In the early 1980s thee was armed destabilisation in the south and west of the country. Government accused the main opposition party, Zapu, of involvement in this destabilisation campaign. Government dispatched troops into these areas. Zapu members were targeted by these troops and the troops also killed and injured many civilians. In December, 1987 hostilities ceased after a Unity Accord between Zanu (PF) and Zapu in terms of which Zapu merged with Zanu (PF).

Zanu (PF) won the 1990 and 1995 elections with overwhelming majorities, albeit in elections where there were low percentage polls. Despite its dominant political position, in previous elections some members of the ruling party employed violence before and after elections to intimidate members of the opposition.

Since 1995, the harsh impact of the rapidly deteriorating economic situation in the country, combined with widespread corruption within government, has led to increasing dissatisfaction with the ruling party amongst the general public. As living standards fell support for the ruling party waned. In this political environment, in 1999 a new party emerged from the labour movement, the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC). Since its formation the MDC has attracted considerable interest and support countrywide.

Following the formation of the MDC, the first electoral test for the ruling party came when in mid-February the electorate voted in a referendum whether to accept or reject the government sponsored draft constitution. Based on its previous electoral support, the party confidently expected the electorate to endorse this draft constitution. On the other hand, a coalition of non-governmental organisations known as the National Constitutional Assembly and the MDC campaigned for a rejection of this draft constitution.

Before putting the draft to a referendum, government made various amendments to it. The most important amendment was to amend the land acquisition provision to so as to provide that if Britain did not pay into a fund for land acquisition, the government could then proceed to expropriate land without compensation. President Mugabe had insisted on this amendment. The government then endorsed this constitution and joined with the Constitutional Commission in campaigning for its acceptance by the people. A massive campaign was mounted in the government controlled media to persuade people to vote in favour of the draft constitution. Especially towards the end of its publicity campaign, the executive of the Constitutional Commission used racist and politically inflammatory rhetoric. It alleged that persons opposed to the draft constitution were sell-outs and puppets of their colonial masters and that the whites, who were reactionary and racist, were campaigning against the draft constitution out of self-interest. When the majority of the voters rejected the draft, the executive of the Constitutional Commission and various government officials alleged that whites had been instrumental in securing the rejection of the draft constitution. It was alleged that they had voted in large numbers and that white farmers had intimidated their workers into voting against the draft. In actuality the rejection of the draft constitution probably had far more to do with dissatisfaction by the people with the handling of the economy by government than it did with the contents of the draft constitution.

The ruling party was obviously very shaken by the vote in the referendum. It immediately resolved to take steps to ensure that it would win the upcoming general election. The ruling party was clearly concerned about the growing strength of the MDC and devised a strategy to counteract its growing influence.

To start off with the President seemed prepared to accept the will of the people expressed in the referendum. He publicly stated that government would accept the referendum result. This statement was, however, only the calm before the storm. There was a welter of recriminations against whites, especially white farmers. In early April, for instance, President Mugabe said that the whites were determined to fight against Zanu (PF) and the President declared that the fight was on against them and that they would not win the fight. If they aligned themselves with the MDC they would be treated as MDC and MDC would never win the election. Other members of the ruling party made statements in which they have tried to generate anti-white sentiment. As regards the issue of land government was certainly not going to accept the referendum result as it related to this issue.

The conditions for a major escalation of violence in Zimbabwe were created by the fateful decision by the ruling party to co-opt the war veterans to spearhead their election campaign. The ruling party announced that the war veterans would help with its election campaign. The war veterans were allocated Z$20 million for this purpose, although the Chairman of the War Veterans Association, Dr Chenjerai Hunzvi immediately complained that this amount was inadequate.