Zanu-pf campaign thuggery remains unchanged
Some follow-up tidbits of information after the farcical senate elections.
Even though zanu-pf were clearly going to win from the beginning, and even though no one gave a damn about these elections, they still resorted to their old dirty tricks. For example, someone I know who comes from Intabzinduna north of Bulawayo told me that zanu-pf campaigned for the senate elections using food. They brought in maize and only gave it to those that voted ZANU PF in the last election and they told people that others won’t get until they stop voting MDC! This also supports what Gogo Selina told ‘Still Here’.
Another person - a friend of a friend of a friend - was arrested for ‘attending an MDC youth meeting’. The man was beaten but did manage to get treatment. His friends are still hoping to be able to get him to a human rights organisation to document his injuries. In the meanwhile, this poor man has to report to the police every single day (this is usually only necessary for serious criminals!) and that means he cannot attend work and earn a wage to feed his family.
For how much longer can Zimbabwe’s African neighbours call this sham a democracy? Shame on them!
August 31st, 2006 16:04
If you are not aware of this, please note that the respected Crisis International has prepared a report on the Zimbabwean situation. After taking the link to the Executive Summary and Recommendations, be sure to download the full report, which is offered both in PDF or MS-Word formats.
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http://www.crisisgroup.org/home/index.cfm