“The electoral campaign had been marked by violence and intimidation on a scale unprecedented in the country. The principal targets of this had been opposition candidates and their supporters. In an effort to divert attention from the broader issues before the electorate, state agencies orchestrated and funded the invasion of a large number of white commercial farms,
thus attempting both to intimidate people it saw as providing material support for the
opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), and to revive the unfinished business of the liberation war in the minds of the rural population. While there was nothing especially novel about the resurrection of the land issue at election time, the vehemence and violence that accompanied it were unexpected.”
