So Zimbabweans went to the polls yesterday. I could not help, in the run-up, but to reflect on the journey Zimbabwe has taken through time to reach these elections. I don’t blame those who have been pessimistic or chosen to be negative – the prevailing narrative about this Zimbabwean election could be summarised as “same script, just different actors”.
But immediately before the polls, I spent ten blissful days in Zimbabwe, managing to travel to different urban and rural settings, and I discovered a different and more nuanced picture.
On the ground there was a tangible sense of euphoria as election fever gripped all Zimbabweans, young and old.
These elections represent a clear shift in mood from one of apathy to one of renewed engagement and interest in a developmental agenda for Zimbabwe.
Despite this, these elections have been laden with ironies that may be opaque for the casual observer but are really glaring and unmistakable to those closely linked to the country.
Let me illustrate: in these elections there is a “new” old guard in Zanu-PF led by Emmerson Mnangagwa, which is taking on the newly configured alliance led by the apparently rejuvenated old MDC under Nelson Chamisa.
Of course, we cannot forget the protagonist and antagonist of yesteryear – Robert Mugabe and Morgan Tsvangirai.These two seasoned contenders straddled Zimbabwe’s political leadership landscape for decades. Mugabe, on the one hand, was once extolled as Africa’s liberator and a socialist with the agenda of building a new country when the Union Jack was lowered in 1980.
Conversely, Tsvangirai was praised within Zimbabwe circles as the first opposition leader to effect real and meaningful jabs at Mugabe’s rule in his task to rebuild the ruins of Zimbabwe.
The irony of leadership is at play here.
Then there is the irony within the political economy and how this affects the electorate.
Zimbabwe is a country once given the status of being Africa’s breadbasket and yet, in the present, it is characterised by acute challenges around food security.
The narrative within the political terrain has also shifted – from tones of violence to ones of peace.
Where overt tactics existed in the past some form of openness is being embraced on the ground for the sake of transparency and achieving legitimate democracy.
The climate of violence that usually accompanied Zimbabwean elections in the past is being replaced by a far more tranquil atmosphere.
One could turn on the radio in pre-election Zimbabwe and hear a wide of array of political parties selling their manifestos to an eager and newly interested electorate.
This same electorate has moved from being disenfranchised historically to being actively interested in the politics of present-day Zimbabwe.
Irony has also been manifest in the discourse and language of the elections.
For instance, the claim in previous elections by Zanu-PF that power in Zimbabwe would never be surrendered to a party that had no war credentials has been replaced by what appears to a commitment to relinquishing power if the elections are lost.
Particularly moving was an interaction with two vendors in the streets of Harare after an opposition rally.
They compared the present to the past: “My brother, if it was the days of Mugabe, we would be eating tear gas and Harare would be closed down for business – all to shut up opposition ambitions.”
On the other side of town in Mount Pleasant, however, I was told by a university student that “the electorate still hasn’t found what they are looking for”.
Hope and despair, coming from two different ends of town simultaneously.
Let peace prevail and may Zimbabwe rise from its ruins.
Willie Tafadzwa Chinyamurindi is an associate professor at the University of Fort Hare. He writes in his personal capacity...