Photo credit: bbc

The ongoing tension between Zimbabwe’s two main political parties isn’t reflected on the ground at all.

In fact around the centre of the capital city, Harare, people are going about their business as if an election never happened. Many people here don’t believe elections can change their lives.

Harare is an opposition stronghold where the main opposition Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC) swept close to 90% of the seats.

Some believe that the CCC should accept the overall results that has kept Zanu Pf’s President Emmerson Managwangwa in power, and focus instead on preparation for the next general election in 2028. Others feel the party should put pressure on the international community to act on reports of vote-rigging.

One Harare resident told newsmen that although she was not expecting a different result, she was now thinking about migrating because for fear of what this disputed win would mean for the economy.

Another woman said she would want to leave Zimbabwe but that she had nowhere to go, and was grateful for her job as cleaner, however menial, because it allows her to feed her family.

Her sentiments echo the resignation that is so apparent. Even as the police say they are prepared to put down any form of protest, few ordinary people here have the appetite for it.

In 2018, ordinary people were killed on these streets when the military opened fire on the protestors angry about the delay in releasing results.

Photo credit: bbc

The ongoing tension between Zimbabwe’s two main political parties isn’t reflected on the ground at all.

In fact around the centre of the capital city, Harare, people are going about their business as if an election never happened. Many people here don’t believe elections can change their lives.

Harare is an opposition stronghold where the main opposition Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC) swept close to 90% of the seats.

Some believe that the CCC should accept the overall results that has kept Zanu Pf’s President Emmerson Managwangwa in power, and focus instead on preparation for the next general election in 2028. Others feel the party should put pressure on the international community to act on reports of vote-rigging.

One Harare resident told newsmen that although she was not expecting a different result, she was now thinking about migrating because for fear of what this disputed win would mean for the economy.

Another woman said she would want to leave Zimbabwe but that she had nowhere to go, and was grateful for her job as cleaner, however menial, because it allows her to feed her family.

Her sentiments echo the resignation that is so apparent. Even as the police say they are prepared to put down any form of protest, few ordinary people here have the appetite for it.

In 2018, ordinary people were killed on these streets when the military opened fire on the protestors angry about the delay in releasing results.