Robert Mugabe’s widely condemned ”re-election” last weekend appears to have broken the resolve of many Zimbabweans.
Two weeks ago there was steely determination among many voters to reject him, despite mounting violence and the economic crisis.
But after a week which began with Morgan Tsvangirai’s last-minute withdrawal from the poll and ended with Mugabe’s whirlwind ”inauguration”, resignation is taking over.
A day after the elections, as state radio reported Mugabe was heading for a ”landslide”, Dadirai, a clerk with a phone company, was waiting in line to play last Saturday’s Z$100-trillion lotto, hoping, she joked, for better luck than Tsvangirai.
”Whatever happens now has to be about solving the economic crisis. That’s the biggest concern for most of us,” she said.
Few had any hope that the proposed dialogue between Mugabe and Tsvangirai would make much difference — or happen at all.
”What will they talk about? Just sharing power or solving our problems?” asked Charity Njanji, a high school English teacher. Like most people, she feels she is on her own. ”I don’t trust any politician any longer. They say one thing and do the other. I have to concentrate on my family.”
Njanji was hired as an election official in March but declined the job in the run-off, saying ”the job is not worth the money or the stress”.
Some Zimbabweans still see a ray of light. The head of a listed company declined to be named but said he is encouraged by what he sees as a hardening anti-Mugabe sentiment in the region.
”Mugabe can’t continue with things as they are. Even he must realise the economy will get him in the end,” the businessman said.
Official vote tallies indicate a sudden doubling in support for Mugabe since the first-round election and has become the subject of many jokes on Harare’s streets.
In Harare central, the postal ballot tally was 14 for Mugabe and none for Tsvangirai.
But according to Clifton, a young middle-rank officer in the army who rents out an apartment in the constituency, Mugabe still has support in army ranks.
”But many are a bit impatient, especially about the economy,” he said. ”I don’t like Tsvangirai, but I hope the chiefs [top politicians] will now really look at how they are running things.”
Three observer groups said the poll was not credible and the Pan-African Parliament went further, calling for fresh elections.
But Zimbabweans have very little appetite for another round of voting.
”New elections mean more fighting and more bad news for the economy. Who wants that?” asked newspaper vendor Nancy, cynically adding: ”Let them rule.”
Weeks ago, the buoyancy of MDC supporters was such that anybody suggesting dialogue with Mugabe risked a public flogging. But even the most radical anti-government activists now grudgingly concede that Mugabe will be around for a while longer.
”If talking brings peace, why not?” said Makusha Chivara, an MDC activist in Ruwa, a farming area east of Harare.