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Zimbabwe Opposition Turns to Door-To-Door Campaigns
Content TypePackage
LanguageEnglish
Transcript/ScriptUSAGM SHARE
((PLAYBOOK SLUG: ZIMBABWE ELECTION OPPOSITION CAMPAIGNS (TV/R)
HEADLINE: Zimbabwe Opposition Turns to Door-To-Door Campaigns
TEASER: Move necessary because of police ban on its rallies, opposition says,
PUBLISHED AT: 7/19/23 AT 11:20am
BYLINE: Columbus Mavhunga
CONTRIBUTOR:
DATELINE: HARARE, ZIMBABWE
VIDEOGRAPHER: Blessing Chigwenhembe
VIDEO EDITOR:
PRODUCER:
SCRIPT EDITORS: Reifenrath, DLJ
VIDEO SOURCES: VOA,
PLATFORMS: WEB __ TV_X RADIO_X
TRT: 2:36
VID APPROVED BY: Jepsen
TYPE: TVPKG
EDITOR NOTES:))
((INTRO)) Zimbabwe's main opposition party, the Citizens Coalition for Change, has turned to door-to-door campaigning ahead of next month’s election, saying police are turning down its applications for public rallies. The police acknowledge refusing to authorize a number of opposition rallies but say they are also turning down requests to rally from the ruling party. Columbus Mavhunga reports from Harare, Zimbabwe.
((NARRATOR))
Members of Zimbabwe's main opposition party, the Citizens Coalition for Change, or CCC, stump door-to-door for their leader, Nelson Chamisa, in a Harare suburb.
They tell voter Tapiwa Mashamba where his polling station will be on election day, August 23. He says their meeting was important.
((Tapiwa Mashamba: Zimbabwean Voter)) ((English 35 seconds))
“I did know my polling station. I didn't know how to check my polling station on the phone. They told me, and it was very important, now I know how to check my polling station. I can also tell someone how to check their polling station."
((NARRATOR))
CCC members say they started going door-to-door after police refused to approve most of their rallies. One of the campaigners is Denford Ngadziore, who is seeking re-election as a Harare city councilor.
He says the new strategy is actually yielding better results than rallies that require police clearance, which party members say is hard to come by.
((Denford Ngadziore Harare City Councilor)) ((English 25 seconds))
“You need to get approval from the police if you are more than 15. And currently, we are doing this; we are 14 people. // And we are engaging voters in groups of three, three, three, three, going into each and every street, house by house, person to person. So it’s very effective, more than a rally.”
((NARRATOR))
Police refute accusations they are blocking CCC rallies. They say the CCC has applied for 347 rallies since January, and fewer than 50 have been turned down for security concerns or other reasons.
Police say the ruling Zanu-PF party has asked for permission to hold about 1,400 rallies, and more than 85 have been turned down.
[[Radio: Paul Nyathi is with the Zimbabwe Republic Police.]]
((Paul Nyathi, Zimbabwe Republic Police)) ((English 35 seconds))
“We are maintaining register, including those turned down and those approved. So we want people who raise allegations to justify, not to speak because they want to justify whatever they have failed to do, but to have facts, and facts where if they are alleging something against the police, facts which can be proven.”
((NARRATOR))
While the opposition party tests the new door-to-door campaign strategy, police are asking parties to tell the truth, so the electoral process earns the credibility it deserves.
((Columbus Mavhunga, for VOA News, Harare, Zimbabwe))
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