People travelling to Masvingo Province during elections should be very careful since the province is well known for political violence, the Zimbabwe Peace Project has warned.

A report released by ZPP revealed that Masvingo had recorded the highest number of incidents of political violence in all elections since independence.

People have been murdered, injured, maimed, rapped, harassed and abused in the province and indications are high that history could repeat itself during the upcoming elections.

According to the report, the majority of perpetrators of these violations are supporters and members of the ruling Zanu PF although the opposition has also been found guilty at some instances.

Presenting the report at the Crown Plaza Hotel in Harare recently, ZPP director Jestina Mukoko said the youth militia and war veterans had been used to terrorize people in most cases.

"It is worrying that the ruling party has to make that province a no-go area when this country should be peaceful. We have noted with disappointment that even state security agents who are supposed to maintain peace and order are being used to perpetrate the violations," Mukoko said.

She gave an example of an incident when she was asked to produce a Zanu PF membership card and chant party slogans at a roadblock as she was travelling to Masvingo in the pre-run to 2005 senatorial elections.

The ZPP report also noted that chiefs and headmen in the province were being used to intimidate people from voting for the opposition.

"People are threatened with expulsion from their land or confistication of their livestock if they are found to be supporting the opposition. The ruling party has used several means to keep its grip on power," read part of the report.

Mukoko said the rural folks were most vulnerable to these violations since they were among the poorest people of the Zimbabwean population whose livelihood is solely dependent on their small lands.

The province, noted the report, had also become very dangerous for visitors who are always treated with suspicion and sometimes subjected to fierce political orientation in which they are forced to perform various party duties.

It was also noted that some civil servants and people from other areas who work in the province are forced to vacate due to the violations.

"Teachers, nurses and other employees leave their jobs as they flee from the dangerous province. It has become very dangerous to be anything that is not Zanu PF in Masvingo."

The ZPP expressed concern over the partial manner in which the violation cases were held. It revealed that most of the well-known leaders of gangs that terrorize people were walking the streets of Zimbabwe freely while their victims languished under various levels of trauma.

"Some people are actually known murderers who kill people for political reasons but nothing is done to them because they belong to Zanu PF while those suspected to be from the opposition rot in jail," said Mukoko.

Other provinces that were reported to be hot spots include Mashonaland West, Mashonaland Central, Mashonaland East and Manicaland.

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