“There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth” appears to have been said with African elections in mind – and Zimbabwe is no exception! With each election, there must be beatings, torture, and political rape as Zanu PF activists violently “prove” their loyalty to the party whose leader has in the past declared he was prepared to beat the daylights out of anyone who dared challenge him.

The March 29 elections have been no exception according to human rights activists with heads being bashed solely on the accusation that the victims of that political rage are anti-Zanu PF. But there are signs of defiance in the high density streets as some young – and not so young – opposition activists are literally daring the devil by loudly and proudly wearing t-shirts emblazoned with the image of opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai.

This has been a cardinal sin since 2000 with Zanu PF supporters taking it upon themselves to “reorient” compatriots who had been wooed by the opposition – and beat these people up they did. Remember the Hunzvi-inspired re-education camps where opposition supporters where abducted and had to endure hours of torture just to convince them Zanu PF was the party of the future. Today however, hordes of MDC (Tsvangirai) supporters can be seen wearing the t-shirts that boldly pronounce their allegiance as a sure sign of defiance.

It is a statement that they have had enough and are apparently ready to take the punches from any bellicose political thug. Young men can be seen putting up Tsvangirai posters in broad daylight, while in the past this was done at night when the owls started hooting for fear of being spotted by rats who would then inform the Zanu PF “beatmasters.”

These heavies would then descend on the home of the MDC daredevil, smash the windows of his home, drag him from his bed and dispense a sound beating. “How dare you support a party that wants to return the country to British rule?” they charge without any sign they are just pulling your leg. But then, they pull your genitals, flagellate your back, and make you wish you were never born. Never mind that the attackers also live in a land where they have to contend with abject poverty, bellies full of flatulence (because there is nothing in there you see!) which they incredibly blame on anyone other than the bespectacled Grandmaster himself.

Someone mentioned that the open defiance being seen in the run up to March 29 could be because Zanu PF’s erstwhile violent types in urban areas could be sensing a thrashing at the polls and would have nowhere to hide once the Bespectacled One is given one hard kick in the political butt. So imagine today you beat up a neighbour because he is wearing an MDC t-shirt or chanting a pro-Morgan Tsvangirai slogan, and tomorrow the same Tsvangirai is your president! Interesting Dr. Watson, interesting!

But then, politics is one weird sport where foot soldiers behave as if they are under some hypnotic spell and will engage in all sorts of behaviour that defies logic. So while the politicians battle it out trading barbs, their supporters decide to clobber each other because of t-shirts.

I read with interest the other day about a young man in Epworth who got so pissed off for some reason and vented his anger by pulling down a Mugabe poster. You can already imagine his fate! The cops were – in the fashion of a rapid response team – soon onto him like flies to sh*t. Throwing him behind bars for a month, the court said the unfortunate man’s behaviour could insight violence, thus jailing him for a month was an attempt to maintain political stability ahead of the polls! Great, just great. Imagine if he had decided to burn a t-shirt bearing the face of the bespectacled Grandmaster!

Reports about opposition MDC posters being pulled down across the country by Zanu PF activists remain unpunished, and one has to wonder rather aloud if such behaviour is not likely to insight violence. Shouldn’t these chaps be thrown into the cells to “maintain political stability?” But then this is Zimbabwe where the rule of law exists in different forms for different folks! I ain’t telling which t-shirt I am wearing as I write this, but be assured it is emblazoned with a face screaming for food on the table.

And that is the face of every Zimbabwean.

This entry was posted on March 14th, 2008 at 9:41 am by Marko Phiri and is filed under Elections 2008, Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.