NATIONAL CONSTITUTIONAL ASSEMBLY (NCA)
Election Climate Report No.3
	Week ending 25 February 2005.	

The Election Climate Reports are produced by the NCA in order to provide information on the prevailing climate for citizen participation in the forthcoming Parliamentary Election. The NCA has already communicated its condemnation of the constitutional framework under which the elections are being conducted. The Report is a consolidated statement of the reports sent in by a national network of community monitors.

The community reports sample a number of electoral “atmospherics” (described below), which aim to provide a clear description of the state of affairs prevailing in any one constituency:

•	Freedom of Association;
•	Freedom of Assembly;
•	Freedom of Movement;
•	Freedom of Expression;
•	Incidence of Political Violence;
•	Disputes over electoral procedures and electoral irregularities;
•	Occurrence of voter education;
•	Use of food as a political weapon.

The reports sample 18 critical indicators and hence provide a simple score for any one constituency, which we have termed the “Electoral Irregularity” [EI] score: the higher the EI score, the worse the electoral climate in a constituency.

Overview
The election climate in Mashonaland Central and East is not currently conducive to free elections as the EI ratings are high in both Provinces. Mashonaland Central had an average EI of 14, whilst Mashonaland East had an average EI of 12.

There was little variation in the EI ratings for those constituencies sampled in Mashonaland Central: Bindura [13], Mazowe East [14], and Mazowe West [14] all had high EI ratings. There was rather more variation in the EI ratings in Mashonaland East. Goromonzi [5] and Marondera East [6] had relativelt low EI ratings, but Chikomba [16], Mudzi [16], and UMP [16] had very high EI ratings indeed.   

Both Provinces are well known for being politically charged, and political violence was widely reported in both Provinces during the 2000 General elections and the Presidential Election in 2002. Political violence has again been reported in almost all the constituencies, mostly in the form of hate speech, threats, and intimidation rather than physical violence. 

There were a few constituencies that did not have interferences with freedom of assembly (Marondera East), or electoral disagreements (Goromonzi, Murehwa North, Mutoko North). The reports indicated that, in Chikomba, Hwedza, Marondera East, Mudzi, UMP and Murehwa North, there was no formal voter education. ) The political use of food was reported in 8 of the 11 constituencies samples, with this not being reported in only Marondera East, Mudzi and Murehwa North.  

The NCA calls upon all concerned parties – government, the political parties, and the civics concerned with peace building – to take immediate steps to investigate these allegations, and to take firm steps to correct all irregularities confirmed.

Mashonaland Central 
There was relative uniformity in the reports from the three constituencies sampled. As is seen from the figure below and the table in the appendix, the EI ratings were high in all three constituencies: Bindura [13], Mazowe East [14], and Mazowe West [14] were all high.

Interferences with the basic freedoms were reported in all 3 constituencies: they all reported interference with the freedoms of association, assembly, expression, and movement. All three constituencies reported political violence, mostly as hate speech, intimidation, and threats, and none of the 3 constituencies reported any form of formal voter education taking place. All three reported the political use of food.

As the reports indicated, the opposition and other groups were unable to wear their insignia and put up their posters. There were no reports of ZanuPF being prevented from doing any of the above. There were interferences with freedom of assembly as ZanuPF supporters forced residents to attend political meetings: ZanuPF held more meetings than the MDC, with an average of 4 meetings, whilst the MDC only managed to hold 2 meetings in Mazowe East.

With regard to interferences with freedom of movement, it was reported that the police, youth militia, Zanu supporters, and the CIO are involved in preventing people from moving in the constituency freely. In Mazowe East, the police department involved in these activities was alleged to be PISI.  In Bindura, ZanuPF youth were said to be the main group stopping citizens, and asking about people’s movements. 

The same groups were mentioned as interfering with people moving out of the constituencies, with the addition of the army in Mazowe East. PISI was said to be heavily involved in the control of movements out of the communities. There are reports of new people being moved into the constituencies and most of them are voters and or militia.  It was reported that, in Mazowe East, the militia were still registering people to vote way beyond the deadline. In Bindura, it was alleged that 3 lorry-loads of strangers came to register even though the last official date had lapsed.

It was reported that members of the opposition and civic organisations are unable to express themselves freely, and are not even able to read newspapers of their choice. There is a huge fear of being harassed and this prevents most people from saying or reading what they would really want to. In Mazowe West, it is reported that Moslems are being harassed for being MDC members, and they therefore are not free to exercise their freedom of expression. It is alleged that people are forced to chant Zanu slogans, which they do as they fear the consequences of refusing to do so.

