- Dear Family and Friends,
-
- We woke to the sound of shouting on the 27th of June
as four young men, wearing Zanu pf scarves, stretched out across the width
of the road and roused the neighbourhood. It was ten past six in the morning,
the sun was hardly up and a cold sheet of frost lay across gardens and
along roadsides.
-
-
- "Hey, hurry up, hurry up," the Zanu PF youths
shouted; "time for voting! Let's go, let's go to vote," they
yelled.
-
- The arrogant calls were met with silence. Even in urban
Zimbabwe people are deeply traumatized by the events of the past few weeks
and so we stay behind closed doors. The progress of the four men could
be tracked by the barking of dogs and the thought that just four young
men could intimidate hundreds is a chilling reality.
-
- The 27th of June will be remembered as a dark day in
our history. How will we explain to our grandchildren that in the depth
of Zimbabwe's crisis there was a Presidential election in which only one
candidate was contesting?
-
- As he prepared to step into his official limousine after
casting his vote for the only contesting Presidential candidate, Mr Mugabe
smiled for the cameras. "How are you feeling Mr President?" someone
asked.
-
-
- "Fit, very fit," he replied. "And very
optimistic."
-
- Optimistic? Of winning an election without an opponent?
-
- Walking round my home town the morning after the election,
there was a sombre and dejected feeling in the streets. There was no excitement
or expectation and no point talking about results. With only one candidate
the outcome was obvious.
-
- One man held up his red stained finger to show that he'd
voted - under protest but for his own safety. With dry sarcasm he said
he'd spoiled his paper: he said he loved both candidates equally and so
he'd given them both an X ! Moments later he shook his head sadly and said:
"so many people will die now - there is already such hunger everywhere.
Now it will be worse."
-
- Another man lifted his red finger but said angrily: "For
What?" His daughter had been told to bring 'top -up' school fees
of one hundred billion dollars when schools re-opened after the elections.
This amount is five times the man's monthly salary. It is his daughter's
O Level year so he said he would sell yet more of his possessions to raise
the money - in order to give his daughter a future.
-
- Two young men stood on the roadside desperately trying
to flag down a lift for their friend who had just come out of hospital
after a severe asthma attack. Because there is virtually no public transport
anymore a group of friends had clubbed together and raised the 90 billion
dollars needed for a private car. 90 billion dollars to travel one way
- less than ten kilometres to the hospital to save their friend's life.
As the youngsters moved on, one said:" We cry for our fair country."
-
- It took five weeks to count the votes cast in the March
29th election. It took just forty four hours to count the votes of the
June 27th ballot. The results have been officially stated as follows:
-
-
- Robert Mugabe: 2,150,269 votes Morgan Tsvangirai : 233,000
votes Spoilt Ballots 131,481.
-
-
- At 4.17 pm on the 29th June 2008, 84 year old Mr Mugabe
was declared the duly elected President of Zimbabwe.
-
- Until next time, thanks for reading,
-
-
- love cathy.
-
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- Copyright cathy buckle 29th June 2008. <http://www.cathybuckle.com>www.cathybuckle.com
My books: "African Tears" and "Beyond Tears" are available
in South Africa from: <mailto:books@clarkesbooks.co.za>books@clarkesbooks.co.za
and in the UK from: <mailto:orders@africabookcentre.com>orders@africabookcentre.com
To subscribe/unsubscribe to this newsletter, please write to: <mailto:cbuckle@mango.zw>cbuckle@mango.zw
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