The Fat Lady Is Still Sleeping
BBC Radio 4 has a fantastic programme called "From Our Own Correspondent". Today, there was a piece from Zimbabwe about Mugabe's reign of terror leading up to the Presidential run-off.
There is very little in the piece that is particularly different compared to other pieces. It tells of the violence in former Zanu-PF strongholds, of the war veterans terrorising people who voted for the MDC, of opposition supporters in hiding, knowing that they could be attacked at any time. There is little new in that. I was, however, struck by the very end of the report:
I have spoken to people with deep gouged wounds in their buttocks and their feet, broken limbs, burnt down homes, even the bereaved.
Almost all are scared but they are also defiant.
Robert Mugabe's thugs may well have over-stepped the mark and actually stiffened people's resolve.
One woman who had lost everything was emphatic.
She told me that her beating had made her stronger. "It is my certificate," she said, like some perverse badge of distinction.
Now she would go and use it to vote again for change.
Defiant the people of Zimbabwe may be, determined to vote for change they may be. Mugabe's thugs may have made the people of Zimbabwe more determined, but it will do them no good. Change in Zimbabwe will not happen democratically whilst Robert Mugabe is still around. He just won't let it. I don't doubt the resolve of opposition supporters, but Zanu-PF have plenty of their own too - and they're well organised and have all the power and resources they need.
How people vote in the Presidential election will be irrelevant. Who gets more votes will not matter. Mugabe will be declared the winner, and there is nothing that can be done to stop it bar a coup or international military action - neither of which are going to happen.
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