Maravi

Zimbabwean senior citizen dreads post-election period

Zimbabwean senior citizen dreads post-election period
By Kingsley Kaswende and George Chellah in Chinhoyi
Wednesday March 26, 2008 [03:01]

A Zimbabwean senior citizen has said he dreads the post-election period because it will determine the fate of Zimbabweans. In an interview on Monday in Chinhoyi, Kingstone Dube, who does not know when he was born because his parents died when he was a toddler, said he had no clue on who will win this Saturday's elections but was sure that President Robert Mugabe would do everything possible to retain power.

"Personally, I don't know who will win. Can they manage to remove this man with a hammer?" Dube asked in reference to President Mugabe's trademark fist he raises in the air as a party symbol.

"Uyu wasando kodi angamukwanise? Acepa onse. Awa a Morgan Tsvangirai nikadiki maningi. (Do you think they can remove this man with a hammer from power? Morgan Tsvangirai is too little to do that.) This man with a hammer, he is very difficult."
Dube said his parents were originally from Chipata and that he speaks a mixture of Chewa and Shona. Dube, who has three children, has been pushing a home-made cart, ferrying people's goods for 15 years. He said business is now becoming tougher.
Dube, who was found relaxing in his cart because he had no goods to ferry, said most people were barely surviving in present circumstances of hyperinflation and dire economy.

"We are merely surviving. The most important thing is that we are breathing. We are hungry and there's no food for people to eat. It is now time for elections and we have seen politicians campaigning. We know that they will now tell us lies for us to vote for them," Dube said.

He said most voters were frustrated because the election results were usually predetermined in favour of the ruling party, ZANU-PF.

He said this discouraged many people from registering as voters.
"He (Mugabe) is using his hammer to destroy this country. He has damaged this country with his hammer and if he wins, ah! we are dead. He'll use his hammer again to destroy the country more. I know he will do everything possible to win. This is why I didn't register as a voter. I knew that whatever people do, he will win," Dube said.
Currently about 5.9 million people have registered as voters.
Dube said many of the people he had spoken to talked of leaving the country if the incumbent won elections.

"Next time you come here, you'll probably just find bush. There will be no people. Many will run away," Dube said. "Shops have nothing. We have no mealie-meal and millers have nothing to grind. I heard that the government bought maize from Zambia. We see trucks passing here with maize so we are waiting."

About three million Zimbabweans are believed to have left the country during the last seven years of economic recession. The deteriorating economy will be President Mugabe's major litmus test in this weekend's elections. President Mugabe blames the dire state of the economy on Western-imposed sanctions on the country but analysts believe it is a result of his land reform programme, which destroyed the mainly agriculture-based economy.

Labels: ELECTIONS, ZIMBABWE

posted by MrK @ 3:38 AM