Violence now seems to be in the political DNA of Zimbabwean politics and comes in the form of harassment, intimidation and online bullying. This has been used to coerce support by political parties and to eliminate women from participating in politics.
On June 9, 2018 speaking on Identities Umthlobo /Zvatiri television show, Linda Masarira a member of Movement for Democratic Change [MDC T] said that the violence before, during and after elections was perpetrated by the vulnerable who had been manipulated by political leaders to unleash violence on each other as a way of coercing support.
According to Anti-Corruption Trust of Southern Africa, reports have confirmed that most of the political violence was linked to coercion.
As a way to stop the manipulation of vulnerable Masarira said, “citizens should not allow any kind of unruly acts as this can cause political instability in the country.’’
Political leaders should show and demonstrate levels of maturity before, during and after elections. It has was revealed during the television show that preaching the gospel of peace and unity was the solution to curb political violence. Zanu PF member Tafadzwa Twoboy Mugwadi concurred with the notion and he challenged other political parties to reciprocate the message of peace that has he said had been spread by President Emmerson Mnangagwa in order to achieve free and fair elections.
Furthermore Mugwadi said, “Intra- political violence is something that needs to be stopped as this has been posing serious threats of spilling to other political parties.’’
It was on the sad note during the recent harmonized election certain political parties employed derogative and sexist language towards women. For example Thokozani Khupe was labeled a ‘prostitute’ by demonstrators during a leadership wrangle last year. Glanys Changachirere, a women’s rights activist from Civic Society said the abuse of women during election time has been the major obstacle for women’s participation in politics.
In addition the president of Build Zimbabwe Dr Manyika said, “Citizens should not only have the right to elect political leaders but to recall leaders who promote violence during the election time. It is crystal clear that when citizens have the power to recall their leaders, then those leaders are likely to perform in a way that promotes peace and unity.
The media has a role to play in discouraging violent acts during election period. Simpson [2002] argues that in order to achieve a non-violent election the media should not provide space to leaders who use hate speech and derogative language towards other political party members. The situation in most developing countries is quite disheartening in the sense that political leaders who use abusive language towards women or men are always given space in the media.
Dr Manyika noted that to solve cyber bullying towards women during election time every Zimbabwean has the responsibility of not abusing all social media platforms. Cyber bullying is the use of information and communication technologies [ICTs] to harass, threaten, embarrass, or target another person. However during the 2018 harmonised elections a lot of nasty videos directed at women politicians circulated on social media.
According to a report produced by the Research and Advocacy Unit [RAU] cases of political violence were reported more from Zimbabwe over the period 1998 to 2018, than any other of Southern African countries.
In order to achieve a free and fair election violence against women, party supporters and cyber bullying should not be tolerated. Perpetrators of violence should be severely punished.
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