The ghost of the bloody and fiercely-contested 2001 Bikita West by-election is haunting the constituency, with the area already on the edge ahead of another pending election in January next year.
By Tatenda Chitagu
Civic organisations are predicting a repeat of the violence as the ruling Zanu PF is determined to retain the seat “at any cost” to avoid an embarrassing successive defeat.
Zanu PF was left with egg on the face in the recently-held Norton by-election where independent candidate Temba Mliswa beat the party’s candidate, Ronald Chindedza.
The defeat left President Robert Mugabe fuming and he claimed the party’s candidate was a “thief”, who was not known among the electorate.
Bikita West constituency fell vacant in July after Zanu PF’s Munyaradzi Kereke was incarcerated for 10 years for raping a relative.
Zanu PF acting Masvingo chairperson, Amasa Nhenjana said the party cannot let go of the seat, which is also being contested by the NCA’s Murdock Chivasa and former MDC-T MP for the constituency, Heya Shoko (independent).
The two are regarded as strong contenders for the seat and would give Zanu PF a good run for its money in the election.
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Beauty Chabaya is representing the ruling party in the polls after beating heavyweights Gibson Mashingaidze and Elias Musakwa in disputed primary elections.
“We have to reclaim that seat. There is no doubt about that. We are very confident we will retain the seat,” Nhenjana said.
Civic society organisations said the situation was now tense, as the ruling party had upped its intimidation tactics in Bikita West to coerce villagers to vote for the party, raising the spectre of political violence.
Speaking at a co-coordinating meeting hosted by Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition last week, Christian Voice International president, Tapfumaneyi Zenda said signs on the ground pointed to a bloody by-election in Bikita West.
“Right now, we are hearing people from the ruling party saying that they would like to win the Bikita by-election by all means necessary to avoid what happened in Norton,” he said.
“Intimidation is rife and as the church, we fear a repeat of the violence that has characterised past elections.
“We are concerned about political victimisation and high levels of intolerance in Bikita West.”
The situation, he said, was being worsened by the fact that the government had not acted to address past incidences of political violence.
Community Tolerance Reconciliation and Development co-ordinator, Zivanai Muzorodzi said cases of intimidation and victimisation were high in Bikita West.
“We are deeply concerned about the volatile political situation, which has largely been a result of intolerance and a determination by the ruling party to ensure that they employ all sorts of tactics to win in Bikita West,” he said.
“Tolerance should be the hallmark of free and fair elections, but that is not the situation in Bikita right now.”
The groups said they were concerned about the politicisation of food aid and development projects in the area.
However, Nhenjana denied all the allegations, saying people were just raising “unfounded charges against the party as they feared to lose”.
In 2001, the constituency was turned into a war zone when retired colonel Claudius Makova battled it out with MDC-T’s Bonny Pakai.
Zanu PF and MDC officials clashed, leading to injuries and displacements as villagers caught in the crossfire sought refuge in the hills for days, only to return to their homesteads after voting.
An MDC-T activist, Amos Mutongi, was allegedly murdered by known Zanu PF thugs who are still walking scot-free.
Meanwhile, a non-governmental organisation that monitors local election processes has called on the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) to show its teeth.
The Election Resource Centre (ERC) said ZEC must summon and caution political parties, as well as candidates engaging in behaviour which compromises the freeness and fairness of elections.
“ZEC must publicly condemn political parties and candidates engaging in behaviour which compromises the freeness and fairness of elections,” the ERC said in a statement.
“They must also publicly instruct the Zimbabwe Republic Police to take action against perpetrators of election-related violence and intimidation.”
The electoral think tank said ZEC must publicly initiate electoral laws that reduce election-related violence and intimidation since section 157 (4) of the Constitution mandates the commission to participate in law-making by way of being consulted.
“The ERC, therefore, encourages ZEC not to use weak laws as an excuse, but to act on irregularities which have a direct bearing on its constitutional mandate to ensure free, fair and credible elections,” it added.
ZEC chairperson Rita Makarau last week admitted that the laws that guided the conduct of electoral processes in Zimbabwe were weak and that it made it difficult for the commission to deal with issues of political violence and bias by government-controlled media in its coverage of polls.
She said other state institutions such as the police and the Zimbabwe Human Rights Commission must also begin to play their role in curbing political violence.
