It is not yet clear when the polls will be held, but President Robert Mugabe says he wants them early next year while Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai insists on attaining a level electoral playing field before the polls.
MDC-T Manicaland provincial spokesperson Pishai Muchauraya said the soldiers recently distributed notebooks to village heads and war veterans in most parts of the province.
Muchauraya said soldiers, who are supposed to be apolitical, have virtually turned traditional leaders into Zanu PF political commissars.
He expressed concern over the presence of soldiers in the province as well as their involvement in the Zanu PF election campaign.
“This is the usual Zanu PF intimidation tactics and attempts to rig elections even before they start,” Muchauraya said.
“Village heads started giving their subjects numbers soon after the soldiers gave them the notebooks.”
Muchaurya said this exercise was being done in the whole province but was most prevalent in Chimanimani West, Chipinge, Mutasa South and Makoni East.
Zimbabwe Defence Forces (ZDF) public relations director Overson Mugwisi professed ignorance when asked about the development.
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He referred further questions to army public relations director Lieutenant Colonel Alphios Makotore, who declined to comment over the phone. The army is accused of helping out Mugabe mainly during presidential elections in 2002 and 2008 elections, which were some of the most violent in the country’s history.
At least 200 MDC-T activists were murdered during the 2008 polls.
In some areas of Manicaland, Zanu PF officials are distributing bicycles to village heads, a move the MDC-T believe is an attempt to bribe them.Last month, MDC-T accused former Chipinge South legislator Enock Porusingazi of ordering village headmen in his area to list all names of known Zanu PF supporters in Chipinge.
Porusingazi, however, denied the allegations saying they are carrying out a restructuring exercise.
