Supporters of democracy did not know what to do…
The Zimbabwe senate non-election election has come and gone. Yesterday carried an atmosphere of quiet apathy, confusion and disillusionment. Supporters of democracy did not quite know what to do, to vote or not to vote. Ordinary people have fallen into the crack of the mdc’s divide, unsure what stance to take.
I personally felt ambivalent to the whole fiasco, for the first time in five years an election day was an absolute non event. There was a dribble of half hearted campaigning but overall the whole “voter fatigue” syndrome ruled the debacle.
For so long we have been told to trust Tsvangirai, then the very people who have sung his praises have labelled him a traitor. Who knows what to believe these days? The only answer to this country’s ills is for people to take to the streets, but this is impossible to achieve without credible leadership.
The city streets were awash yesterday, not with voters out to exercise their democratic rights, but with longed for rain and with it streams of soil carried away by the water meant to nourish it – our once lush verges are now dust patches, African urban erosion is taking its toll.
The true allegory for Zimbabwe’s plight lies in those rivers of mud and debris fouling our once proud city streets with the erosion of the country’s soul.
November 29th, 2005 16:46
It’s quite an amazing thing to say “Supporters of democracy did not quite know what to do, to vote or not to vote.” That’s got to show how bad things are in your country, if even people who fight for democracy don’t know what to do. It’s not suprising the turn-out was as low as it was among the rest of the country.
November 30th, 2005 02:05
I think that people have finally come to that point where they believe that the system is so rigged against them that it doesn’t matter if they vote. They feel that no matter what they do, no matter how they vote, they simply can’t win.