When they received their salaries on January 16, a day late, they were paid only in local currency.

President Robert Mugabe is urging Zimbabweans to "vote for the fist". His campaign posters -- portraits of Mugabe wearing an olive green military-type shirt and holding a clenched fist aloft -- reflect his hard-line politics, and remind voters of the crack troops who have helped keep him in power for 28 years.