		

There is a presence of politically motivated violence with Zanu PF, youth militia, police, and CIO being the main perpetrators, and MDC mostly being the victims. In Mazowe West, Constable Mbizi was named as one of the perpetrators.  Incidents of gender based political violence were reported but, unlike Harare Province, there were no reports of rape. However, there were some reports of indecent assault in Mazowe West and East. The other gender related violence was forced attendance at a party base, which occurred in Mazowe East and Bindura: these bases were allegedly Zanu PF.

There were reports of hate speech and intimidation, mostly by ZanuPF supporters against the MDC;  this reportedly occurred in Mazowe West, Mazowe East, and in Ward 9 of Bindura Constituency. In Ward 6 of Bindura constituency, it was reported  that both parties were involved. There was little intra or inter party violence, with intra party only reported in Bindura and Mazowe East. This was alleged to be within ZanuPF, whilst the inter party violence was reportedly perpetrated by ZanuPF against the MDC.  Militia bases were said to exist only in Mazowe East.    

There were reports of election disagreements, mainly by MDC with ZanuPF. However, in Bindura, it was reported that ZanuPF had complaints against the MDC. According to these reports, the relevant authorities – ZEC and ESC - are not conducting voter education. The ESC were reported to have only done this in one constituency, in Mazowe East. ZanuPF were said to be conducting some, but it was alleged that the MDC was prevented from doing so. The MDC were reported to have done in only in Mazowe East. All the constituencies reported the use of food as a campaign tool being used by ZanuPF.   

Mashonaland East
There was greater variation in the EI ratings in Mashonaland East Province. Chikomba [16], Mudzi [16], and UMP [16] all had very high EI ratings, whilst Goromonzi [5] and Marondera East [6] had relatively low EI ratings in comparison. 

Interference with the basic freedoms of association, assembly, expression, and movement were reported in virtually all the constituencies sampled. Political violence was reported in all the constituencies, mostly as hate speech, intimidation and threats, but there were also some very serious allegations of assaults, sexual assaults, and attempted murder made. Electoral disagreements were widespread, with this reported in all the constituencies samples, and formal voter education took place in only 2 of the 8 constituencies. The political use of food was reported in 5 of the 8 constituencies, with only Goromonzi, Marondera East, and Mudzi free from this irregularity.

Freedom of association was interfered with in most of the constituencies, with MDC members being unable to put up posters and wear their insignia: only in Chikomba was ZanuPF unable to wear their party insignia.  There were other parties as well that were unable to exercise their freedom of associations but these were not named. 

It was reported that, in all constituencies, ZanuPF was able to hold more meetings than the MDC. However, in Mudzi, ZanuPF not hold a meeting, whilst the MDC were able to hold 3. On average, ZanuPF was able to hold 3 meetings to every 1 of the MDC. All the forced attendance at meetings were alleged to have been done by ZanuPF; only Marondera East and Goromonzi had no forced meetings. The monitors attended mostly Zanu meetings probably because these were the forced ones. 

In terms of freedom of movement, the police, the youth militia, CIO, the army, and ZanuPF supporters were allegedly responsible for these infringements, which were mainly against the MDC.  It was reported that there is interference with freedom of movement outside the constituencies, and the youth are largely responsible for this. In Hwedza and Goromonzi, people were free to move as they wished. It was alleged that new residents seen in the constituencies were either introduced by the militia, or that these new residents are the militia themselves.  In Murehwa, it was alleged that soldiers in civilian clothing are being introduced to the areas. However, these were minor occurrences, and, overall, there seemed to be little occurrence of new residents being introduced in Mashonaland East.             

As indicated earlier, it was reported that freedom of expression is being interfered with in Mashonaland East Province: most people in Mashonaland East are fearful of expressing their views openly.  It was alleged that members of opposition political parties are the ones most affected by this. Against this general trend, there were reports from Mutoko North, Murehwa North, UMP, and Chikomba where Zanu PF supporters are unable to read the newspapers of their choice.  It was reported that ZanuPF was generally the party responsible for forcing people to chant slogans, but MDC was also said to be forcing people to chant slogans in Murehwa North and Mudzi. 

As regards political violence, death threats, assault, sexual assault, attempted murder, displacement, and unlawful arrests were reported. The perpetrators were allegedly ZanuPF youth, militia, CIO, police, and the army, whilst the victims were alleged to be members of the MDC. There were a few reports of gender based political violence, mainly of  women being forced to go to party bases: in all reported cases, the perpetrators were Zanu and the victims were MDC.  There was one report of indecent assault in Chikomba, allegedly as a result of refusing to attend a ZanuPF meeting, whilst one case of rape was alleged to have taken place in Mudzi.        

