This Saturday’s elections in Zimbabwe were  called into question early on by Human Rights Watch’s statements that Zimbabweans were not free to vote for the candidates of their choice.
The stakes in this election were not only high for Zimbabweans, they were especially high for its SADC neighbours, key among them South Africa and Botswana, who have absorbed the bulk of the migration (whether legal or illegal) from Zimbabwe and who have seen one of their best trading partners of years past all but collapse economically.
As results trickle in and announcements are made piecemeal, the stage is set for a tense knife- edge finish to the sad saga that is Zimbabwe under President Robert Mugabe’s dictatorial fist.
The prelude to this poll has been a sad tragedy of erosion of civil and political rights and the abuse of human rights.
But whatever the outcome in Zimbabwe, there is no doubt that it is a failed state that will have to conduct state reconstruction.
A once-proud country on our continent  a beacon of post-liberation hope  has become a nation in tatters due to the megalomania of one man who was willing to take the country that trusted him to the brink of disintegration.
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has rightly called Mugabe a disgrace to all of Africa. But equally shamefully, these elections have shown how farcical polls can be. It was nearly impossible for interested observers to obtain any idea of what was happening in Zimbabwe, SABC’s coverage being as problematic as it is.
South Africa’s e.tv was barred and even resorting to CNN or other media was a woeful experience of writhing in shame as an African at the antics of Zimbabwe’s minister of information, Sikhanyiso Ndlovu, who directly accused the international media (the Western imperial press) of aligning themselves with the opposition, and dismissing them entirely .
To their enormous credit the SACP and Cosatu have been wholly consistent about the crisis in Zimbabwe since it began its slow and ugly downward spiral in 2000, and their leaders, including Zwelinzima Vavi, have displayed principle in this matter .
Thus far, the SADC observer mission has already covered itself with shame in prematurely declaring the election an expression of the free will of the Zimbabwean people  a mantra it has used before to gloss over a patently unfree poll.
Thus far the most courageous stance has come from the PAP’s Marwick Khumalo, who has warned Zimbabwean electoral authorities not to delay the pronouncement of the election outcome  as it generates the type of groundswell that saw Kenya erupt so violently.
The AU will have to pronounce on these events and keep its credibility in the process. Worse still, it might have to rapidly come up with a strategic plan to address any post- election result announcement violence of the Kenyan kind.
The MDC has claimed its victory and if the election outcome confirms a Zanu-PF victory the groundwork would have been laid for a Kibaki-Odinga style stand-off for which the international community and AU need to be ready.
If the opposition succeeds against all odds to let a new day dawn for the battle-weary Zimbabwean voters, how swiftly will they act to restore Zimbabwe’s institutional fabric, remove the oppressive media laws and adopt a new constitution?
Equally, how will they govern the vanquished  given the nature of their deeds over the past decade? How will they balance the forces of retribution, reconciliation, and, if possible, restoration and reconstruction to lift the country off its knees?
Whichever scenarios play out in the next few days, it seems clear that the reconstruction effort for Zimbabwe will require commitment from all role-players.
Despite the historical ties between Zanu-PF and the ANC, new realities in Zimbabwe may require very new shifts in relationships between the new political elites in Zimbabwe and South Africa.
What seems clear, however, is that the era of doing business the Mbeki-Mugabe negotiated silent diplomacy way is over  irrespective of the outcome of these polls.
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