13 March 1999

Popular discontent is pressurising the government into making policy changes before council elections in August.  Mayoral mansions and luxury cars are no longer mandatory, but, as most of the cars and mansions have already been purchased or built, the decree will have little practical effect.  Fortunately, Bulawayo hasn’t started on its mansion, so ratepayers will be spared that particular burden.  Isn’t democracy a wonderful thing! 

Even the government finally lost patience with the corruption and incompetence at Harare City Council, and sacked the ZANU PF mayor and all councillors, replacing them with an unelected commission.  The final straw was the festering piles of rubbish left uncollected by the recently privatised ‘service’.  In a unique arrangement, employees in the refuse department kept their ‘jobs’ even though there was no longer anything for them to do.  It has also been disclosed that those who helped ZANU PF councillors get elected were ‘rewarded’ with non-existent council ‘jobs’. 

We recently attended a meeting organised by the National Constitutional Assembly, a consortium of academics, trade unionists, civic organisations, church leaders and independent politicians who want to change the constitution and curb Mugabe’s draconian presidential powers.  Morgan Tsvangerai, leader of the ZCTU was one of the speakers.  It is quite clear that Mugabe is very unpopular and could be in trouble in next year’s parliamentary elections.


10 November 1999

Politics is currently dominated by discussion of a new constitution.  Mugabe has set up a commission, packed with over 400 ZANU PF loyalists, to consult widely and prepare a draft.  The National Constitutional Assembly, the body which set the ball rolling, refuses to take part.  It says the commission cannot be impartial and will merely do the President’s bidding.  Nevertheless, the issue is being discussed everywhere, even in remote villages, after an extensive publicity campaign.  This presents the government with a problem.  The campaign has been so successful that everyone is now demanding restrictions on the power of the president and limits to his term of office.  Some want an upper age limit of 70, which would bar Mugabe from standing again! 

Adding to the pressure, the ZCTU has started a new political party, the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) and this is also scaring established politicians. Things could change rapidly, but it’s probably too late to affect next year’s parliamentary elections.

27 February 2000 

The referendum on the new draft constitution took place last weekend after much acrimony over the way the final document was prepared.  If the ‘official’ press is to be believed - and there’s no reason to doubt their reports on this matter - the vast majority wanted to limit presidential powers, in particular to restrict future presidents to two six-year terms.  Of course none of this pleased Mugabe, so restrictions were removed, and a new clause added as a sweetener at the last minute.  It gave the government the right to seize land ‘unless former colonial master Britain’ pays for it.

Huge ‘Vote YES’ posters were pasted up all over town.  For three weeks, ZTV bombarded us with ‘Vote YES’ adverts.  They showed a farm gate with a KEEP OUT notice, then old footage from the liberation war of white soldiers dragging away a dead rebel by his feet, closing with a smiling young boy opening the gate and beckoning us in to ‘our’ land.  At the final public meetings the changed proposals attracted a great deal of hostility, but against most expectations, there was a good turnout at the polls, despite a widespread belief that the result would be rigged.

Astonishingly, the draft has been narrowly rejected.  Themba, Patricia and Norma declined to vote, and we didn’t detect much enthusiasm from colleagues at work, but Prince came in on Monday morning with a huge smile, having voted for the very first time.  He was with the majority.

24 March 2000 

Things are fast changing in Zimbabwe. The referendum result has woken everyone up.  People in the urban areas are determined to follow through by defeating ZANU PF in the parliamentary election due soon.  The Movement for Democratic Change is seen as a credible alternative and is gaining support by the day.

Home Affairs Minister, Dumiso Dabengwa, who has a Bulawayo constituency, tried to blame whites for the ‘No’ vote.  This prompted an opposition politician to challenge him to name a single white voter in the minister’s Bulawayo constituency - a 100% black township which had the biggest ‘No’ majority in the country.

Before the referendum, new Vice-President Msika assured his Bulawayo constituents that he would not desert them after his elevation, and would seek re-election as their MP.  A few days after the referendum he announced that he would not be standing at the forthcoming election ‘because I am a national figure’.  Another huge ‘No’ vote in his constituency. 

