The Streets

Today the streets have a strange energy. People are waiting. Vakamirira maresults. Sundays are normally quiet in Harare’s city centre. Today the streets are shuffling from one foot to another like the thirty fourth person in a snaking bread queue. The streets are unsure. Hopeful. Young police recruits patrol the streets trying to stamp an authority they are no longer sure that they have. The cigarette vendor apologises for the high cost of her cigarettes. ‘Tichadzikisa maprices mangwana’. We will reduce the prices tomorrow. When change comes. The streets are waiting. We woke today to rumours of Mugabe fleeing to Malaysia and news of the MDC press conference. We carried our bababarazi’d selves to the conference after a night of ragga at downtown Harare’s Tube Nightclub. According to the MDC’s counting process they are way ahead in the polls. Victory is on people’s lips. But so is rigging. Because the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission has yet to announce its ‘official’ tally of votes. It has yet to work out how to turn our dream into a nightmare. So expectant Zimbabweans have been subjected to endless music videos and football on the state broadcaster. It’s as if the elections never happened. So the streets wait. Shuffling from one foot to another. Waiting. Hoping. This is Comrade Fatso's Daily Blog during the Zimbabwe Election period. See www.comradefatso.vox.com For Daily Election Blogs by other MAGAMBA! poets and activists see www.myspace.com/magamba