The good news is that one of the regime’s water canons has broken down on Samora Machel Avenue.

The bad news is their fighter planes are buzzing Mutare.

I’ve just received this message from a student . . .

Some jet fighters are flying so low here in Mutare. Do you have any idea what is going on? We are so frightened.

As we approach Zimbabwe’s 29 March elections Phillip Pasirayi poses some fundamental questions:

“You can vote for them [MDC] but that will be a wasted vote. You will be cheating yourself as there is no way we can allow them to rule this country. The MDC will not rule this country. It will never ever happen.”
- President Robert Mugabe, March 2008

We will be naive to still think that the impending Saturday election in Zimbabwe will be free and fair and in conformity with the SADC Guidelines governing democratic elections to which Zimbabwe is a State Party. The above epigraph from the octogenarian Mugabe means that the election is already fixed and that Mugabe’s surrogates at the so-called National Command Centre will announce Mugabe as the winner. It is time that pro-democracy and civic groups start preparing for civil disobedience and demand the restoration of their vote. The civic movement must increase pressure that will make it difficult for Mugabe to govern and prepare the ground for referral of the Zimbabwe case to the UN Security Council. Already the humanitarian catastrophe in Zimbabwe warrants Zimbabwe’s referral to the UN and this flawed election presents a unique opportunity that must act as a precipitant for UN intervention.

Zimbabweans have been through a number of rigged elections and stolen votes. Each time we’ve seen a complete lack of leadership from the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) when the results have been announced.

Will the MDC’s response to this election be any different?

What we need in Zimbabwe right now are more defections in Zanu PF, a viable plan of action for what we’ll do when the election is stolen (again), and citizens with courage. Without these, it is unlikely our next election will produce anything startlingly different than the past three have.

I’ve been reading the various reactions to Simba Makoni’s candidacy with interest. The Mutambara formation of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) has gotten behind Makoni. But by and large, the response from civic activists and supporters of the Tsvangirai-led MDC has been negative. The negativity is based on a couple of factors which include his late entry – he’s seen as someone who hasn’t been around long enough as an independent; and the fact that he has been Zanu PF and he intends to remain Zanu PF.

The thing is, even if the Tsvangirai MDC does win the March 29 election, Zanu PF will still be around. I don’t see them just up and disappearing come April. And we need to reach a place in Zimbabwean politics where extreme polarisation is a thing of the past. We need political parties to work together for the benefit of Zimbabwe whilst maintaining their different philosophies and ideologies. If Makoni can move Zanu PF to a new thinking and new leadership that makes them more approachable and easier to work with, he should be given the opportunity to do so.

An article entitled It’s an election not a coronation caught my eye recently. Both Tsvangirai and the MDC should reflect on these words. It is an election in which both candidates have to work hard to convince Zimbabweans to get out the vote for them. Having worked tirelessly for the last 8 years does not automatically guarantee Tsvangirai victory. And he should not be viewed as the only legitimate challenger to Mugabe.

A Kubatana subscriber emailed us this opinion:

Loyalty is a great quality, but we have to ask to what exactly are we being loyal. The argument that we should continue voting for Tsvangirai because of his past contribution is the same argument used by Mugabe as to why we should vote for him. Didn’t he liberate the country from colonial shackles and therefore we should continue loyalty well beyond his ability or willingness to deliver “the goods”? Sometimes, we have to step back from emotional loyalty and look to the greater good. Not voting for someone is not necessarily being disloyal to that individual. People’s contributions to a cause, does not bestow the entitlement of office or reward. We do what we do because it is the right thing, not because we expect high office. If Tsvangirai doesn’t make it to the Presidency, I will still respect and honour him. I just want to see my country begin the road to recovery, both nationally and individually.

For many years the MDC has been unable to convert their stolen elections. Why would they suddenly be able to do so in 2008? A failing economy and an ailing dictator don’t necessarily place victory in one’s lap. Indeed, Mugabe has become even more shameless (his latest election jingle features the refrain: “If you want a farm, vote Zanu PF. If you want a company, vote Zanu PF.”). And Mugabe is confident that his battle-cry of “sovereignty” allows him to rig elections with impunity and run Zimbabwe into the ground without any regard to criticism.

