Against brute force and injustice the people will have the last word.
That of victory.
- Che Guevara

Zimbabwe state broadcasting says that the government is still collecting presidential ballots from across the country. Yeah right, pull the other one. I know we do things slowly in Zimbabwe but this is ridiculous. Never mind water torture, try listening to Zimbabwe state radio and television day in and day out whilst waiting for the drip feed election results. The national broadcaster has been filling their programming time with a mixture of local dramas which feature a lot of wailing, and aged documentaries on subjects like the manufacturing of artificial limbs and the rescue of wayward dolphins. Meanwhile someone suggested the delay is really because its takes an awful long time to pack up a mansion that has too many rooms to count.

Harare central feels quite relaxed with an air of expectancy. On my way to the bank someone smiled and called out to me, A New Zimbabwe! I guess most of us here on the ground are thinking we’ll believe it when we see it. More than ever I get the sense that Zimbabweans are willing to take Mugabe on, unwilling this time to be taken for a ride by Robert.

At the moment I hear that the MDC is holding a another press conference claiming victory, this time backed up with their parallel vote tabulation figures. So now we wait a little longer to see what the regime’s reaction will be to this public statement. And if the MDC manage to get this information out to Zimbabweans on the street, what groundswell it will create.

Once more sharing Comrade Fatso’s down to earth views on Zimbabwe and our efforts to bring political change. Please visit Comrade Fatso’s blog to stay in direct touch with Harare’s leading activist poet.

Rumour rhymes with ‘ruma’, Shona for bite. Harare has literally been bitten by rumours. Our city is famed for many things but one thing specifically. The ability to turn no news into headlines. The skill of spinning no knowledge into street wisdom. The hustle of selling unconfirmed stories on a hungry parallel market. Our only non-state daily newspaper was bombed so the people’s paper is the people’s stories, nyayas that circulate like a whisper at a bottle store. Mugabe has fled to Malaysia. Morgan has 68% of the presidential vote. Mujuru has lost her seat. Morgan’s win is being broadcast live on TV. A people starved of truth begin to manufacture their own. So truths roam Harare like street kids, tapping your window at every robot. Like an undelivered text message notification ringing on your phone. Constantly.

But just minutes ago some rumours may have become reality. Our hopes may be backed up by facts. When Morgan held his press conference at the Meikles Hotel he told us that after years of struggle we have a new challenge – that of governance. The need to start to restructure and stabilize our country. MDC believe they have clinched victory. Morgan has never appeared so joyous. Once again the rumours begin to bite. MDC is said to be in talks with the armed forces and ZANU about negotiating a hand over of power. Morgan denies the rumours. So, many things are in the air. Hope and rumours. And once again the joy and the certainty of the press conference need to get out into the townships. The people need to taste the joy of a dream becoming reality. They need to be ready to defend their victorious dreams. Otherwise tomorrow will just be another day of spoken headlines and hustled truths.

We sent out a Kubatana email newsletter today to our large mailing list and we included a quote from Helen Keller that talked about the need for us to remember that its the actions of the “honest workers” that are just as heroic as those of our political leaders. I was reminded of Helen Keller’s quotation this evening. As the sun was setting we were still in the office when we were visited by two women, one of whom had recently suffered a miscarriage and lost a baby girl. But there she was bringing cold cokes, chips, biscuits and chocolates because she thought we could do with a treat to ease the hard work of election time. Thoughtful, kind and willing to reach out – needless to say we at Kubatana were inspired!

Tonight as I get frustrated messages from people wondering what exactly is going on I’m also reminded of how often citizens are the last to know anything whilst politicians make deals deciding our fate – for better or worse.

I’m sitting at home a bit bleary eyed after some intense days in Harare. The phones don’t work, but Mugabe, probably in a bit of desperate (and I mean desperate) attempts at vote buying, has made sure that the electricity supply has been stable during this election. So, I’ve got lights, for a change. Water, meanwhile is still a problem. In Greendale, in the east of Harare, we go weeks without municipal water. People fill up containers from home owners with boreholes and they either carry their water or use “acquired” shopping trolleys from the nearby TM Supermarket to push it home.

But here I am waiting for Mugabe’s address to the nation which the rumour mill suggests will happen sometime soon. State controlled Zimbabwe television is still announcing parliamentary results, ploddingly and seemingly grudgingly. Then there’s Sky, BBC and CNN reporting that Zimbabwe is close to a truly historic moment – Mugabe stepping down.

I resonated with what a reporter, stationed at Beit Bridge, had to say about interviewing Zimbabweans at the border with them saying that they just can’t believe it. The thought of Mugabe stepping down boggles the mind. We’ve lived in his menacing shadow for so long that stepping out into the sunlight of freedom is almost too much to hope for.

