News / National
Political parties fail the code of conduct test - ZPP
17 Jul 2018 at 10:41hrs | Views
Several political parties participating in this year's election might have failed the code of conduct test after some of them engaged into hate speech, violence and intolerance in their campaigns.
This has been revealed by the Zimbabwe Peace Project in its latest report.
"The first two weeks of July have seen a deviation from the political party code by most of the political parties particularly those who were involved in the signing of the Peace Pledge supported by the National Peace and Reconciliation Commission. The political party code classifies political violence as, among other things, use of violence or threatening violence against someone, encouraging of violence against a group of people, intimidating or inciting of violence against anyone, acting in a way that may provoke violence, forcing voters to reveal who they voted for or reprisals against a voter who has voted in a particular way," ZPP said.
"Violence can also be through song, speech or dance that is provocative, defacing and removal of posters or any other property related to elections. It also includes displaying weapons during political gatherings. A total of 71 violations have been recorded in the period 1 to 13 July compared to 101 violations recorded during the same period in the month of June. This is a high figure considering that elections are less than 14 days away. Intolerance has been at the heart of most of these violations and the fight for political positions in political parties."
ZPP said interparty violence which had mainly manifested itself in verbal altercations and hate speech has escalated.
"In Epworth there have been two cases of inter party violence. The first one involved Zanu PF candidate Kudakwashe Damson's supporters clashing with the supporters of expelled Zalera Makhari. The second one involved an activist campaigning for a candidate in the Thokozani Khupe MDC-T being attacked by activists in the MDC Alliance for selling out. These are incidents of violence as a result of unresolved internal strife during primary elections. Civil society practitioner and MDC-T activist Maureen Kademaunga joined the list of those using hate speech when she likened Zanu PF members to cockroaches that needed to be exterminated on 30 July. The imagery of exterminating rivals is usually likened to whathappened in the Rwandan genocide. A day later, she realised her mistake and apologised something which leaders need to adopt," ZPP said.
This has been revealed by the Zimbabwe Peace Project in its latest report.
"The first two weeks of July have seen a deviation from the political party code by most of the political parties particularly those who were involved in the signing of the Peace Pledge supported by the National Peace and Reconciliation Commission. The political party code classifies political violence as, among other things, use of violence or threatening violence against someone, encouraging of violence against a group of people, intimidating or inciting of violence against anyone, acting in a way that may provoke violence, forcing voters to reveal who they voted for or reprisals against a voter who has voted in a particular way," ZPP said.
"Violence can also be through song, speech or dance that is provocative, defacing and removal of posters or any other property related to elections. It also includes displaying weapons during political gatherings. A total of 71 violations have been recorded in the period 1 to 13 July compared to 101 violations recorded during the same period in the month of June. This is a high figure considering that elections are less than 14 days away. Intolerance has been at the heart of most of these violations and the fight for political positions in political parties."
ZPP said interparty violence which had mainly manifested itself in verbal altercations and hate speech has escalated.
"In Epworth there have been two cases of inter party violence. The first one involved Zanu PF candidate Kudakwashe Damson's supporters clashing with the supporters of expelled Zalera Makhari. The second one involved an activist campaigning for a candidate in the Thokozani Khupe MDC-T being attacked by activists in the MDC Alliance for selling out. These are incidents of violence as a result of unresolved internal strife during primary elections. Civil society practitioner and MDC-T activist Maureen Kademaunga joined the list of those using hate speech when she likened Zanu PF members to cockroaches that needed to be exterminated on 30 July. The imagery of exterminating rivals is usually likened to whathappened in the Rwandan genocide. A day later, she realised her mistake and apologised something which leaders need to adopt," ZPP said.
Source - Newsday