If Makoni can somehow encourage the neutralisation of Mugabe and create a “new Zanu PF” committed to justice and Zimbabwe’s social, economic and environmental recovery then this should be seen as progress.

I woke this morning to find a missed call on my mobile from a “hidden” number. A small aside – I’m no fan of hidden numbers like I’m no fan of pseudonyms on letters to newspapers. I was a bit bummed out because I thought I might have missed speaking with a friend who has agreed to bring in an essential election item for me from South Africa – a bottle of tequila. Later on in the morning I got another call from a hidden number and when I answered it a woman said that she knows where I live and that she can come and find me if she wants. So I said, what do you want then? She never really said and I got the impression by the end of our faltering conversation that she might think that I’m having an affair with her husband. Rather that than being hounded by a fanatical member of the Zanu PF women’s league.

There’s a battle of election posters in Newlands Shopping Centre. Our space was first peppered with posters from Zanu PF. Then Morgan Tsvangirai’s MDC posters sprung up in all their red glory. Simba was a bit slow to start but his bright yellow stickers and posters have jollied up the place quite a bit. However over the last few days the MDC’s posters are being torn down and replaced with posters of a very old looking Mugabe shaking his fist (yawn). I haven’t actually seen this happening, so it must be under the cover of darkness that Zanu PF is subverting other political parties political freedom in Zimbabwe. I wonder whether our police commissioner would arrest those tearing down MDC posters like he did this guy.

Zanu PF does however score rather high marks for putting various election related leaflets in my post box at home. It’s about the only post I get these days. In Harare East, Noah Mangondo representing Zanu PF describes himself as “the caring representative for all people” and “like Noah of old, this Noah will help you keep your head above the waters”. Yeah right, if only we had some water to flush our toilets and boil our kettles with, Mr Mangondo! But I do like the fact that Noah has given us his mobile phone numbers and his email address – what have we got from the MDC’s Tendai Biti? Zip, just an eyesore of an election poster with him looking very rotund with a very small round hat on his head.

I also got a post card from Zanu PF. I kid you not. The front had him pumping that old fist again and the back said that with Zanu PF “we are poised for total empowerment”. But maybe after 29th March we’ll get another postcard from Mugabe saying hi from Malaysia. I can hope can’t I?

Yesterday I received this on the ground report from Gerry Whitehead in Chiredzi. It makes for some interesting reading.

Husband and wife still prisoners
On Saturday I visited Digby and Jess Nesbitt who still cannot leave their home on their cane farm, this is because they know that if they do go into Chiredzi or visit friends, they will not be allowed back to their home and will loose all their possessions. Digby and Jess are looking stressed but are hopeful that the coming elections will be positive and bring the changes required to save Zimbabwe.

Shelves empty and no meal
The shelves are still empty in the supermarkets and there has been no meal (the staple diet) available for several weeks now, if you have a lot of money you are able sometimes to buy grain at $150 million a bucket from the councilors who get it from the Grain Marketing Board which is controlled by the ZANU PF government. The food situation for the poor is getting very serious here now.

The poor sick
Again it is the poor people who get sick first because they are stressed and undernourished. They now get turned back from the Chiredzi hospital because there is no medicine and no government doctors, there are however a few private doctors, but they are far too expensive for these unfortunates. The local chemists in Chiredzi do have some medicines but again much too expensive, so the poor are left to suffer and die. It seems that no one cares, certainly the ZPF government of Zimbabwe does not.

Anger and excitement
It’s hard to find anybody in the Lowveld who is not angry with the ZANU PF party who rule Zimbabwe, everybody is suffering, and those who are lucky enough to have employment are forced to support relatives in the stricken communal areas. Mugabe will only find some support in the Lowveld from those that he has bought with farms and even many of those are saying that they will not vote. Some say that they will vote for Simba Makoni for president, I have also had several well known ZANU PF recipients of farms come to my office and admit the situation cannot carry on like this and so will vote Morgan Tsvangarai. Last week I went into the Chiredzi South Communal areas to do some ground work for the elections and met many people who are A1 settlers on farms. They are admitting that the whole land issue has been handled badly and the only way out now is to vote for the MDC. Simba Makoni is not known here and is being described as a ZANU PF stooge.

