It’s 192 hours after polls closed in Zimbabwe’s Harmonised Elections last week. There’s still no presidential results, but I’ve finally turned off my radio. If The Big announcement happens tonight, maybe I’ll miss it.

I’ve noticed campaign posters starting to come down – including the ones where Brenda showed someone her pink finger. But they might well be going back up again soon. The Zimbabwe Electoral Commission hasn’t said anything officially yet, but it’s looking increasingly like a run-off is in the works, between current president Robert Mugabe, and MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai. I’m nervous at the prospect, concerned about increased levels of intimidation and violence. The war veterans, most infamously known for their campaign of violence after Zanu PF’s proposed Constitution lost in the February 2000 referendum, have begun their threats anew.

Ordinary Zimbabweans I’ve spoken with, and many of those sending in text messages to our SMS service, all say an adamant No to a run-off. The old man lost, they say. He’s no longer wanted. It’s time for him to push off.

My one hope is that the MDC can somehow convert this sentiment – and the popular conviction that Morgan Tsvangirai won the presidential election by more than the stipulated 50% required to avoid a run-off – into a rejection of yet another election and an insistence that Tsvangirai be sworn in as President of Zimbabwe. The MDC has already begun to speak this way. But their success on the matter feels unlikely. Mugabe has repeatedly shown that he’ll resort to any means necessary to stay in power. And Zimbabweans have, in recent years, become increasingly less willing to engage in mass protests or street demonstrations. Perhaps now the stakes are high enough, and victory close enough, that with strong enough popular leadership they’ll reconsider.

A good start is the t-shirts I saw two young men wearing tonight. Whilst I have my own objections to the idea of wearing anyone’s face on my body, the slogan is exactly what we’ll need to see more and more of, if Zimbabwe is going to shake off the shackles of Mugabe’s dictatorship. “Morgan Tsvangirai – People’s President” they read.

A new road has been built near my house. When it opened, they closed off a bit of old road at the top of the new one. I know that no cars can come down this road, but still when I run down it I find myself looking behind me, nervous at having all of this space, certain that something will come and invade it. Metaphorically, the MDC needs to create and claim spaces exactly like that – and hold them long enough that we stop looking over our shoulders anticipating the klap, and instead look straight ahead of us, confident that the space is ours, that victory is ours.

Well, it may be a new Zimbabwe, but the cash queues are still with us. I’ve just come from CABS, where even the Gold Class queue was stretching out the door and onto the street. A large silver Pajero pulled up to the kerb, and out lept a young man who opened the car door for Zanu PF National Chairman John Nkomo. People in the queue looked at one another, looked at him, and slowly let him move to the front. It doesn’t matter who governs Zimbabwe next. Whoever it is will treat us exactly as we allow ourselves to be treated. We won’t see anything improve until we start to demand more. Creating the Zimbabwe we want is going to take a lot of hard work, as we learn to break a lot of bad habits – and start holding ourselves and one another accountable to a new standard of behaviour.

In addition to inviting email contributions, we also asked our many SMS subscribers what a new Zimbabwe looks like to them. Read some of their ideas below, and text your dreams for a new Zimbabwe to +263912452201

