Zanu-PF Information Secretary, Tafadzwa Mugwadi Thursday raised fears that Zimbabwe could be headed for a bloodbath in the 2023 polls after threatening that the country would have Taliban style elections.
In an exchange with the US Embassy on Twitter over the resumption of elections, Mugwadi did not mince his words when he declared that the ruling party is preparing to use terror to run the highly anticipated elections.
“We will do it the Taliban way!! Stay far from our lane or the consequences will be humiliating the Taliban style
“Don’t ask me what the Taliban style is. Ask the gringos who created a puppet government, supported it for 20 years with war, only to be overrun by the Taliban leaving guns, war jets, helicopters, cash, whiskey, and their puppets at the hands of Afghan Taliban kkk. Lesson: Puppets are losers,” he tweeted.
The US Embassy in Harare had questioned when Zimbabwe would resume elections after the banning of by-elections last year by Vice President Constantino Chiwenga citing COVID-19 threats.
The country has since moved to level two of the lockdown which has allowed the country to return to an almost normal life albeit with strict COVID-19 regulations.
“When will the Zimbabwean government resume by-elections? Long-standing parliamentary vacancies have left over 754, 000 voters in 26 constituencies without elected representation. Only by-elections will restore these citizens’ rights to representation #ZimVotesMatter.”
“Many countries have held elections despite the pandemic, including Zambia, South Africa, Malawi, and the United States, demonstrating that COVID-safe elections are possible. We are confident Zimbabwe can do the same,” the US Embassy Tweeted.
The tweet got the attention of Information Permanent Secretary Nick Mangwana who accused the Embassy of lacking diplomatic decorum.
“Surely, the US embassy knows where the Ministry of Foreign Affair is located. Should there be a need for a conversation on this subject you can easily engage them and get a briefing. These highly inflammatory tweets are as much disrespectful as they are unnecessary,” he posted.
Zimbabwe is no stranger to bloodshed during elections with the most deadly being the 2008 election runoff which left hundreds of people dead while thousands were tortured by suspected Zanu-PF led terror groups.
In 2018, six people died in the post-election violence after the army was unleashed to quell protests by alleged opposition members.
