It is best known for the audacity of its campaigns: protest messages stamped on condom packets and bank notes, and pithy postcards to President Robert Mugabe — but who it is, is less apparent.
An underground group of anti-government activists, Zvankwana-Sokwanele — “Enough!” in Zimbabwe’s two main languages, Shona and Ndebele — do not operate out of offices with a nameplate on the door. Their only regular presence is a website in cyberspace, or the graffiti-splashed billboards and road signs exhorting people, in the words of Bob Marley, to “Get up, stand up”.
Zvankwana-Sokwanele, formed after Mugabe’s 2002 presidential election victory, says its aim is to “achieve democracy” through non-violence. The government has dismissed it as a “Western front” bent on destabilising the country.
The authorities were particularly incensed when “mischievous political slogans” appeared on banknotes at the beginning of the year. The government said defacing the currency was a crime and the culprits would face “the full wrath of the law”.
Zvankwana-Sokwanele contends that the strict laws governing public assembly and free speech mean that it must use unorthodox methods to get its message across.
Its new campaign is a protest aimed squarely at what the group regards as an already stolen legislative poll, due to be held on March 31. The activists are urging voters to spoil their ballots by choosing “none of the above”, rather than selecting any of the contesting candidates. “By spoiling your ballot you will not legitimise an illegitimate election. This is an active way of saying the electoral process is cockeyed,” the group announced on its website.
A member of the group said: “Our action brigades are in every little town and city, armed with sprays to put up our messages wherever the public can see them. We are giving the public a voice and regular updates on the national crisis.”
Police spokesperson Wayne Bvudzijena described the protest group and their activities as “illegal”.
Poll watch
The Southern African Development Community has told ZimOnline not to expect much from their observer mission to Zimbabwe as the Mauritius protocol on elections was still in its formative stages. The group’s deputy executive secretary Albert Muchanga said electoral standards will only be used “to observe and formulate judgements” for future polls in the region.
The Movement for Democratic Change has abandoned its 2000 electoral petitions, saying that the “judiciary is not accommodating and therefore the best way would be to win with a wide majority in the forthcoming elections”. Zanu-PF won 63 seats, of which the MDC disputed 37. The MDC won 57.
The Media Monitoring Project Zimbabwe reported that during the week of February 14 to 20, 19 of the 28 articles about the election campaign in the state press defended Zanu-PF and the other nine disparaged the MDC. In the week of February 21 to 27, 58 of 66 articles were devoted to Zanu-PF.
Civic groups will stage a mock ballot for Zimbabweans living in South Africa on March 31 to protest the decision to bar exiled citizens from voting. Polling will take place in Johannesburg and Pretoria.
On Saturday the South African NGO Coalition and the Zimbabwe Solidarity Forum will hold rallies in Mozambique, Zambia and South Africa, and on Wednesday the Congress of South African Trade Unions started its campaign to highlight abuses in Zimbabwe. The trade union federation will stage protests every Wednesday and Friday and on election day.
Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions leaders fear for their lives following revelations that the Central Intelligence Organisation wants a new leadership in place by June.