ZANU PF abusing traditional leaders to drum up support as Chief Mugabe suspends a kraal Head

Transcription

1 ZANU PF abusing traditional leaders to drum up support as Chief Mugabe suspends a kraal Head Traditional leaders are allegedly being used as pawns in a big political game by ZANU PF which is making frantic efforts to drum up support ahead of the harmonized elections. In an awkward act that is likely to shock the nation, Chief Matubede Mugabe in Masvingo province suspended kraal head of Mugunzva village, Rangarirai Mugunzva from his throne in August this year alleging that he is an MDC-T activist. In an interview with The Crisis Report Team, the suspended Kraal head Mugunzva said that Chief Mugabe dethroned and replaced him with one Don Mugabe, a well-known Zanu-PF activist in the area. Mugunzva maintained that the reason for his dethronement was that he had refused to chant Zanu-PF slogans at traditional gatherings as he was compelled to. Chief Mugabe instated Don Mugabe despite the fact that I am still the legitimate kraal head. He does not like me because I do not exercise bias when executing my duties. Chief Mugabe is a Zanu PF supporter so he does not want to work with people who hold divergent and neutral views. He is working with Don Mugabe and Sungai Mberi, the Zanu PF chairperson for Ward 13 to force villagers into supporting Zanu PF, said Mugunzva. Mugunzva also alleged that since then he has been fighting the suspension with the aid of the Legal Resource Centre in Masvingo adding that the Local District Administrator James Mazvidza was dragging his feet in resolving the matter. In an interview with The Crisis Report Team, Kraal head Ezekiel Chinodyenama of Chinama village also confirmed the incident adding that Chief Mugabe openly told kraal heads in his area they would be fined for allowing the MDC-T to hold meetings in his area. He also reported that villagers are being harassed with Chief Mugabe imposing unilateral fines on people perceived to be MDC supports. He noted that the fines range from livestock and unreasonable amounts of money. Chief Mugabe has been threatening that those who do not comply with his orders will be heavily fined and dismissed from office. As far as we know, traditional leaders are not politicians and should have no reason to ban other political parties activities. We have however raised the matter with JOMIC and we are keenly waiting for their response, said Kraal head Chinodyenama. This incident comes a few weeks after Tatenda Kangora ZANU PF Youth Officer formerly, Chairperson for Mudzi District is reported to have physically assaulted Claudius Nyamudandara, a village headman, at Chief Rapuchirapu s homestead in the Jigu area of Mudzi. 1

2 The beating was based on allegations that the headman was sympathetic to MDC supporters. Nyamudandara is said to have been labelled a sell out to the gains of the liberation struggle because of his connivance with the MDC, to influence the locals into supporting MDC. In another related incident Chief Mugabe is alleged to have imposed a blanket ban on MDC-T activities in Masvingo following his recent banning of MDC-T political rallies in Mugunzva village saying they are a portent of violence while ZANU-PF rallies are, however, allowed to take place with the chiefs in attendance and compelling their subjects to do the same. Traditional leaders endorsed President Robert Mugabe as their chosen presidential candidate early this year. Civil society organizations and other pro-democracy movement have always said that Chiefs should be non-partisan and should work with all communities regardless of their political affiliation. 2

3 Zimbabweans want Devolution, Presidential term limits and all forms of citizenship in the new constitution, says Afrobarometer survey The Mass Public Opinion Institute (MPOI) has released the results of the Zimbabwe Afrobarometer Round 5 Survey. The results were announced at a dissemination meeting held at the Holiday Inn in Harare on 20 September The Round 5 opinion survey focused on three issues, that is, Presidential term limits, Devolution and Dual citizenship. The survey sought to get people s opinion on whether there should be devolution, presidential term limits and dual citizenship in the draft constitution. Key findings were that 74% of Zimbabweans want term limits for the President. The view is strongly held by the urbanites, 83%, and the rural folk where 69% support presidential term limits. More respondents in rural areas (27%) than in urban areas (15%) thought there should be no limits to the president s tenure of office. Although 93% of MDC-T supporters favor Presidential term limits, the opinion amongst ZANU- PF supporters is almost equally split; 48% support the idea while half are opposed. Bulawayo, Harare, and Matebeleland North Provinces strongly support presidential term limits while Mashonaland Central and Manicaland had relatively lower support for term limits. On the issue of citizenship, the majority of survey respondents are in support of other forms of citizenship except dual citizenship. 72% of the respondents rejected dual citizenship; the sentiment is equally shared between males and females, and between urbanites and the rural folk. Manicaland province had the highest number of respondents (84%) against dual citizenship while Mat South boasts of the highest number of respondents in support of dual citizenship in Zimbabwe. More ZANU PF loyalists (76%) reject dual citizenship than the MDC-T supporters (67%). The majority of Zimbabweans (61%) are in support of devolution. A significant proportion of survey respondents (21%) could neither agree nor disagree with the concept of devolution. More urbanites (76%) support devolution that their rural folk (54%). 7 out of 10 provinces want to see a devolved state in Zimbabwe.Mashonaland Central, Manicaland and Masvingo Provinces had the least support for devolution. The strongest sentiment for devolution was expressed in Bulawayo The Afrobarometer (AB) is an independent, non-partisan comparative series of public opinion surveys that measure public attitudes toward democracy, governance, the economy, leadership, identity, and other related issues conducted by an Africa-based network of researchers. The network has a national partner responsible for survey 3

4 implementation in the respective countries where studies are conducted. In Zimbabwe, the national partner is The Mass Public Opinion Institute (MPOI). The first round of surveys took place in in 12 countries. The Network is now conducting Round 5 survey in up to 35 countries during The purpose of the surveys is to measure popular perspectives on the social, political, and economic environments in each country where it is implemented and across Africa, with the goal of giving the public a voice in policy making processes through providing high-quality public opinion data to policy-makers, policy advocates and civil society organizations, academics, media, donors and investors, and ordinary Africans. The survey methodology for the current survey involved face to face interviews in the language of the respondents choice, with a randomly selected representative sample of adult citizens. The survey instruments are standardized across Africa for comparability. The Round 5 results are a product of the field work carried out by MPOI between 16 and 30 July 2012, involving adult Zimbabwean respondents above 18 years of age. 4

5 ZADHR PRESS STATEMENT ON INTERNATIONAL DAY OF PEACE The Zimbabwe Association of Doctors for Human Rights (ZADHR) joins the rest of the world in commemorating the International Peace Day under the theme "Sustainable Peace for a Sustainable Future". This year s theme gives the world and Zimbabwe in particular the opportunity for self -introspection. An opportunity to refocus and ensure sustainable peace in an environment where there is a high prevalence of politically motivated violence and human rights abuses. Through the years Zimbabweans have been deprived of their fundamental rights such as the right to health. This has been brought upon by issues to do with high user fees at health facilities which are beyond access to the vast majority of Zimbabweans. ZADHR continues to be disturbed by reports of individuals who have been denied access to healthcare on the basis of their political affiliation. It is these factors among others that continue to cause dissatisfaction amongst Zimbabweans. Health is a human right and should be readily accessible to all Zimbabweans. In addition, Zimbabwe has a known history of association of high levels of violence and torture around the election period. Torture has been and continues to be systematically used for political expediency by some sections of the government to maim and to kill political opponents. So, on this day ZADHR notes that as we approach a possible constitutional referendum and general elections there is need for Zimbabweans to maintain their calmness and for the government to ensure that the culture of impunity is done away with. A violence free referendum and election will allow citizens to peacefully participate in national processes. In the end, ZADHR calls on all adversaries, be they economic or political, to find peaceful solutions to their differences. 5