But hope we must.

If the rumour mill is correct I wonder what sort of deal is currently being struck? Will it contain elements that will stick in our throats. Or should we accept that seeing the back of Bob, no matter what, is crucial to rebuilding Zimbabwe?

Certainly what many of us have learned in the last several years of political opposition in Zimbabwe is that we have to remain vigilant to the abuse of power that rulers so quickly succumb to in an effort to protect their positions.

I got an email today from Sokwanele which I thought excellent except for the title and the last paragraph – two crucial parts of messaging (in my opinion).

The title, What More Must We Do? and the last paragraph

The people of Zimbabwe have spoken and it is now time for Zanu PF, SADC, all other African bodies and the rest of the world to respect and support the will of the people.

suggest that unseating a dictator occurs solely through an election. It does not, and in fact we’ve tried that a few times. Sure there needs to be an election to expose – what is so clearly being exposed – the work of Rigger Mugabe. But it doesn’t end there. A stolen election needs to be backed up by strong civic resistance. And usually its a good idea to have civic resistance guided by strong leadership. This is where Plan B comes in – the elephant in the room as far as the political opposition and civil society is concerned.

As the more sensible brother, Moeletsi Mbeki, said in a BBC interview last night, it is undisputed that Tsvangirai has won this election, and the election in 2002. This isn’t the point – the point is how do you get Mugabe to comply with the opposition electoral victory?

There is absolutely no question that the MDC has worked hard and campaigned strongly, but this is not enough. The MDC must prepare their supporters for resistance and be willing to lead them. Clear leadership from the MDC will mitigate spontaneous and sporadic violence. Civil society organisations must ignite their memberships (if indeed they actually have them) and lead them in defense of their vote. The international community must be prepared to speak out and support democratic change in Zimbabwe.

We cannot continue to sub contract the response to electoral fraud in Zimbabwe to the international community. We cannot continue to shield the MDC from criticism for their lack of follow through.

Clearly, there’s a lot more we must do.

—————————————————–

Here are some of the voices of the people

We have tried the democratic route more than three times now and the election has been stolen. We have tried the courts, and up to now Tsvangirai does not have a verdict for an election of 2002.We have no choice but to go beyond “round 2” and we have to exercise people power. Odinga asserted himself and the world stopped and listened. Politics is about making the appropriate judgments and if Tsvangirai thinks the international community is going to give us independence then he will remain in opposition forever. Way Forward: Let’s reclaim State House, its unoccupied anyway!!!

Not all that is faced can be changed and nothing can be changed unless faced. This is the time Zimbabweans should not fear to demonstrate to ZANU PF and to the world that we now demand FREEDOM. If we sit and watch, we die. We take ACTION, we die. Better take ACTION this time, the WORLD may feel sorry and assist. If we sit and watch again, we shall all perish leaving Mugabe and his cronies.

Lets all be prepared for civil disobediance that is non violent. This regime will kill in order to stay in power and gauging from the “political impotence of our neighbours”, they may not intervene to stop the killings. Civil society should go out and consult the real people out there.. Amanda wrote that they should leave the comfort of press conferences in hotels and go out to “conscientize” people on the possibilities of Mugabe rigging the victory. Gaining consensus of the people in the post election actions is critical.

We don’t want to hear of any rigging becoz if that happens it means we all have to go the bush and do the right thing – fight the oppressor. I really do not want to think about the possibility of this rigging becoz it gets me mad completely. I believe he has always rigged in the past and the voters physically did nothing to express their views.This time around, I am sure the voters are very much eager to know the full results. Any misrepresentation to protect the regime, will trigger mass demonstration.

And South African readers of the Mail & Guardian Thought Leader blog had this to say on the question of whether Mbeki would comment if the Zimbabwean election was rigged

There won’t be any response. Or there’ll be a typically vague Mbeki-ish response, you know, the one which takes the long and winding road which actually goes nowhere and says nothing. He’ll probably quote Shakespeare or someone at some point too.

Quite diplomacy will be the order of the day. Do you really expect anything else?

The South African observers will declare the election free and fair no matter what transpires. Based on their declaration we all know what our president’s response will be

Thabo? Respond?

Mbeki will deny that it was a rigged election. He will come up with some ridiculous argument to defend his & the ANC’s point of view. The old freedom parties like the ANC, MPLA, Frelimo, SWAPO etc don’t want to see an opposition take power by the vote. The winds of change are blowing again in Africa and the days of the one party state are numbered and it scares the old guard.