In general, people are excited about the coming elections as they give them hope! I cannot see Mugabe even being able to rig the elections in these areas; the people seem to be mobilizing against this government just like they did for Mugabe when they, the people invaded the farms. The ZPF government has saturated the area with troops who are supposed to be on leave but have been told to force the people to vote Mugabe, but it seems that the troops in these areas are not very enthusiastic. A few weeks ago we did have a General arrive at Chikombedzi and threaten people at a meeting saying that if an opposition party won there would be war like they have never seen.

I used to have to work in these areas under the cover of darkness but now it seems that I am able to work in daylight and the people are waving at me.

Shepherd Mandhlazi doesn’t just sit back and bleat. He writes to various newspapers sharing his opinion. He writes poetry and dramas which comment on the Zimbabwean crisis.

As Howard Zinn wrote recently

Voting is easy and marginally useful, but it is a poor substitute for democracy, which requires direct action by concerned citizens

In my book, Shepherd fits the description of a concerned citizen.

A letter of his was published recently in the Mail & Guardian – here’s a short excerpt

We have faith in Makoni even though he is Zanu PF, which the people hate. He does not display the excesses and fanaticism of his party comrades – the violence, insults, the tendency to point fingers at others when faced with problems.

And here’s a poem that Shepherd has just sent to Kubatana.

I am angry
I have heartburn
Bread, maputi – monotonous diet.

I am angry
I am fearful
I look over my shoulder
I am Zimbabwean.

I am confused
I’m counting the zeros
Is it a billion or a trillion?
I’m counting the zeros.

I am confused
What price is the bread?
Is it three million?
Is it five million?
But it was one million yesterday.

I am confused
I am Zimbabwean.
What is my crime?
Is it loving my wife
And not being able to provide for her?
Is it waving at my friend,
Or not saluting the presidential motorcade?

I am confused
I am Zimbabwean
I am bitter, I am angry.
Where is my father?
Did he run away from us?
What did he mean when he said;
They will come for me,
the revolution eats its children.

I am angry, I am bitter.
I am Zimbabwean.
Where is milk and cereal for my daughter?
Where is bacon and eggs for my wife’s breakfast?
Where is the money
for my night out with the boys?

I am angry, I am lost
I am Zimbabwean.
Why do I sweep the streets in a foreign country
my degrees in my back pocket?
Why do I jump fences
crossing into a better country?

Where is my manhood?
I can no longer feed my family.
I am not a man,
I am a Zimbabwean.

Why does he speak on my behalf,
Lies!!
I do not hate the British
I do not hate the Americans
I don’t care,
a Dube or Jones owning the land
I want food on my table.

I am hungry.
I am angry.
I am confused.
I am bitter.
I am a Zimbabwean.

On Saturday night I went to a wonderful dinner party sharing conversation with a cross-section of Zimbabweans. We did a whip around on the subject of the election and people were either voting Simba, or spoiling their ballots. Speaking of Simba I noticed his full page election advertisement in The Zimbabwe Independent on Friday. Besides the fact that it didn’t say a hell of a lot, it appears that Simba doesn’t feel that its necessary to provide any contact details so that we, the Zimbabwean electorate, can actually get hold of his campaign office to find out more about his policies, when he might organise a public meeting – you know, all that trivial stuff. When I mentioned my complete disgust at this arrogant electioneering one of the dinner party guests snorted and said that I was thinking too much like an “intellectual” and that this is Africa and this is how Big Men behave. As Brenda mentioned in one of her recent posts, if you haven’t read the policies of, or listened to these presidential hopefuls, or been invited to a public meeting, then Just Say No to the big men of Zimbabwean politics and spoil your ballot rejecting their arrogant behaviour.