Peasants flee villages ahead of elections

Entire villages in Zimbabwe’s Mashonaland Central Province have been deserted by peasants fearing political violence ahead of seven crucial parliamentary by-elections. Johannesburg’s ‘The Star’ newspaper reported on Tuesday that villagers in the Bindura constituency had fled their homes and sought refuge elsewhere. A by-election is to be held in Bindura on 28 and 29 July to replace Youth Affairs Minister Border Gezi who died in a car crash about one month ago. Zimbabwe’s independent ‘Daily News’ reported earlier that Zanu-PF supporters, transported in government-registered vehicles, had descended on the villages in Bindura last week and unleashed a reign of terror on those sympathetic to the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC). The newspaper said the youths had burned thatched huts and looted the villages. At least one person was critically injured while others were treated and discharged from Bindura Hospital at the weekend, the report said. War veteran Elliot Manyika of Zanu-PF is pitted against the MDC’s Elliot Pfebve in the by-election. Pfebve, according to the report, accused Manyika, who is also the governor of the Mashonaland Central Province, of fanning the violence in the constituency. Manyika has denied the allegation.