[Mugabe is going to force the blacks to vote for his ruling party. He calls this democracy… Now if only we whites were this clever. Imagine if we said to blacks: Back us or we starve you to death? I think we would have been nuked off the planet by the liberals in the USA and Europe… But when a Black Communist does this… its quite morally acceptable. Jan]

Back Zanu PF or starve, chiefs tell villagers

Matabeleland South – Opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) party officials here yesterday accused traditional chiefs of forcing their subjects to back the ruling Zanu PF party threatening to deny government-supplied maize to those who refuse. To be allowed to buy cheaper-priced maize from the government’s Grain Marketing Board, starving villagers must be on a food assistance register kept by the chief. Chiefs also issue letters authorising the GMB to sell maize to their subjects. The GMB is the only company permitted to trade in maize and is the only institution supplying subsidized maize to the majority of hungry Zimbabweans after the government barred international food agencies from doing so. According to opposition officials, chiefs in Tsholotsho, Umzingwane, Insiza and other constituencies in the province have told their subjects to attend Zanu PF campaign rallies only, with those who defy the order or attend MDC rallies being removed from the food register. “Zanu PF wants to take advantage of the food crisis it created to earn votes,” said the opposition party’s provincial spokesman, Edward Mkhosi. MDC Member of Parliament for Tsholotsho Mtoliki Sibanda said villagers had little option except to abide by the chiefs’ orders or they starve. He said: “The chiefs and headmen are alleged to have issued public warnings against attendance of MDC rallies. The threatened penalty is removal from the food aid registers. People are starving, they have no choice but to oblige.” But acting Zanu PF chairman for Matabeleland South Rido Mpofu dismissed as “mere election time propaganda” suggestions that chiefs were using food to blackmail their subjects to support the ruling party. Mpofu said his party had instructed all its candidates in the March election to wage a “clean campaign” for office.

From Zim Online (SA), 8 February
Source: WWW.ZwNews.Com