There were numerous reports of hate speech and intimidation, mainly by ZanuPF against the MDC and others, but there are also reports of similar behaviour by the MDC against others. It was reported that there had been inter-party violence, mostly by ZanuPF against the MDC, but, in Chikomba, it was alleged that the violence had been perpetrated by the MDC against ZanuPF. As regards intra-party violence, there was one report of MDC skirmishes in Chikomba, but most other reports were about conflicts within ZanuPF. The presence of militia bases was alleged in a number of the constituencies, specifically at Unyetu Primary School in Chikomba, and near Nyadire in UMP.     

There were electoral disagreements between the two main parties reported in all of the constituencies in Mashonaland East Province. These disagreements were equally divided between ZanuPF raising disagreements with the MDC, and vice versa. 

Voter education was low in the Province. It was reported that ZESN had conducted voter education in Hwedza and Mudzi; ZanuPF had done so in Chikomba and Marondera East; and the  ESC had done so in UMP. This was the only constituency where voter education was reported to have been carried out by the ESC.

Political use of food was reported in Mudzi, Mutoko North, Hwedza, Murehwa North, and UMP. Here it was alleged that, in order to get food, one needed a Zanu PF card. In Chikomba, the MDC was also said to be using food as a political tool.

Recommendations       
The present environment in Mashonaland is not currently conducive to free and fair elections. As the reports indicate, both parties are alleged to be responsible for the environment being the way it is, but it also evident that, on balance, ZanuPF is reported to be the more serious producer of electoral irregularities, and well as more frequently implicated in the allegations of the more serious irregularities, such as political violence and the political use of food. The point that there is so little voter education being carried by the ESC this close to elections is worrying, and needs to be seriously investigated by the political parties, civic groups, and all observer groups. 

There is a pressing need to build a climate of peace and tolerance, and the NCA calls upon all organizations concerned with peace building to investigate these allegations, and to take immediate steps to rectify all problems identified.

Women’s organisations should take steps to investigate the claims of abuse to  women as a matter of urgency, as there are allegations of the  ill treatment of women which are nor receiving appropriate attention.  

The National Constitutional Assembly (NCA) is a network of civic organizations and activists as a grouping 
of individual Zimbabwean citizens and civic organisations including, labour movements, student and youth
 groups, womens groups, churches, business groups and human rights organisations. It also includes
political parties formed in 1997. These individuals and groups formed the NCA to campaign for constitutional 
reform after realising that the political, social and economic problems affecting Zimbabwe are mainly a result
of the defective Lancaster House Constitution and can only be resolved through a new and democratic 
constitution.

A democratic Constitution is the basis of good governance and leads to social and economic development.  
Thus a democratic constitution leads to:
•	Free and fair elections
•	Observance of  and respect for fundamental human rights
•	Respect  of human rights
•	Respect for rule of law and an accountable and responsive government.
	
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+263-(0)4-736338, 730431/32
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Mashonaland Central Province [February 2005]
Constituency	Interference with Freedom of Association	Interference of Freedom of Assembly	Interference with Freedom of Movement	Interference with Freedom of Expression	Political Violence	Electoral Disagreements	Voter Education	Political use of food	Electoral Irregularity Rating	
Bindura	yes	yes	yes	yes	yes	yes	no	yes	13	
Mazowe East	yes	yes	yes	yes	yes	yes	no	yes	14	
Mazowe West	yes	yes	yes	yes	yes	yes	no	yes	14	

Mashonaland East Province [February 2005]

Constituency	Interference with Freedom of Association	Interference of Freedom of Assembly	Interference with Freedom of Movement	Interference with Freedom of Expression	Political Violence	Electoral Disagreements	Voter Education	Political use of food	Electoral Irregularity Rating	
Chikomba	yes	yes	yes	yes	yes	yes	no	yes	16	
Goromonzi	yes	no	yes	yes	yes	yes	no	no	5	
Hwedza	yes	yes	yes	yes	yes	yes	no	yes	14	
Marondera East	yes	no	no	yes	yes	yes	no	no	6	
Mudzi	yes	yes	yes	yes	yes	yes	no	no	16	
Murehwa North	yes	yes	yes	yes	yes	yes	yes	yes	12	
Mutoko North	yes	yes	yes	yes	yes	yes	yes	yes	12	
UMP	yes	yes	yes	yes	yes	yes	no	yes	16