We reported in yesterday’s issue of a resurgence in incidences of political violence after the August 23 to 24 harmonised elections.

The violence is perpetrated in constituencies which the ruling Zanu PF party regards as its bastion but saw the opposition formation, Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC) picking up some votes.

The violence, according to the CCC, is being perpetrated by suspected Zanu PF members and the party’s affiliate, Forever Associates of Zimbabwe (FAZ).

In the run up to the polls, FAZ was accused of harassing supporters and was also outed by observers for intimidating voters through exit surveys on polling days.

The rise in cases of post-poll violence against CCC supporters comes as the Masvingo Centre for Research, Advocacy and Development (Macrad) said this week that victims of political violence in Chiredzi district have skipped the border.

“For the first time after independence, ward 6 in Chiredzi South was won by an opposition councillor. The ruling party structures in Chiredzi South are said to be breathing fire and promising violence to all those who were behind the opposition councillor. This also resulted in most indigenous Shangaan youth migrating to South Africa, afraid of being victimised, as some are still nursing wounds and some have lost their homes,” Macrad said.

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The rise in cases of political violence becomes another blight on the just ended elections whose results are being disputed by the CCC. This comes after observer missions said the poll did not conform to the established regional and international standards of holding a free, fair and credible poll.

That the violence is coming when President Emmerson Mnangagwa had been preaching peace and the police declaring that they are ready to flush out troublemakers is worrisome.

It gives the impression that the perpetrators are law unto themselves and can do as they please if they are identified with a certain political party.

Law enforcement agencies must nip the violence in the bud and bring perpetrators to book. That will send a signal to would-be perpetrators that they will be arrested when found on the wrong side of the law.

There is no justification whatsoever in beating up an opponent for not voting for your preferred candidate. The essence of an election is that it gives a voter the choice to elect his or her own representative. This is why it is said “your vote is your secret”.

Violence has in the past left communities broken. The tools of the violence have been the youth—the unemployed—that do the bidding of the chefs for beer.

As famous English writer George Orwell once said, “people sleep peaceably in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf”.

The time of reckoning is imminent.