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Election induced PTSD

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Someone mentioned over the weekend that they are yet to meet anyone who is ecstatic about the July 31 poll outcome. The guy was kinda pissed off that everyone he met was complaining about what they sense are the tough times that lie ahead.

He was a middle aged man headed for Gokwe and like many people I have listened to since the poll results were announced, his was a story of a litany of hardships he has lived through over the years and according to him, the rural folks where his old mother lives remain a miserable lot yet are the same folks who “voted overwhelmingly” for Zanu PF.

He told me that at one time, he told them that he was no longer going to assist them with any resources seeing the way they choose to vote! He seemed to have a point.

I am also yet to meet anyone beating their chest about Zanu PF’s victory, but still meeting someone saying that they have not met any Zanu PF supporter in a rural area where Zanu PF won celebrating was very telling.

This man is one of many who have lost faith in the whole idea of elections and so-called democratic processes whose outcomes apparently do not have to reflect popular sentiment. So why hold elections then?

Many folks are just walking like zombies and their confusion and frustration is written all over their faces. And it ain’t nothing to laugh about.

Of course the usual fools will say in any election there are winners and losers, that SADC leaders have “endorsed” the poll results, that inauguration in definitely on this week, but then the very fact that this inauguration will happen against what appears to be muted excitement from the people who allegedly voted for the continuation of bad governance could well mean there are some people who are hell bent on seeing chaotic scenes of protest.

Haven’t we already seen protests as young disgruntled urban youths rightfully feel they have been violated?

And it is the kind of stuff that makes you believe this is just what someone out there is baying for, after all, this country is ruled by people who do not bat an eyelid telling anyone they do not agree with they will punch you in the nose or they are going to shoot you the same way they shot whites back in the 1970s. Some country this is.

You do not need to be a physician to appreciate that so many people are now traumatized by the poll outcome and these unhappy family men and women could well fill any PTSD emergency room.

One only has to browse through social media sites where posts show that Zimbabweans have increasingly become very religious in the aftermath of the elections.

And indeed Zimbabweans are leaving everything to God, the same God others believe has given them the mandate to rule till eternity.

Over the weekend, an old man pointed me to large swathes of land in the Ngezi-Mhondoro area and explained how the landscape has changed over the years, how large herd of cattle disappeared, how land lies fallow, how small-holders in Gokwe have abandoned cotton farming because the state purchaser of this commodity offered these “peasants” peanuts. Recall that Gokwe was once celebrated as home to “white gold” as communities made small fortunes as cotton farmers.

You could only wonder if he was talking about the same country celebrating the success of land reform despite the same country importing maize from Zambia!

But then I only needed to recall the misery of tobacco farmers who each year complain that they bring their produce to Harare where they spend nights out in the open only to be offered ridiculous prices.

Like the other man said, he is yet to meet anyone who tells a different story about making a living out of the land, yet this is one of many things that get so many angry recalling that all hope they had for a fresh beginning was stolen along with the election.

But then, like the MDC has been advised, we should (very grudgingly) all move on…

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