• I desire everything to be in order – no corruption
• Want stable currency and return to real money – not bearer cheques
• First essential is freedom of expression and assembly so we can tell government what the people want and don’t want.
• To quickly remove POSA and AIPPA.
• Freedom of expression & association. Observation of human rights. Impartial judiciary, economic emancipation etc
• Transparency, health and education delivery, a new constitution, non-partisan police and army, accountable leadership and good economy
• We need fuel to be available in service stations, to access forex in the banks, free primary education, affordable health delivery system and cheap food for all
• Mainly I am concerned with return of the environment of happiness we used to have
• New Zimbabwe – new constitution by the people for the people.
• A new people driven constitution
• Good international relations then total globalization
• Well in free Zim fist we want e rule of law and availability of basic commodities inputs & jobs
• I wld want a new constitution that doesn’t give 2 much political power to an individual. There should be guaranteed freedoms 4 citizens.
• Changes(1)Re-currency(coins&notes)(2)Stop paying war vets(3)Reduce gvt ministries(4) promote industrial &agric investment
• Reduced tax
• Racial integration – equal opportunities 4 blacks and whites etc eg cricket team, sustainable labour laws, respect 4 property rights, free market, free media, just want more!
• We should never again leave power in the hands of one man.
• In a new zim we want freedom to exercise our rights end police brutality stop corruption ban all the fake police (neighbourhood police)
• Want affordable tertiary education and respect of the rights of students and all citizens. Accommodation of youth in decision making
• We want a small but efficient civil service real money foreign investment revival of industry revamp education health transport communication
• Truth and reconciliation commission. . . Clean the mess and corruption in councils and parastatals and c.i.o. . .
• They must be an independent electoral commission with a balanced composition of members headed by the united nations for fair decisions
• Fill up shops with goods. We don’t want black markets. Open up closed industries.
• We want a new constitution for the people by the people
• Free the airwaves, scrap aippa, posa & indigensation bill, give back tertiary students financial assistance
• In the new free Zim govt policies should be worker friendly iregardless of sectors. reduce income tax and stabilise economy and mend international relations.
• health and Education ministries given lion s share of e National Budget. Not Defence we a nt at war
• Want real change of everything, cabinet, parliament and state house. Morgan Tsvangirai deserves the seat People are tired of ZPF.
• Respect for rule of law and a justiciable bill of rights
• In a free Zim l want the new gvt to consider the welfare of civil servants & stable economy
• We want the new govt to free the airwaves.
• Pres M Tsvangirai and MDC should be left alone to form a cabinet & govt no links to corrupt zanu pf officials
• We need proper education for our children. Also to have money not bearer cheques with these shit useless billions. We want to use coins and proper notes.
• Mugabe and the crew should respect the will of the people enough is enough unless if they declare one party state then the electorate will know. We want those results to be announced we are part of sadc we should abide by the rules that govern that body period.
• Rule of law, job creation, health, removal of POSA and AIPPA, reasonable number of people in Parliament
• No political beatings, many newspapers, tv stations, cheap goods, electricity, clean water, hospitals and jobs

The real reason why Zimbabwe’s election results have been delayed.

It’s 124 hours since polling closed in Zimbabwe’s 29 March Harmonised Election, and I’m angry. Sure, I’m also tired from too many weeks of too long hours working. And I’m overwhelmed by the amount of work the new government will have to do to turn this country back around again. And I’m subdued when I think of how flawed any political system is, and how flawed any politician is, and how much vigilance it will continue to require to hold government accountable.

But mostly I’m angry. The Zimbabwean Electoral Commission released the first 10 out of 59 results for the contested Senate seats an hour ago. The results so far show the same now familiar pattern of an even split – this time it’s 5 seats to the MDC (Tsvangirai), 5 seats to Zanu PF. ZEC claims that the delay in announcement is due to logistical constraints, but if that were the case, why did the 5am news this morning claim they would start announcing results “early this morning.”

The real reason they’ve been so delayed, I’m sure, is because there is some kind of deal making and negotiation going on behind the scenes. Both parties claim they’re not. But there’s talk that the MDC, Zanu PF and the security forces are in negotiations. There are hints that Zanu PF is “deciding” whether they’ll take the election to a run-off. But it’s not for them to decide – it’s been decided already, in the numbers of votes cast for each presidential candidate.

I’ve been concerned about an elite deal deciding Zimbabwe’s future for years. But to subvert an election into a negotiation is insulting and infuriating. We cast our vote in an election, full knowing it might well be rigged. But we didn’t sign up for a negotiation. I’m sure it sounds naive and perhaps unrealistic to hold to some idealistic principle like “the will of the people, as reflected in a democratic election.” But isn’t that the point? It’s time for ZEC to announce the result of the election – flawed as it might have been, and unpopular as its outcome might be to some.

The MDC is claiming victory, the government is dismissing this and the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission is slowly letting results trickle out.

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