East
THE WAY FORWARD
To
penetrate Mberengwa we feel that two strategies must be set in motion
forthwith:
·
a complete overhaul of district office bearers, replacing
them with ones who are committed to the vigorous restructuring of Wards and
Branches
·
the immediate implementation of projects when the Community Centre is
completed, specifically targeting the youths in the same way as AWC targets the
women
Chaile Maposa
(Deputy District Org/Sec)
________________________________
Zakaria Moyo
(Support Group)
________________________________
Ambassador
S.E.Zhou (Support Group)
________________________________
Harare, 14
April 2005
