Villagers in Mutoko have raised concern at the presence of an army unit at Nyamuzuwe business centre in the district.

SW Radio Africa is reliably informed that the troops, believed to have come from the army’s JOC Mutoko barracks, have erected tents and mounted a boom gate at the centre.

Silas Gweshe, the information and publicity secretary for the MDC-T in Mashonaland East province, told us the presence of the soldiers has raised tensions in the politically volatile district.

‘We all know how ZANU PF operates towards an election. It is an open secret that Mugabe uses the military to intimidate or cause mayhem to villagers in rural areas. Soldiers are supposed to be based in army barracks, so you cannot stop worrying when you seem them camping at a business centre,’ Gweshe said.

Gweshe said villagers were concerned the big troop presence was another sign of imminent action by ZANU PF, a party that mostly relies on violence for survival.

‘We compare notes with our colleagues from other provinces and they tell us of much bigger troop movements in some of the districts. So when we see soldiers in rural areas people feel insecure because of what happened in 2008 when we defeated ZANU PF,’ Gweshe added.

On March 29th 2008, ZANU PF lost its majority in parliament for the first time since independence and Mugabe lost the presidential vote. Soon after, the regime embarked on a bloody campaign of violence and reprisal attacks, mainly against people who voted MDC-T.

In the three months between the vote and the June 27 runoff election, ruling-party militias, aided by soldiers and war veterans, battered the MDC, bringing its network to the verge of oblivion.

By election day, more than 200 party supporters were dead, hundreds were missing, tens of thousands were injured and almost half a million were made homeless. MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai dropped out of the race and took refuge in the Dutch Embassy.
Analysts’ fear ZANU PF will use violence again to hang on to power, after Mugabe signalled that he was against extending the life of the GPA when, according to him, it expires next year in February.

War vets leader Jabulani Sibanda is already terrorizing villagers in Masvingo province. In the last four months alone, Sibanda has been inciting violence and intimidating villagers mainly in Zaka and Bikita districts. He is criss-crossing the length and breadth of the province intimidating people into support for ZANU PF ahead of an impending referendum, in June next year.

Sibanda reportedly told villagers in Zaka recently that he had been ‘sent to warn all sell-outs in the area that ZANU PF is ready to kill them’ if they fail to join his party before campaigns for the next elections have begun.

By SW radio