When a country goes off the rails…

Train smoke filters through the congested carriages. The smell of sweat dominates the carriage walls. Standing up are haggard-looking people of all ages, who cluster around each other as the commuter train speeds forward to deposit them in their respective destinations.
But the chatter cannot wipe away any of the anxiety on their faces – the anxiety of what the future in Zimbabwe holds after the June 27 presidential run-off.
Commuter trains – introduced in 2006 as a mechanism to shield inflation-weary Zimbabweans against runaway transport costs – have become a political and social landscape for mini political rallies or political discussions.
As the nation moves towards the election next month, it is worry about the country’s future, the unprecedented economic decline and the grinding poverty that dominates the talk on the trains.
We will all leave Zimbabwe if Mugabe wins after rigging, or refuses to step down after losing the polls despite rigging, as the future of the country will be doomed. There will be no future in Zimbabwe, said Joseph Mandevana, speaking on the evening commuter train from Harare city centre to Mufakose high-density suburb.
Mandevana adds: We cannot lie to each other about a change of the situation if Mugabe stays in power after the June 27 elections. Those who will remain in the country will be condemned to eternal suffering if there is no change of government.
Critics accuse Mugabe of employing populist economic policies that have run down the economy – once one of most thriving in Africa. Despite widespread calls for him to step down, Mugabe has dug in his heels and refuses to cede power.
Mugabe says he is defending the country against western imperialism. He also says he is defending the nation’s sovereignty.
But for Luke Chinyama, a civil servant, ordinary Zimbabweans do not eat sovereignty and it does not bring jobs.
Chinyama said that if Mugabe remained in power, he would pack his bags and go to any nation where there is hope for a future.
We remained after the 2002 elections and we are worse off now. What more after five years? Chinyama asks similar distraught faces.
Tapfuma Moyo replies to bursts of laughter: Mugabe should take back the country to 1980 and we liberate it. It no longer makes sense and it will never make sense to remain in the country with Mugabe in power. I will just leave and go to South Africa.
In street interviews in Harare, many Zimbabweans, despite predicting a win for Tsvangirai in the presidential poll, said they feared Mugabe would refuse to step down. They said Zimbabweans, brutalised by Zanu (PF) forces, would be too scared to rise up against Mugabe and force him out of power.
People have seen horrors of what Mugabe is capable of doing. We don’t see Mugabe conceding defeat and stepping down. He will want to fight Zimbabweans who are hungry, suffering, brutalised, emotionally abused and tired, said Dyke Nyatanga. Zimbabweans will not fight, they will just go to other countries.
His friend, Blessing Shoko quipped: We will all just leave Mugabe and his sovereignty after the elections if he refuses to step down. We have suffered under Mugabe’s government and there is no hope for a future under him in the coming years.