The internationally renowned dub poet Albert Nyathi’s song ‘Welcome to Zimbabwe (Land of contradiction)’ aptly explains why the Southern African nation is misunderstood even by its own citizens. It says: ‘Once colonized in 1890, uncolonized in 1980... This is the contradiction, my friends... Where you will meet doubting eagles in the sky and the hissing snakes in the grass… It is a boiling pot of countless cultures, a hotchpotch, a wishwash...’ The song speaks to the country’s natural beauty and to its violent and deceptive political landscape, where things are not as they seem.
The presidential election of 31 July saw 89-year-old Robert Mugabe returned to power in a landslide victory, with 61 per cent of the vote compared with the 34 per cent won by outgoing prime minister Morgan Tsvangirai. Tsvangirai and his Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), along with the Zimbabwe Election Support Network, claimed that the election result was fraudulent. Among the concerns were the low percentage of voters registered in urban areas (68 per cent) compared with the 99 per cent in the ruling ZANU-PF party’s rural heartland; the number of duplicate voter names on the electoral roll; and voters being turned away from polling stations. The MDC dropped its legal challenge to the result, however, claiming that the legal system was stacked with Mugabe supporters.
