Zimbabwe On The Brink

As I sit and write this piece, I am still unsure who the president of my country is. We are all kept guessing because the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) has announced that it has won the elections by more than 50 per cent of the total vote.

The Movement for Democratic Change has placed Robert Mugabe’s vote at 43.8 per cent while the other independents, Simba Makoni and Langton Towungana, have been placed at seven per cent and 0.05 per cent, respectively.

Should the final outcome fall in line with what the opposition MDC has projected, it remains to be seen whether the Zanu-PF government will agree to let MDC president Morgan Tsvangirai stride into State House while its leader peacefully steps down to occupy his mansion at his rural Zvimba Home.

I understand security chiefs have vowed they will not let Tsvangirai rule this country and are prepared to take over the reins in case the outcome favours him. That’s a dangerous approach if it turns out to be true. Already, the people of Zimbabwe, especially residents of Bulawayo and Harare, have started seeing signs of a state of emergency around them.

Armored army vehicles as well as water canons laden with acidic water have started patrolling the high density areas in the two cities - areas that are known to be trouble spots when it comes to public disorder.

The police foot patrols have been heightened with hordes of riot police officers now a common sight on the streets of Harare and its twin city, Bulawayo.

The situation is really tense and signs are that this once vibrant country is headed for serious disaster pending the announcement of the final election results.

A Very, Very Long Election

This all started on March 29, 2008, when I woke up around 8 a.m. and pulled up myself to the nearest primary school in Harare’s Avondale suburb. I intended to cast my vote in the first ever harmonized elections to be held in Zimbabwe.

Harmonized, according to Zimbabwean government officials, means a number of elections being held together all at one time to cut costs, given that the polls are expensive to run. From the reports we’re getting from people who appear in the know, you would need Z$1.2 quadrillion (US$200 million) to run the election alone. It appears the exercise is a costly affair for a government with record inflation hovering above the 100 000 per cent mark.

I arrived at the voting station to find a queue that reminded me of the days when my fellow countrymen were in a fix over their cash (this was in November 2007 when banks were caught up in a liquidity crisis; they couldn’t collect money from the central bank and failed to get the cash they were suppose to disperse to their clients).

I was told that there were more than 337 people ahead of me and I wondered whether I would manage to exercise my democratic right to cast my vote.

What a slow pace the queue moved! I thought of leaving but the thought of actually being inside the polling booth kept me in that boring, tiresome queue. The temptation to have my name checked in that bulky book they call the voter’s roll, having my finger dipped in that reddish-looking ink and that very moment when I would stand alone inside the booth became too powerful for me. It was 6 p.m. before I was finally ushered into the room where I was to cast my vote.

It was an awesome experience to be able to cast my vote for the man I thought has the capacity to transform my country’s economic woes to economic gains. The process was quite swift, and in less than 10 minutes, I was done. I smiled as I went through the ballot deposition process and off I went home, tired and worn out.

As the night raged on, I kept on wondering who was likely to emerge the winner of the presidential poll, given that there were three serious contenders for the throne. These men, Robert Mugabe (84), Morgan Tsvangirai (57) and Simba Makoni (50) appeared as though they had equal chances of emerging from the race victorious; and the winner was guaranteed of a five-year reign in power.

My mind, my eyes and my ears were glued to my little Panasonic radio and my black and white television, hoping the results would start trickling out from the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission Command centre. Alas, nothing came.

There were pictures on the TV of the voting trends as well as reports by the state broadcaster, ZBC. Reporters were positioned at the most important centres throughout the country, but these reports hardly had any results to talk about.

I don’t remember how I slept that night. I woke up the next morning and carried my portable radio with me to the kitchen for breakfast. Still no results came through. It was the same disaster for lunch and dinner. I was so anxious I stayed glued to the television all day, my ears listening attentively to the radio.

Finally, a week later, the first batch of election results were announced. It was only ten of them, leaving me more anxious than ever. Batches of ten results were sporadically announced over the next eight hours.

Why were the results taking so long?

My colleagues, who appear in touch with the developments, told me that given the pace at which the results had been released by the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission, there was no way the presidential results would be made public before Monday, April 7.

They also told me the problem was with the verification process of the results, which were kept on hold by the commission until the verification process was done. This meant that there was a backlog of results that needed to be cleared and the clearance process appears to be in a shambles.

My Country Waits With Bated Breath

Many questions have emerged over the issue of what a Morgan Tsvangirai victory means.

I would say there is hope that many investors and countries who have always wished to invest in Zimbabwe and help prop up our country’s economy are likely to rethink their positions and come on board to save the people of Zimbabwe.

Most people will think that by this I mean that Zimbabwe will be colonized again. No, what we want as a nation is to have a country where there is employment through the establishment of companies, thereby reducing the poverty margins that have been witnessed in our Zimbabwe.

***** If you found this story interesting, you may want to read Zimbabwe: Change And Music Of Hope