The ballot box has let down Zimbabweans many times, but few dare contemplate other ways of breaking the stronghold President Robert Mugabe has over the country.
Most of the voters in and around Harare are outspoken supporters of the Movement for Democratic Change and believe Morgan Tsvangirai should be the next president of Zimbabwe.
But of the 20 people interviewed by the Mail & Guardian, only two said they would take to the streets if they believed Mugabe had stolen the elections.
”Government is a waste, they are not solving problems, they are corrupt. If Morgan wins, things will change, he does things the democratic way,” said Chiseko Tonderai (22), who is jobless despite his tertiary qualification.
”I’m sure I’ll be employed when Morgan comes in.” Tonderai and his friends decided against the popular employment option for young men in Zimbabwe — becoming a Zanu-PF stormtrooper.
Said Edmore Moroka (27): ”The only job you can find is as a Zanu-PF thug. They get paid with liquor, get drunk and then go home and beat their parents. It’s starvation that causes people to do that. For us, Zanu-PF only means destruction.”
Insisting he is not afraid to take to the streets over the election result, Tonderai said: ”The police will try to intimidate us as we march up to the stadium where the MDC will tell us to meet. But we will deal with the soldiers, we are not scared.”
The bystanders shrug their shoulders. ”At the moment we are still [quiet] in our minds. We don’t know what’s going on,” says Willard Murumgweni (43), an out-of-work draughtsman who sells cigarettes by the roadside in Dzivaraisekwa outside Harare.
One of his customers, Gongero Tapfamane (29), is drowning his worries about the election outcome in sorghum beer. ”There will be violence if Zanu-PF wins,” he says.
Will he take to the streets and fight? ”No, we have nothing to fight with, no weapons,” he answers after a long silence.
Rosemary Mahachi, a hairdresser with two children, believes the delay in announcing the election results points to vote-rigging. ”Maybe they’re cheating us, that’s why they’re taking so long. There’s no future if Mugabe wins.”
She and her husband, a tailor, make just enough to support their family.
Mahachi believes the first item on Tsvangirai’s agenda should be education. ”There are not enough teachers. He must first look at education, then he can pay attention to hospitals and clinics.”
For Febbie Mbokoto (25), Tsvangirai should first ensure that unemployment is addressed. She sells tomatoes in Kuwadza to supplement her security guard husband’s salary. ”Our basic commodities go up every day, most of the things are not in the shops and I’m forced to go to the black market.”
Outside the local Spar supermarket, Darrington Saungweme (36) sells bread loaves at Z$20-million, twice the shop price. The advantage of buying from him, he says, is that you don’t have to stand in long queues and find, when you get to the counter, that the bread is sold out.
Saungweme, who has two children, agrees that Zimbabwe ”is a bad place for kids to grow up … They don’t grow up well, with all these things that are going on.” Although Saungweme voted for the MDC, he is convinced the vote is being rigged so that Mugabe can declare himself the winner.
Would the people resist in such a case? ”No, the people won’t do anything [if he does that]. We can’t do anything with Mugabe being as well protected as he is. He always has guards around him.
”The people will not be able to get to him; so they will do nothing. They will just become sad.”