President Emmerson Mnangagwa has urged ZANU PF supporters to stop harassing members of the opposition saying they should actually entice them into joining the ruling party.
He made the remarks while addressing residents of Glenview 3, a suburb in Harare where he commissioned boreholes that are premised on addressing perennial water challenges. He said:
Let us all be united. No one has ZANU PF in his or her pocket but ZANU PF has everyone in its pocket.
Do not go and harass the opposition supporters but go and invite them to join our party Zanu PF. Let us be united in Zimbabwe, and parents let us not allow our children to be used in demonstrations but teach them development and building our country together.
The ruling party has often been accused of violence against members of opposition parties.
A few weeks ago, ZANU PF youths were accused of assaulting opposition Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC) councillor, Lovemore Maiko, in Chitungwiza a few days before the elections that were held there recently.
In February this year, a CCC supporter, Mbongeni Ncube, was killed at a party rally in Kwekwe and police later reported that several ZANU PF card-carrying members were among 16 people arrested over the violent incident.