Tofa, The Bible and the Quest for Democracy and Democratization in Africasupporters with the view to divest them of the opportunity to vote on 27
June are common. The slogan “27 June...ini nemhuri yangu tinovhotera
vaMugabe chete! meaning that on 27 June me and my family will vote for
Mugabe only became the catchword for the run-off elections, a clear
appropriation of Joshua 24:15(b). Another slogan was “kumuda kana
kusamuda ndiyeye, kumuvhotera kana kusamuvhotera ndiyeye, kurohwa
kana kusarohwa ndiyeye” ( meaning whether you like him (Mugabe) or
not he is the one, whether you vote him or not he is the one, whether
you are beaten up by his supporters or not he is the one). Every house-
hold and vehicle had to display a ZANU PF campaigning insignia in
order to avoid being victimized by the vicious ZANU PF youths. ZANU
PF sent a strong message to the entire nation that although “elections”
were to be held, the presidential post was not an elective one but was
“eternally” reserved for the seating president.
In his letter to ZEC dated 25 June 2008, Tsvangirai justified his with-
drawal on the following reasons: disenfranchisement of voters and the
MDC’s lack of access to rural areas, the partiality of ZEC itself in the
conduct of elections, political violence (in which the MDC recorded at
least 86 deaths, 10 000 homes destroyed, 200 000 people destroyed and
10 000 people who were injured), threats of war made by Mugabe, the
participation of the uniformed forces in ZANU PF campaigns of terror,
intimidation of MDC supporters and its lack of access to the media, and
the banning and disruption of its meetings and rallies nationwide. ZEC
ruled out that the “elections” will be held because the law required
Tsvangirai to formally withdraw his candidature 21 days before the har-
monized elections. This ruling demonstrated that ZEC had no elaborate
regulations of dealing with the run-off elections. This explains why it
initially thought of declaring Mugabe the unopposed winner.
Tsvangirai instructed his supporters to either refrain from voting or to
spoil the ballot papers. The “elections” were indeed held and Mugabe
was declared the winner. The 27 June “elections” were a mere farce and
they became to be popularly known as a “one-man-race”. They were the
most ignominious “elections” to be held the world over!