Mugabe's rallies- what a tired campaign!

For the past weeks I have been religiously following the campaign trails by different political parties in Zimbabwe as the July 31 watershed harmonised election campaigns enter the homestretch.

 I should admit that I have been amazed more by the Zanu PF campaigns than any other political party. It is quite worrying how frail the veteran Zanu PF leader Robert Mugabe is and to think that such a leader would turn around the fortunes of this country is stretching our imaginations too far.  Mugabe has run out of steam; he is tired, he has run out of ideas and deserves a rest. I remember during my early years as a journalist, Mugabe used to address even three rallies in one province per day but this year he is to address only one rally in each province. Mugabe has been in power for the past 33 years and presided over the country's worst economic crisis in the history of mankind and today what makes him our saviour? Mugabe inherited a jewel of Africa but instead he and his cronies plundered it. It was like the biblical "pearls given to the pigs".

I was really shocked to hear that Mugabe received alot of praises at the recent Johanne Marange Apostolic Church gathering in Marange and some of the praises as quoted by one of the Zanu PF mouthpieces, The Sunday Mail, came from an Angolan national who attended the church gathering.  And such praises from foreign does not add value as Angolans don't vote in Zimbabwe.

I am of the opinion that Mugabe's advisors-if there are any- are not telling the ailing leader the truth. All those people who are attending his rallies are not coming there to listen to his "history lessons" but to get the freebies which come along with attending such gatherings  ie free T-shirts, free caps, at times free food handouts and free live music performances from various musicians being roped to be part of the campaign. After all who doesn't want to watch Suluman Chimbetu or Jah Prayzah or Mathias Mhere for free?

And is Mugabe aware that he is preaching the same message to same people as party supporters are being bussed mostly from Harare to attended rallies at far areas like Mutare, Chinhoyi or even Gwanda. To say the supporters have been bussed is but an underestimate, Zanu PF is using trains where possible; lorries (magonyeti), pickup trucks and every mode of transport available (what is only missing are rickshaws). While the public media is reporting of high turn-out at Mugabe rallies, it seems these journalists are ignoring the truth, or they are simply cheating themselves or worse still burying their heads in the sand.  One supporter bussed from Harare for the Mutare rally confided in me with a chuckle: "This is the time to 'eat' remember these elections come only once after five years. And we are to get as much as we can from these rallies. Yes we should make hay while the sun shines".

In Mutare on Tuesday I watched as people arrived for the rally from Harare by train and being shuttled to the rally venue by trucks, busses or anything on wheels. And as I enquire where these people were coming from, it emerged that some were members of the notorious Chipangano from Harare. Just like some countries where there are professional mourners, it's seems Zanu PF has perfected the art of professional and paid supporters who move with party from one province to another in an effort to shore up numbers at rallies.

And to make matters worse Zanu PF has run out of ideas, the rallies have now been turned into free history lessons, and that is why the party is forcing school children to attend the rallies. Mugabe is ranting about former British premier Tony Blair, former USA president George Bush and the white farmers but nothing of the party's manifesto. Definitely I don't eat Blair or Bush .If the party really want my precious vote it should tell me how it is going to improve the economy, create jobs, address human rights issues, open the air waves among other important issues not to dwell on the past.

Even the talk of the so called sanctions cannot help the party either. While listening to a Mugabe address with a friend, he quipped: "If Mugabe wins the next elections it means the sanction will remain and if Mugabe is certain that the sanctions are causing this suffering how then will the sanctions be removed if he is still in power? The easiest way to remove the sanctions is to vote in MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai."

Believe you me, as it stands, Tsvangirai has the master key to the economy. Yes Mugabe deserve our sympathy not our votes.

Andrew Mambondiyani is a journalist based in Zimbabwe.