Grace after voting. Why does she always look like someone’s just farted?

By Owen Maseko … Owen Maseko is a Zimbabwean visual artist and installation artist, described as “one of Zimbabwe’s most prominent artists”. In March 2010, he was arrested “less than 24 hours after his new exhibition opened” at the National Gallery in Bulawayo.

Details from a just held MDC Press briefing:

1. General high turnout nationally. Long queues in Harare and other provinces. In Harare an average of 400 people had voted at each polling station by 10am.

2. Disturbing events in four Mashonaland Central constituencies as well as in Mashonaland East province. Muzarabani South, North, Mt Darwin North, Guruve North. Uzumba, Maramba-Pfungwe, Mutoko East and North, known MDC supporters including teachers, have been told to plead illiteracy and being ‘assisted’ by Zanu PF. In Maramba Pfungwe, this is happening at Nyangande, Dinde, Datseka polling stations, our people are being “assisted.” In Muzarabani North, this is happening at Muringazuva, Chadereka. In Muzarabani South, this is happening at Mutemakungu, Hoya, Chiweshe primary school and Ucheche polling stations. In Hatfield, we have unearthed massive vote rigging in which 6000 people have been imported district to vote using same registration slips. Some of have been arrested and are at Hatfield police station where the MDC candidate Dr. Tapiwa Mashakada is at.

3. At Bindura primary school known police officers who were part of the special voting are in the queue again today to vote.

4. In Mt Darwin North, this is happening at all polling stations.

5. In Chegutu East, a village head is intimidating by recording names of all villagers as they turn up at Rutara polling station.

6. In Chitungwiza South, Zanu PF supporters telling residents to memorise the last three digits of the serial numbers on their ballots and hand them over after voting.

7. Unknown polling stations: Kanyaya polling station in Muzarabani North was not there.

8. In Guruve North, Masonaland Central, all suspected MDC members are being assisted to vote.

9. Switching of candidates’ faces on parliamentary election ballots in Nyanga.

10. Zvishavane-Ngezi, 300 ballots found in the box with different serial numbers from the ballots issues there. This happened at Mondogori and Mimosa polling stations.

11. Former army officers claim they have received messages to report to KGVI tomorrow, without fail. The message reportedly came from Phillip Valerio Sibanda.

12. We are encouraged by the high turn out. We remain confident that in spite of all these challenges, the people of Zimbabwe will deliver change and real transformation.

Seeing as we run a groovy little activist information project we’re all at work today. We work in a building not far from central Harare and we haven’t had a regular supply of municipal water from our taps for years now. In the beginning it was kind of stop, start. Now it’s just stopped. Like how we have to stop Mugabe. The owners of the building had to sink a borehole so that people could still work here and poo and wee and drink and wash up and all those things you do during the course of the day. But today seeing as its a Public Holiday the borehole has been switched off and we’re water-less. Which actually is a good thing because it one of the reminders of what’s wrong with Zimbabwe under Mugabe’s dictatorship. Another reason not to keep him and his diamond swallowers in power.

Zanu PF has put up election adverts in all sorts of places. Rocks, trees, rubbish bins, walls. They’ve even bought formal advertising space and put up full scale billboards and other smaller fixed structure advertising. Makes me wonder if a civic organisation wanting to share slogans like Stand Up For Your Rights, would have been allowed to do the same.

Photo: New York Times