Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe’s Zanu-PF party said on Wednesday it would deploy more war veterans to campaign in some opposition areas ahead of a presidential election run-off marred by violence.
Opposition Movement for Democratic Change leader (MDC) Morgan Tsvangirai accuses the Zanu-PF of widespread attacks on his supporters ahead of the June 27 vote, but says he is still confident of victory after beating Mugabe in the first round.
Zanu-PF officials in the southern Masvingo province, where the ruling party lost several parliamentary seats in rural districts traditionally considered safe, told Zimbabwe state television they had stepped up their campaign against ”troublesome spots where MDC structures had taken root”.
”We are setting up units of war veterans to go to those areas to fan out the MDC, to campaign for President Mugabe, to confront and talk to some company managers who are openly supporting these MDC structures,” said retired Major Alex Mudavanhu, Zanu-PF chairperson for Masvingo.
”We are going to tell people that Zanu-PF is not going to lose this election,” he said.
Mugabe’s guerrilla fighters from the 1970s independence war and ruling party youth brigades are regularly deployed as political shock troops against the opposition and have recently been threatening another bush war if Mugabe loses.
Mugabe’s support has been eroded by the economic collapse of the once-prosperous country, which he has ruled since independence from Britain in 1980. On Wednesday, Mugabe’s government announced tax cuts for the low paid.
Tsvangirai says Zimbabweans cannot afford Mugabe’s rule any further. He accused Zanu-PF activists on Tuesday of killing 66 opposition supporters to try to intimidate voters ahead of the run-off.
Mugabe’s party denies waging war on its foes and says ”MDC thugs” have killed a number of Zanu-PF activists, including war veterans.
Satellite dishes
On Wednesday, the MDC said the government had launched a campaign forcing Zimbabweans to pull down home satellite dishes so they could not get foreign television stations and would have to rely on the state broadcaster. The MDC says that is biased.
Information Minister Sikhanyiso Ndlovu rejected the charge.
”What I heard was that a lunatic war veteran was going around telling people to remove their satellite dishes and we stopped him because the government is committed to free flow of information,” Ndlovu said.
Tsvangirai, detained twice last week during campaigning, unveiled a 75-seater bus he said would help to win votes.
”We are going to be in every town, in every village to meet the people of Zimbabwe,” the MDC leader told supporters.
The bus bore the words: ”A new president ready to deliver a new Zimbabwe. Morgan is the one.”
Zimbabweans hope the election will start recovery from economic ruin that has brought 165 000% inflation, 80% unemployment, chronic food and fuel shortages and has sent millions fleeing to neighbouring countries.
South African President Thabo Mbeki, who has come under criticism for his softly-softly approach in trying to mediate in Zimbabwe’s crisis, said his team was doing everything it could to avoid ”major problems” in the run-off.
”We are at one with … most of the international community that the incidents of violence and reported disruption of electoral activities of some of the parties are a cause for serious concern,” Mbeki told parliament.
Mugabe (84) says Zanu-PF cannot lose power to an opposition backed by ”white imperialists”. He says Western countries want to oust him over his seizure of white-owned farms to give to landless black Zimbabweans. — Reuters