What is the headline news today?
Ish Mafundikwa: The big news today is that the Commonwealth Observer team says that conditions prior to elections were not conducive to free and fair poll. They acknowledge that violence was committed by both parties, but the majority was committed by members of ZANU–PF. SB: How do you interpret that rural areas are reported to have voted in big majorities for Robert Mugabe and ZANU-PF? IM:They played the land card. The ZANU-PF militias stopped the MDC polling agents of the party from going to those rural areas, in some cases. The MDC polling agents were not at the polling stations for some of the polling time, and anything could have happened during their absence. And the authorities reduced the number of polling stations in the urban areas, and they increased them in the rural areas. SB: What is the mood in Harare following the elections? IM: The people are very angry. They are seething with anger. But in some cases there is also a feeling of hopelessness. They are waiting to see wh
