Today voters will return to the polling stations in Zimbabwe to elect a president. Or at least that’s the theory.
In the three months since the last election, voters, as well as democracy, have taken a severe beating.
Sickened by violence against his supporters which has seen more than 80 people die, opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai has quit the presidential race.
But Robert Mugabe intends to press ahead with the election, ignoring the plea of UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon who said this week, `There has been too much violence, too much intimidation. A vote held in these conditions would lack all legitimacy.’
One Tearfund partner, which has been encountering increasingly difficult working conditions since the first election on 29 March, describes the situation on the ground as `catastrophic’.
Mockery
Proceeding with an election `in such a violent environment’ is a `mockery of democracy’, according to the Zimbabwe Christian Alliance.
It’s a position based on unwelcome experience of being on the receiving end of unwanted government attention.
Zimbabwe Christian Alliance staff in Harare have been arrested by riot police and held without charge.
They are not the only ones feeling the heat. Another partner’s report gives new meaning to political education.
Teacher training students at one college where there was a pro-government rally were told `to vote wisely or else the state was going to make the wise decision for them’.
Threats
Just in case they didn’t get the message, it was reiterated that opposition party votes did not mean anything `as there was going to be blood shed to correct the situation’.
Little wonder that students were left disturbed and finding it hard to concentrate on forthcoming exams.
Their prospects in employment will also be tough. A teacher's weekly salary can now only buy a 750ml bottle of cooking oil as Zimbabwe’s economy continues to disintegrate.
However the local church perseveres in standing up against the injustices being carried out against the Zimbabwean people, who are also contending with food shortages and harvest failures.
In some areas, pastors have been travelling to towns and meeting civic leaders, MPs and police, urging them to support a peaceful election campaign.
Sanctuary
Elsewhere, the church has been fulfilling its traditional role of providing sanctuary.
In one district, churches have been sheltering around 800 people who have fled from the political violence in rural areas, including more than 120 children under five.
You get a sense of people’s desperation when you contemplate that they are arriving at a rate of 20 a day, some from a four-hour drive away.
• Please pray for an end to violence in Zimbabwe.
• Pray for political change to improve the lives of the 13 million population.
• Pray God’s comfort for those who are mourning, those who have been beaten or tortured and those who remain in custody.
• Pray for the safety of Zimbabwean church members, their leaders and Tearfund’s partners.