“This country is no good. There is no electricity. I have got to get out of here …” These words were spoken not by one of the many desperate residents of Harare West, the constituency for which I am campaigning as an aspiring MP, but by Vhene, my six-year-old son. His words reminded me once again of the tragedy of Zimbabwe. If the country were a telephone booth, it would have a sign hanging outside reading “Out of order”.
Then again, such is the parlous state of affairs that there might not be material for making such a sign or ink for writing the words. We have long reached the point where if you see anything that still moves or works, you can be certain that the government has absolutely nothing to do with it.
We have also arrived at the point where the government has become an obstacle to daily life, and we are all trying to find ways of getting around that obstacle. The parents of children in government schools have devised “incentive schemes” where teachers are paid by parents as they cannot possibly live on their government salaries. We find ways of obtaining soap, eggs, cooking oil, bread, sugar, maize meal and flour. We get these goods from South Africa, from Botswana, Zambia or Mozambique, either directly or by sending someone else.
It is in this environment that I am running as an MP for the constituency of Harare West, representing the Movement for Democratic Change led by Morgan Tsvangirai (MDC-Tsvangirai). My constituency includes the sprawling suburb of Mabelreign, home to middle-class professionals such as teachers, nurses, doctors and civil servants. I grew up in Mabelreign. I attended Alfred Beit Primary School and, with my school friends, we walked barefoot in the greenways behind the houses, crushing army worms and quarrelling over library books. I still live in Mabelreign, but the area has changed beyond recognition.
The most pressing aspect of these changes is the persistent water shortages. In my constituency, residents have either dug wells or converted fire hydrants into communal wells. I have seen mothers washing nappies here. It is not uncommon to see men and women balancing buckets of water on their heads.
I have run for office before — in the small mining town of Hwange where I was elected to serve on the town council. But this campaign is like nothing I have experienced before. Material and financial resources are hard to come by. My political party is able to provide only posters and the popular red cards to urban candidates. The party has understandably taken the view that it needs to devote more resources to the rural areas, where the opposition has had a difficult time campaigning in past elections.
In addition to these constraints, I face two opponents: one from the ruling party, which is better described as a ruining party, and another from the MDC formation led by Mr Mutambara. The biggest challenge my campaign team and I have faced is communication with the voters. We have experienced difficulties delivering campaign materials to the estimated 20 000 addresses in the constituency. I am supported by a dedicated team of men and women who deliver this material on foot. The existence of two parties bearing the same name also presents challenges: we have had to distinguish our party’s symbol, the MDC open palm, by writing party leader Tsvangirai’s name at the base of the sign.
My campaign team and I have also faced intimidation from supporters of the ruling-party candidate. Kenneth Koche (48), a member of my campaign team, recently experienced the wrath of these supporters. Walking home from delivering campaign materials, he was accosted by a group of men who taunted him for supporting Tsvangirai. They threatened to gouge out his eyes so that he would never see Tsvangirai again. One of the men hit him just under the left eye with an iron bar before they drove off.
Kenneth is lucky to have survived the attack. He was accompanied to hospital by the Marlborough councillor candidate Charity Bango and campaign manager Norman Sazera. A report was made at Westgate police post, but there has been no news of any arrest.
The intimidation extends to ripping off of my posters or plastering over them Zanu-PF posters on which Robert Mugabe waves his fist at the world. Anecdotes from other MDC-Tsvangirai candidates suggest that the ruining party has a coordinated, countrywide campaign to deface opposition posters. When I report such incidents to the police in my constituency, the officers on duty refuse to take down the details, employing feeble excuses such as not being in the correct department.
The ruling party has ostensibly opened up the political space to opponents, but this message does not seem to have trickled to the enforcers of our laws. In the second week of March, I served notices to the police as required under the amended Public Order and Security Act (Posa), to the effect that I intended to convene rallies over the weekend. I spoke to police constables Maunganirwa and Nguwaya of Mabelreign police station, who declined to show me their police identification and refused to accept the notices, pleading “politics”. I should return the next day, they said (after my Posa deadline) and personally deliver them to the officer in charge. This would have been also impossible as, during the day, I juggle the running of my law practice with campaigning.
It is hitting brick walls such as these that makes my campaign both frustrating and exhausting. At the same time it is exhilarating to feel that I could be part of a change that is overdue for my country.
Whatever darkness may engulf us now, there is a hunger for change, and a desire to be actively associated with the party that people believe represents this change. I have been badgered with unceasing demands for the symbols of my party, for T-shirts with Tsvangirai’s portrait on them. I was moved by the statement of a man who only identified himself as Baba vaChipo at one of my constituency meetings. Resting his hand on the left side of his chest, he said: “I do not worry about possessing physical and visible symbols of the MDC-Tsvangirai campaign. My T-shirt is right here in my heart.”
My campaign would not succeed without men such as Kenneth Koche and Baba vaChipo, without the women who have walked the length and breadth of Harare West, many with babies strapped to their backs. I am grateful for the massive support I have received from friends and family. My son Vhene, when he is not threatening to leave the county, and his older brother Tivake are determined to help me put up more posters in places that they have identified as strategic.
When I feel particularly tired, I think of my sons, of my family and friends; I think of the people of Harare West who join the people of my country in yearning for change. It is from them that I get the strength to face another day and fight for the change that we deserve.
Fungisai Jessie Majome is MDC-Tsvangirai candidate for the House of Assembly in the constituency of Harare West