As Zimbabwe gets ready for elections 31 July, and special voting this weekend, our SMS subscribers have been sharing their thoughts and observations about the electoral environment. Here is some of their feedback:

• Hatisi kufara ne zviri kuitika kuno kuBudiriro uye nhau dziri kubuda mudzi nhepfenyuro dzino taura zvisizvo pamusoro pa Costa Machingauta. (We are not please about what is going on in Budiriro and the way the media (radio) is bringing out the issue of Costa Machingauta)
• Police officers are all wearing Zanu-pf regalia. What does that mean?
• It’s now time up!  People should stand up for their rights! Mazimbabwe hatisadya uroi nokunyara! (Zimbabweans we no longer want to evil against each other) Lets’ vote wisely!
• We want free and fair election 2 make some developments 2 our country. new plans 2 be beautiful Zimbabwe

In Harare? Wondering where to vote 31 July?
Use our clickable map of provisional polling stations for Zimbabwe 2013 Election.

Our country has for a long time now been a manufacturing pot for the redefinition of kleptocracy and dictatorship. All the extremes of bad and evil governance have been crafted in our backyard and I pray that in this information age such insanity should be well exposed and put to an end. All Zimbabweans should now appreciate that our independence in 1980 was just a transfer of colonial power from Smith’s dictatorship to a tougher and homegrown type of repression. Our election in 2 weeks time should be a show of protest and the right machine gun to bring this gluttonous oligarchy in Zimbabwe to an end.

The other day, I listened to a kombi driver chat with a female cop and perhaps like everywhere, their banter ended up touching on the coming elections.

“I hear you will be voting earlier than everyone,” the driver said. “Yes,” the cop answered not hiding the excitement of the privilege.

Then the guy complained that he wasn’t going to vote because he had failed to register after being frustrated by the long queues.

Ah yes, the queues were frustrating, the cop agreed.

I sniggered imagining the cop was relishing the moment that a few voters would mean she had her work cut out – literally.

A few voters will certainly mean cops are not kept busy manning long winding queues, but the exchange between the cop and the kombi driver was a conversation that has gained common currency in the run up to the poll, where the question “did you register” has become the favourite topic like the British asking each other about the weather!

And with the MDC-T’s estimates that more than 300,000 people in Harare failed to register, such conversations do give a picture of the magnitude of the very flawed voter registration process.

While the figure offered by the MDC-T might look wild, word on the street does point to worse if read with the disgruntlement that prevails in other parts of the country where old women of Malawian origin for example with metal ID they got before independence were told to bring their birth certificates!

It’s not funny but Zanu PF Svengalis manipulating the electoral processes imagine they will have the last laugh.

Comments attributed to First Lady Grace Mugabe that Mr. Morgan Tsvangira’s looks gave First Gentleman Robert Mugabe nightmares just show how low-brow the politics of State House can become.

Critics have long said our politics is not issue based, and Mrs. First Lady seems to confirm that.

It highlights she not only has very low regard for Tsvangirai (she doesn’t have to: Tsvangirai wants to take her husband’s job!), but most importantly perhaps, the low regard she has for her audience.

The favoured phrase for many people would be “don’t insult our intelligence.”

Imagine expecting to swing votes by telling voters that you need a more photogenic fellow at State House! That would help in international photo opportunities!

You are simply implying that your audience has no clue about the real issues that seek to address their impoverished livelihoods, but such has been the nature of Zimbabwean politics, recalling the rather unpalatable comments by one “nationalist” and “national hero” that if a baboon stood for Zanu PF in elections, you vote for that baboon.

Surely Zimbabweans deserve better.

Zanu PF posters for the July 31 election have been put up on the Makoni South Constituency Parliamentary Information Centre notice board. Whilst clearly it’s tempting advertising space, surely that’s the kind of space that should advertise equally for all parties, or none. A public service. Oh, like the public broadcaster, ZBC. Right.