The ruling ZANU PF party in Zimbabwe has admitted to the use of rigging methods to remain in power including the crushing of opposition activists through violence and torture.
This was said by the party’s national political commissar Munyaradzi Machacha during a ZANU PF Provincial-district meeting in Chinhoyi.
Addressing hundreds of party supporters Machacha said the party could have been out of power in 2008 after former president Robert Mugabe lost the presidential election to opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai.
“We are a revolutionary party and we cannot be out of power overnight like what was going to happen after Tsvangirai won but you all know what we did that saw Tsvangirai running out of the country and that’s what ZANU PF is capable of doing.”
After Tsvangirai’s shock victory in 2008, state security agencies and the army launched “Operation Mavhoterera Papi – Where did you vote?” in which over 200 opposition supporters were killed
Machacha meanwhile also bragged about how even when they lose elections they also control the electoral institutions and the courts.
“We have Dexter Nduna who enjoyed being an MP even after he had lost because he was wrongly declared winner after all the systems are ours” he said.
Machacha urged party youths to discipline opposition members who are planning to demonstrate ahead of the SADC Summit.
“Youths should act and show those opposition people led by Chamisa that buttocks are painful and you know what to do as a party and you don’t have to ask us me when you see these opposition members you know how does the party deals with them” he said.
Machacha’s sentiments were echoed by Justice Minister Ziyambi Ziyambi who said people should know that President Emmerson Mnangagwa is a trained intelligence person.
“To those who think they can fan chaos in the country you should know that our president has spent all his life in the intelligence sector and knows how to ruthlessly deal with you and you won’t have anyway to get a redress” he said.