 As voting got underway in some high density areas in Harare, war veterans and youth militia who were forcing people to vote, became the unwitting victims of some good old fashioned Zim humour.
South Africa based writer and journalist Geoff Hill reported that residents of Budiriro and Tafara areas of Harare were being hounded to the polls by the war vets and militia, who were hired to make sure that as many people as possible vote for Mugabe. Hill said they were herding people like shepherds sending their sheep’ to polling stations.
As soon as they were near the polling stations, the voters ran away in all different directions so that it was very hard to catch any of them. Hill said: There was much hilarity, laughter and mocking as the group made their way back to the safety of the township. Similar reports came from Beitbridge.In many ways Zimbabweans resisted participating in this runoff poll that was forced upon them by Robert Mugabe. The majority simply decided not to vote. Others spoiled their ballots by writing Pasi na Mugabe, meaning down with Mugabe on their papers. Others wrote can I use this for softex on the ballots, asking if they can use their ballots as the popular brand of toilet paper.
Hill, who was in touch with teams of reporters around the country, said there was not much violence reported. There were no observers to be seen anywhere, but there were observer jokes aplenty. Hill said: The joke about observers is – What they can’t see from the rooftop bar at the Meikles, they usually don’t take into account.
With humour aside, Hill turned his thoughts to the African Union Summit that begins next week in Egypt. He said after speaking to senior government officials in Angola, Zambia and Congo Brazzaville, it is pretty clear that African leaders are not going to recognize the runoff election. Mugabe usually gets a standing ovation when he arrives at AU functions. Given the recent condemnation of state sponsored violence in Zimbabwe, Hill said it will interesting to see what happens when Mugabe arrives in Egypt, this time around, if he goes.
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