Zimbabwean president Robert Mugabe's party said today it would deploy more war veterans to campaign in some opposition areas ahead of a presidential election run-off marred by violence.
Opposition Movement for Democratic Change leader (MDC) Morgan Tsvangirai accuses ZANU-PF of widespread attacks on his supporters ahead of the June 27th vote, but says he is still confident of victory after beating Mr Mugabe in the first round.
ZANU-PF officials in the southern Masvingo province, where the ruling party lost several parliamentary seats in rural districts traditionally considered safe, told Zimbabwe state television they had stepped up their campaign against "troublesomespots where MDC structures had taken root".
"We are setting up units of war veterans to go to those areas to fan out the MDC, to campaign for President Mugabe, to confront and talk to some company managers who are openly supporting these MDC structures," said retired Major Alex Mudavanhu, ZANU-PF chairman for Masvingo.
"We are going to tell people that ZANU-PF is not going to lose this election," he said.
Mugabe's guerrilla fighters from the 1970s independence war and ruling party youth brigades are regularly deployed as political shock troops against the opposition and have recently been threatening another bush war if Mugabe loses.
Mugabe's support has been eroded by the economic collapse of the once prosperous country, which he has ruled since independence from Britain in 1980. On Wednesday, Mugabe's government announced tax cuts for the low paid.
Tsvangirai says Zimbabweans cannot afford Mugabe's rule any further. He accused ZANU-PF activists on Tuesday of killing 66 opposition supporters to try to intimidate voters ahead of the run-off.
Mugabe's party denies waging war on its foes and says "MDC thugs" have killed a number of ZANU-PF activists, including war veterans.
The MDC said today the government had launched a campaign forcing Zimbabweans to pull down home satellite dishes so they could not get foreign television stations and would have to rely on the state broadcaster. The MDC says that is biased.
Information Minister Sikhanyiso Ndlovu rejected the charge.