By Cathy Buckle
They say that a picture speaks a thousand words and the one I picked up on the roadside this morning certainly did. I’m not generally in the habit of picking up litter on public roads but this was different. It was the remains of a poster that had been torn off a street light pole.
From the scraps of bright coloured paper left clinging to a number of other poles, it was obvious that a line of the same posters had all been torn down recently. I had travelled along this road just the day before and the posters hadn’t been there then so this had only just happened.
Picking up the remains of the crumpled poster lying in the grass and turning it over, I knew immediately that the political turmoil in Zimbabwe is still a long way from being over.
The top third of the poster was gone but that didn’t matter to me. I knew who the woman on the poster was and that the missing words must have been her name: Amai Susan Tsvangiari.
In the characteristic black, red and white colours synonymous with the MDC, the poster was advertising a commemorative gathering to be held at Glamis Stadium in Harare on Saturday 6th March to remember the life of Mrs Susan Tsvangirai, who died tragically in a car crash outside Banket exactly one year ago.
At the bottom of the poster in clear white lettering were the words: ‘All Are Welcome,’ a message that obviously didn’t need to be advertised as a few minutes later I witnessed a number of trucks, crammed with people, streaming past on the nearby highway to Harare.
The message ‘All are Welcome’ told a story in itself in a country where we aren’t used to being invited but are more familiar with being threatened if we don’t attend.
The wide smile on the face of the late Mrs Tsvangirai told another story – no anger, hatred or arrogance here. How refreshingly different and what a loss to our Prime Minister and to the nation.
I wondered why anyone would feel threatened enough by the posters to need to tear them down. The simple act of tearing down posters of people from different political parties, even commemorative posters, shows just how far away from democracy Zimbabwe still is. Tolerance of different beliefs, practices and people is as elusive as ever.
That’s a frightening reality at a time when all the talk is of elections- again.
It is looking increasingly likely that we are not going to get a new constitution before a another election after all as both the MDC and Zanu PF have started talking about a new poll. At first we heard 2013 being mentioned, then 2012 but this week Mr Mugabe said there would be elections in 2011, with or without a new constitution.
If tearing down posters to remember the life of Mrs Tsvangirai is any indication, it’s impossible to see how Zimbabwe will be ready to have a free and fair election without intolerance, intimidation and violence.
An election where losers are forced to step down and winners are allowed to accept the people’s choice and get on with rebuilding our country.
Cathy Buckle is a Zimbabwean writer and author of the book African Tears.
[newsletter]
