Today there’s a lot of buzz around the shopping centre where I work in Harare. The buzz is about Simba Makoni’s election bid. The first person to grab hold of me on the stairs was a heavily blue eye-shadowed Italian woman who held on to my arm tightly in excitement saying that everyone she’d encountered was pleased to see Simba sit up and growl (well, maybe more like murmur).

Likewise vendors and bank tellers are also having pow wows chatting about what might be in store for us in March. David, the video store manager, echoed what most others are saying . . . that many have lost faith in the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) and an alternative to Morgan Tsvangirai is much needed, and welcomed. In our office Dennis suggested that Simba’s entry into the race is a ploy by Mugabe to steal votes from disillusioned MDC supporters.

Yes, it’s quite likely that Makoni will attract a large number of Zimbabweans who would have voted for Tsvangirai. If Makoni does attract this support it means that Zanu PF’s chunk of the vote, one way or another, gets bigger. So how independent is Simba? How genuine is his bid? Is he a late minute spoiler, or Mugabe’s running puppet?

I must say I smiled to myself when I read one of Eddie Cross’ latest justifications for the MDC participating in this farce of an election. He’s quoted as saying

Our focus has to be on the campaign — explaining to the voters what we will do if elected.

Every Zimbabwean, across all walks of life, will tell Eddie that the MDC won’t win because the electoral reforms that the MDC have been negotiating for the last many months have not been adopted. The election will be rigged. Mugabe will win. What Eddie and the rest of the MDC gang should be focused on is their Plan B: what to do when the election is stolen.

Elementary my dear Mr Cross.

OK, here’s the fourth installment in my Quest for Nomination.

Went back this morning. (Before going to work – and then coming home because there is no power at work). Saw the same three, cheerful individuals. Very nice greeting and ‘everything is in order’ and given a new voters registration certificate, and told the roll will be reprinted before election day, so I am ready to go. At least from the administration point of view.

Now I need to get my nominators to sign, (and more is better, there is no upper limit) and present myself and papers to the nomination court on Friday. So will not bother you until then.

Zvakanaka!

Well, this is really the third and fourth days in my quest for nomination compressed into one, but it is the third installment for your learning curve.

Friday morning, about 0930, I went down to Avondale School (yes, it is in Ward 7) to inspect the voters’ roll. There, I met a young policeman who told me he had been there since 0700, and no one was there with the voters’ roll, and he had no information as to what had delayed them.

So I went to work. Left work early, and went to Morris Depot CID HQ, and collected my police clearance at 1630. Had to search through a pile of papers, and another policeman, also very nice, assisted me. Mine was in the pile of papers he searched through.

Then back to the voter’s inspection station. There are now two police, and one woman in civilian clothes. No, I am not on the voters’ roll. We check under Laban, then under Michael as a last name, all to no avail. So I produce papers, and we fill in a form. My papers are proof of residence (a ZESA bill), National ID (which says citizen), passport, original voters registration certificate (dated 20/07/99, number 343465), payment receipt that quite clearly says “restoration of Zim Cit” (dated 1 Dec 2005, number 432513 JJ). The officials are friendly, and very helpful, and cannot see why I am not on the roll (I have lived here, in this block of flats since 1995!) and make me double check the form before signing it, and that is done for the day. Come back tomorrow and we will have a response.

Saturday, I am back. No, no response. Market Square is not working – it is a weekend, although the officials at Avondale School are there all weekend, and feeling bored, so go check and give them something to do! Come back Tuesday, so Market square will have Monday to work on it and give a response.

Fine, I will be back on Tuesday. Before I go to work (and I will get to work late). “But what if there is a problem? There will only be until Friday to sort it all out?” “There will be no problem,” I am assured.

The hours disturb me though. People coming home from work, after 1630, are going to have trouble getting to see the roll before they pack up for the day at 1700. And with only one team at each place, they do not get there before 0800, when the few of us with jobs have to be at them.

So, next installment will be after Tuesday.

Zvakanaka!

On the second day of my quest for nomination I went to a bookstore, (in Ward 7 of course) and bought 2 fingerprint forms. $1 million each.

I then got to the police station (still in Ward 7!) at 1130 and got fingerprinted. Not even very messy with the black stuff all over.

