Zimbabweans took refuge at the Central Methodist Church in Jo'burg.
Millions of Zimbabweans living in the diaspora will enviously watch as the 6.4-million registered voters cast their vote on Wednesday — something those who are not at home are legally barred from doing.
The Zimbabwe Electoral Commission, which is mandated to hold the poll, said it could not conduct a postal vote for Zimbabwean nationals outside the country, citing financial constraints.
Last month, Chief Justice Godfrey Chidyausiku dismissed a Constitutional Court application by a Zimbabwean national living in South Africa, Tavengwa Bukaibenyu, to allow him to vote in the election through a postal vote system.
In his application, Bukaibenyu argued that the barring of postal ballots for Zimbabweans in the diaspora violated his right to participate in choosing the next government.
Zimbabwe’s postal vote system is reserved for government officials at Zimbabwe’s embassies and consulates who are away on official duty.
The exact number of Zimbabweans living outside the country is heavily contested, with estimates from the International Organisation for Migration placing the number of nationals resident in South Africa at between two and three million.
Fleeing economic and politicial upheaval
Second to South Africa as a destination for Zimbabweans is the United Kingdom, and community-based organisations estimate that there are 200 000 legally settled Zimbabweans in the UK and about 500 000 undocumented immigrants.
Political and social observers say that the bulk of Zimbabweans in the diaspora left the country in 2000, fleeing the economic and political upheaval perpetrated by President Robert Mugabe’s Zanu-PF when it invaded white-owned commercial farms and the economy took a downturn.
If allowed to vote in next week’s election, it is feared within Zanu-PF’s ranks that Zimbabweans living in the diaspora would use the opportunity to punish Mugabe — the man many people say was the reason they left their country.
Patience Ndlovu, a Zimbabwean who has been living in Edmonton, Canada, since 2011, said she was keeping a close eye on political developments in the run-up to the election.
“I just think it is a shame that people living abroad will not be able to take part in the voting process since the new Constitution does not permit it. We would have also loved to have our voices heard. Nonetheless, we are praying for a peaceful election,” she said.
Another Zimbabwean, Petros Ndiweni, an executive at a telecommunications company in South Africa, said there has never been an attempt by the authorities to include those in the diaspora in the elections, a perennial problem that has plagued Zimbabwean polls.
Zimbabweans in diaspora do care
“It is therefore wrong, as some people have concluded that Zimbabweans in the diaspora are [uninterested] in Zimbabwean politics. Had they allowed postal votes, like the United States system for example, I believe thousands would vote for their choice candidate.
“I think it is both regrettable and unfortunate that Zimbabweans, many of whom left the country for economic and, in some cases, political reasons, will not be able to vote.”
With less than a week to go before the election, immigration officials indicate that there has been very little activity at the country’s borders that would suggest an influx of Zimbabweans returning to the country to participate in the election.
Charles Gwede, the assistant regional immigration officer in charge of Beitbridge border post (southern region), said activity at their post “had remained normal”.
During peak periods in December, the Beitbridge border handles up to 40 000 people a day, with the number dropping to about 13 000 a day during off-peak periods.
Perhaps aware that they cannot vote against him, at a campaign rally on Tuesday in Mutare, Mugabe took a swipe at Zimbabweans in the diaspora, provoking an outpouring of anger on social media platforms Twitter and Facebook.
'Why Britain?'
“You have your country; you fought for it, why are you running away? Why run to Britain, a very cold and uninhabitable country with nowhere where you can say you can live happily? The houses are very small, why go there? So that you can say I went to England? Can those who went there show us what they did with their time?"
“Even those in America, they only come home to die. The coffins, we buy them because they didn’t leave enough money behind to buy coffins,” he said.
He extended an invitation to locals in the diaspora to return home, saying: “We have educated our people; if you are an engineer, the mines are there. If you’re an economist, an accountant, jobs are there.”