The Minister for Transport and Energy, the man nominally responsible for the fuel shortages, steadfastly refused to resign before the referendum.  He resigned a few days after it.  Others have done the arithmetic and decided on the same course.  How powerful democracy is!

Mugabe and ZANU PF are now in total panic mode and seem hell-bent on destroying the economy and taking everyone down with them.  War veterans have threatened to take up arms to overthrow any elected government which is not ZANU PF.  It’s all hot air of course.  They claimed to have caches of weapons hidden in the bush since independence twenty years ago.  When reporters asked whether the weapons would still function after all this time, they changed tack and said they would storm government armouries to obtain weapons!

So far, they have succeeded in terrorising white farmers and their workers, disrupting farming activities and scaring off friendly governments.  The government maintains the charade that land invasions are spontaneous uprisings of the people and nothing to do with them, despite reports of invaders arriving in army vehicles driven and supported by armed soldiers.  Some farm workers, fearing for their livelihood, have fought back.

8 June 2000

Zimbabwe’s first black Chief Justice, Enoch Dumbutshena, says it is ‘daydreaming’ to expect free and fair elections.  “In reality there is total chaos in Zimbabwe.  There has developed a desire to win elections by means of perpetrating violence.”  You can say that again.  So far at least 23 people have been killed in the run up to the elections.

17 June 2000

We are very impressed with the bravery of MDC candidates and their supporters who remain peaceful.  Some have been kidnapped and tortured for days on end.  Others are having their businesses and homes burned out and families attacked.  Patrick Namanyama, the election agent for MDC candidate David Colthart has been kidnapped and is now presumed murdered.  Two of Morgan Tsvangirai’s workers had their car petrol-bombed and were burned to death.  The culprits are known, but the police have declined to arrest them.

People are being dragged to ZANU PF rallies against their will. 
Gweru, which is quite a large town, was forced to close down one day last week for a rally.  We were advised not to go into town today because Mugabe is holding a rally in Bulawayo, and his supporters would be all over town, forcing people to attend.  People at work all said they would be staying quietly at home, not answering any knocks at the door.  However, we ignored their advice and had no problem when out shopping.

Rural people are bearing the brunt of the ZANU PF terror campaign.  Teachers in particular are being beaten up on suspicion of being pro-MDC.  Whole villages are being dragged out at 2.00 in the morning, beaten and threatened with death if their area elects an MDC MP.  One of our work colleagues gravely remarked “we should let our rural folk starve if they vote ZANU PF into power this time”.

3 July 2000

Everyone in Bulawayo became extremely excited as the election approached.  On Friday, we were told ‘tomorrow is the big day’.  On Saturday, a Security Guard in the supermarket responded to our “Good Morning” with a wide grin, saying “We will win.”  Just like that.  He completely forgot to say “Good Morning” back.  There was no need to ask who “We” referred to.

People could hardly wait to vote, forming long queues in the morning.  By afternoon, most people had voted and were eager to know the outcome, even though another whole day of voting remained.

Monday was a day of tension and rumour.  Mobile phones hummed with ‘news’ from various parts of the country, most of it proving to be falsely optimistic.   The announcement of the first results of the evening - all massive victories for the MDC in Bulawayo - generated great excitement.  We heard a large group of youths singing in celebration down our street and dashed out to join them.  However, by the time we’d unlocked our doors and gates, they were specks in the distance.  One solitary straggler remained to give us a big hug!

The final results brought deep disappointment. Of the 120 seats contested, ZANU PF won 62, MDC 57 and ZANU 1.  In one Midlands constituency, the MDC candidate won easily despite not campaigning at all, after fleeing from death threats in April.  His opponent was Mugabe’s favoured successor, Emmerson Mangagwa.

We have spent the last few days trying to cheer everyone up, pointing out the result is really very good.  For the first time, Mugabe will have to respect the opinion of others and will be unable to amend the constitution.