Then down to Morris Depot, CID HQ (which is just outside Ward 7). “Come back after 1400,” says the gate cop. I sit there and read. After 1400 I go in, and join the queue. Finding the queue is confusing. I start by trying to join the front of it; since I do not know which way it is going. Ask lots of people, whoa are all as lost as me, but eventually I join it, on bench seats in the shade!, shuffle along the benches, and go to the right window. Pay $5 million, and am told, “tomorrow, 1600″.

So I move off with my receipt.

Short and sweet. It just disturbs me; a Zimbabwean has to pay (and in cash) to stand for election. Not a direct fee, but under the law, we all have to pay to go through the administration to get nominated. Strikes me as not very democratic – “some animals are more equal than others”, Orwell’s Animal Farm style. Even if the fees are very little, you still have to have money, to get elected. By law. Isn’t this a bit like the Smith regime’s qualified voting system?

Zvakanaka!

More stuff from Former-Councillor Laban . . . over the weekend, we had the announcement of the election and nomination court dates.

So, on Monday, I arranged to be away from work (as I am one of the few Zimbabweans who has a job).

Tuesday, 29 January 2008 – up and off to do the task. First stop, Makombe complex. After visiting three offices (and the gate guard, door guard, photocopy man), I am told, “ZEC Office, Fourth Floor, Cecil House – Corner Jason Moyo and Third.”

I get there, walk up the stairs (the lift does not work), and search for anyone in the offices. The reception and two adjoining offices are empty, but someone on the stairs helps, and eventually two people come by. “Am I a from a Party, or Independent?” – “Independent” “Councillors’ papers are with the local authority. You must go to Town House. I sent the papers there yesterday.”

Off I go to Town House – I remember where it is, and am greeted by all sorts of people! Quite nice. People ask of my health, and I ask after old friends. However the Chamber Secretary (along with many others) is away at a memorial for the dead firemen. “Can I come back in the afternoon?” “Yes, I can.” In the afternoon, she is still away.

Wednesday 30 January 2008 Next morning, she is around. (More old conversation.) I get in to see her and fill in a form to say I have the forms. I ask for, and she will prepare, “a written certificate of clearance in terms of section 125 of the Act from: b) the relevant council.”

Then, off I go. I get to work at 1200. And leave early, to go home (because it is right beside my local police station, in fact, from my kitchen, I can look into the holding cells). I need to deal with another aspect of the forms. “a written certificate of clearance in terms of section 125 of the Act from: a) the Zimbabwe Republic Police.”

At the police station, I am informed, “you must go to a bookstore, buy two finger print forms, then come here and get fingerprinted.” This is only done between 1000 and 1200. Then, I will have to take the forms to Morris Depot, and get clearance.

As for the rest of the form, it requires a birth certificate and Nat Registration card (photocopies) (we guess for identification and to show you are over 21), a passport size photograph, and then nominators. There are spaces for 6, but you can add more on a separate sheet of paper if you want. The nominators must be registered to vote in your ward, and provide Nat Reg number, address, signature and date, and be witnessed by you or your agent/representative. You must sign a declaration, and there are more papers included (Party authorisation forms, and such like.)

So tomorrow it is back to the quest. Anyone out there registered in Ward 7 who wants to nominate me? Let me know, I will come by.

And I am still not sure if I should stand or boycott. The election will not be free and fair (if Zanu PF thought they might lose, they would not hold it), but the campaign will be a chance to bring up the issues (like refuse collection), and make people think about what they want, instead of what they do not want. If I get elected (and there is definitely a chance of that) can I make a difference in Council? Is there a danger I will be overwhelmed by Party people who only know how to say what their party tells them to say? Even with that danger (an others) do you still want me to give it a go? Or can I achieve more by campaigning, and then withdrawing before the elections. If nothing else, the process of getting nominated will, I hope, be a learning process that I can ‘share’ with you all.

Zvakanaka!

I think it’s high time that our city fathers in Harare, if they still exist, engage some clean up campaigns because our city is getting so dirty. Youths have got nothing to do other than drink beer, loiter at the street corners for prostitution and other illegal activities, drugs etc.

The youth should be involved in the clean up activities, which is one area they (city fathers or local government) can reduce the percentage of unemployment and restore order in the cities and small towns around Zimbabwe. Litter is everywhere, and its even worse with this rainy season.

Some years ago, we used to see tractors cutting down grass along the roads. Youths are crying for jobs out there, why not save that diesel you don’t have and employ these youths to cut the grass and keep Harare the Sun Shine City clean!

Why can’t we do what they are doing in Freetown, Sierra Leone where the last Saturday of every month has been declared “Cleaning Saturday” by the government.