Social media users are using the hashtag, #Remembering2008, to share their stories after President Emmerson Mnangagwa told the Economist Magazine that 2008 elections were free and fair. Mnangagwa also blithely claimed that there was no violence at all as there are no police cases of violence which were reported. This is despite the fact that the late prime minister and founding member of the opposition MDC-T Morgan Tsvangirai was forced to withdraw from the run-off election citing the egregious violence which was being meted out to his supporters.
Here are some of the recollections
#Remembering2008 The election was not free and fair. It was probably the most violent. https://t.co/QcrPttLY0b
— Alex T Magaisa 🇿🇼 (@Wamagaisa) March 7, 2018
If I could write I would blog about what was done to my old man, 68 then, 50m from a funeral & how he later walked 40+ km in pitch black darkness in biting winter and how his sister became mentally ill straightaway eventually passing on 2 yrs later.#Remembering2008 https://t.co/JFvmRlyogs
— Tich Ray (@TichRay) March 7, 2018
https://twitter.com/TChivese/status/971273389489958913
Our own have very unkind to us. To add salt to injury, they don't even acknowledge it, they continue with business as usual. #Remembering2008 https://t.co/FRcme2KfjI
— Useka Thandi (@brianawesome) March 7, 2018
https://twitter.com/IrenePetras/status/971343285859037185
Visiting at Parirenyatwa ,an old woman was brought in with serious burns. Apparently “they” had held her over a fire & roasted her like mealies after villagers sold her out for having a son in the MDC.#Remembering2008
— Honourable Stella (@Stella_grooves) March 7, 2018
Here’s what the SADC Election Observer Mission said about violence during the 2008 election:
“ALL ROLE-PLAYERS ACKNOWLEDGED THE EXISTENCE OF POLITICALLY MOTIVATED VIOLENCE…”
Now the President claims there wasn’t violence?#remembering2008
Full report: https://t.co/mBbxwLgL10 pic.twitter.com/efczXZj28d— Doug Coltart ✊🏼🇿🇼 (@DougColtart) March 7, 2018
#Remembering2008 at Rodzi township Murewa west Mash East. Blood all over behind the hall. 2 people with broken hands police watching nurses not allowed to attend the injured people. Lest we forget @Wamagaisa
— BANYAMULENGE (@nmushonga19) March 7, 2018
https://twitter.com/DougColtart/status/971287848568737792
Such a shameful lie! Zimbabwe can't get very far in opening for business with such callous dishonesty. Trust & truthfulness are vital for building business confidence. If the Head of State himself displays such dishonesty on matters in the public domain his invitations are shams.
— Jessie F. Majome (@JessieFMajome) March 7, 2018
This is SUCH a lie, that not 1 case was taken to the police! I distinctly remember then Justice Minister Patrick Chinamasa now Finance Minister instructing (via the media) the criminal justice system to abandon police reports of that gruesome violence. I have police references!
— Jessie F. Majome (@JessieFMajome) March 6, 2018
#Remembering2008 A mob came house at night, they knocked onto the gate. One of them shouted ‘we know Tino and Tash (my brother) live here, come out or we will will make you’, my mum hurried to give us ZANU PF T-shirt’s she had gotten at work ( She is a headmistress), she said..
— Chikonamombe (@Stakes_Chigs) March 7, 2018
#Remembering2008 In Gutu District at Mupata Business centre, the current councillor for Gutu Central ward 22 was pouring melted plastic on perceived opposition supporters. Soilders and police were watching. That is Mai Simbanegavi and her entourage. @Wamagaisa
— Raphael Goredema (@RaphaelGoredema) March 7, 2018
#Remembering2008 I remember in our rural area in Binga Jabulani Sibanda once came to harass people everyone that had MDC campaign posters was forced to hand them over and those posters were set on fire and people were forced to roll themselves on that fire we will never forget
— Likwa Tshuma kaMlotshwa (@Likwa3) March 7, 2018
https://twitter.com/IrenePetras/status/971345047361871872
My mother and sister in law were tortured at the base because they could not disclose the whereabouts of my father who was an MDC supporter #Remembering2008
— L M 🇿🇼 (@lovemuronda) March 7, 2018
in 2008 my dad came to my school in mutoko at closing day. on our way to harare we were stopped by zanu youth before murehwa. my dad was forced to sing zanu songs and slogan for about an hour.they threatned him with machetes #remembering2008 @Wamagaisa
— steph Nyamajiwa 🇿🇼 (@steph1080) March 7, 2018
#Remembering2008 I remember we where told to close shops in masvingo. Everyone directed to mucheke stadium then addressed by Rugeje.told the county was won by bullets and will not be taken at the ballot.@Wamagaisa
— makwiramiti (@Hure_raSoko) March 7, 2018
https://twitter.com/Takudzwakamoto1/status/971374963054784512
https://twitter.com/Qlemy2038/status/971212282419036160
https://twitter.com/drpcalvin/status/971250232909496320
It’s so sad that the president of a country lying about the fairness of 2008 elections! ! My brothers and I spent the whole month sleeping in the bush because of zanupf. I won’t forget this madness and I won’t even at one day vote for zanupf nor my family. My mother and my wife were beaten and asked to report to a zanupf Base . They wanted my head!
i remember when ZanuPf youths came to our school.i was doing grade 7 tt tym n they took 1 of our teachers who had frmd tt he was an MDC..member..😠
This is true reflection of ED, he can lie to the outside world but never to us. If this is the kind of free and fair elections he is preaching about then there’s no hope. Nevertheless people need to vote in the next election expressing their inner feelings about what Zanu PF has done to their lives over the years!