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HARARE - There is heavy lobbying within Zanu PF for the party to desist from the violent campaign which has seriously dented the party's image, The Standard has learnt.

According to sources within the party, a number of senior members felt the violence had to be stopped if the ruling party was to attract meaningful support.

Manicaland governor, Oppah Muchinguri, is spearheading the anti-violence campaign, the sources said. Muchinguri is said to have made presentations to President Mugabe for an end to the terror campaign being employed by the party.

The governor is understood to have made her plea at a recent meeting between President Mugabe and the provincial governors.

Muchinguri could not be reached for comment at the time of going to press.

"There are people in the party who have now realised that the violence has to stop. The campaign is backfiring and it is not doing us any good. The party is now being viewed as a violent party and this will not win us any votes. We have to adopt other strategies. While such a campaign could have worked in 1980, times have changed and people are cleverer. They can no longer be intimidated," said the source.

The anti-violence lobbyists are said to have accused Zanu PF political commissar, Elliot Manyika of fanning violence through his notorious youth brigades recently trained at the Border Gezi Training Camp in Mt Darwin.

"Manyika should stop abusing those youngsters. They have been mounting roadblocks and beating up people in the rural areas. Manyika can use them in his own province, but we will not allow them to cause suffering among people in our provinces.

That is not the way to win votes," said a ruling party insider. In an abrupt u-turn, the usually combative Manyika has of late been preaching anti-violence messages and warning ruling party militias not to construct roadblocks in rural areas.

At a recent rally in Mashonaland Central, Manyika told his militias to stop harassing villagers and demanding party cards from them.

The province, in which Manyika was once governor, has been the worst affected by political violence.

Virtually all rural areas in the country have become "no go" areas because of roadblocks mounted by Zanu PF militias who assault anyone they find without a ruling party card.

The violence has so far claimed the lives of over 90 MDC supporters.

The opposition have been barred from campaigning in rural areas which Zanu PF claims it totally controls.

The excessive violence in rural areas has seen a number of MDC supporters being displaced from their homes.

The war veterans have set up bases around the country which are being used as torture camps.

"The real challenge is for us to filter the message to the war veterans and party supporters on the ground. What we are now trying to do is tell war veterans leaders to pass on the message to their members not to use excessive violence anymore," said a senior Zanu PF official. - Zimbabwe Standard

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