By Farai Sevenzo
Harare
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More than two weeks after Zimbabwe's disputed elections, the game between the country's political factions has become a lot tougher, while the results of the presidential poll are still nowhere to be seen.
The opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) has tried to force the issue legally, but the judge ruled that he had no sway over when the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) should release the results of the 29 March poll.
With just 20% of the population in full-time formal employment, the MDC's first shot of engagement, Tuesday's general strike, was feeble and, some would say, predictable.
"People don't want stay-aways, they want to know what to do about their votes," a Harare lawyer tells me over the telephone.
"In the meantime, the people who claim they have won are showing absolutely no leadership - I believe [MDC leader Morgan] Tsvangirai is in Botswana - it reminds me of that Third World song: 'Now that you've found love what are you going to do with it?' There is no leadership."
Lost momentum
And that has been the MDC's difficulty - having claimed victory, they have no control over anything - the results, the courts, the police, or access to the public through the airwaves which chanted their slogans so keenly 17 days ago.
The momentum they had enjoyed has evaporated; in its place a silence among the leadership is noticeable.
Meanwhile, Southern African Development Community (SADC) heads of state have met and deliberated that the two parties should accept Zec's results.
But no one believes that the results will come any time soon.
The issue of Zimbabwe has now moved from the SADC regional grouping to the international scrutiny of the UN Security Council.
South Africa's President Thabo Mbeki, a smiling friend of the ruling Zanu-PF, would like to discuss trouble spots like Somalia and Darfur, but Zimbabwe and its political impasse has become the order of the day.
The game has indeed got a lot tougher.
Unleashed
Reports started coming in early last week of a new wave of farm invasions.
The Commercial Farmer's Union tells me, yes, some of their members had come under attack, livestock had been slaughtered, families had moved out to the safety of towns.
Some have condemned the fresh attacks, such as governor of the Reserve Bank Gideon Gono - a man trying to manage Zimbabwe's embattled economy - who is a chief critic.
Something has been unleashed, although it is difficult to get a clear picture.
Zimbabweans with satellite television are watching international broadcasters talk of a wave of violence sweeping the countryside, targeting members of the opposition, dragging the sick out of mission hospitals and threatening war should the vote go the same way again in the event of a run-off.
Non-government newspapers on sale in Harare are full of swollen limbs, while the language of the state has got more belligerent as the gag tightens on those results.
"We have not yet been able to confirm some of the reports we've been getting," says Olivia Muchenge, of the non-governmental organisation ZimRights.
"But the reports suggest a backlash is under way. We know for certain that some Harare youths from the Youth Forum are in a private hospital in Masvingo after being assaulted."
And the Zimbabwe Association of Doctors for Human Rights says its members have treated 157 victims of post-election violence.
Crowd control
In these tense times, the state broadcaster is less neutral than it was before the elections.
On Tuesday, it said a bus had been set alight in the Harare suburb of Kuwadzana by MDC supporters wanting to stop people going to work, but no-one could confirm the mob action.
Later a policeman, who has proved an accurate source in the past, rang me about Tuesday's events.
He told me that a bus did burn in Kuwadzana, but it was because of a technical fault.
He also said Tuesday's crowds were difficult to control in the Harare township ward of Budiriro, Highfields.
"We had to talk to them without our truncheons and teargas canisters before they would disperse," he tells me .
Going on parade
Now the date on everyone's mind is 18 April - when Zimbabweans are to celebrate their 28 years of independence from the UK.
"For over a week now, police and soldiers have been practising along Main Way, the road leading to Machipisa, the heart of Highfields," Thomas, a mechanic, tells me.
"They will be holding Independence Day in Gwanzura Stadium. The Harare City Council has been cleaning in preparation for the president's visit."
And that is just it. The president is still the president, his motorcade will pass through a constituency where at one polling station, Highfields Secondary, the party of independence gained 14 votes - according to results we do not yet know.
(BBC)
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