Zimbabwe voters' views: Farai

Farai (not his real name), 24, is a student in the capital Harare.

I have not yet made up my mind about who I shall vote for in the elections.

ZIMBABWE VOTERS' VIEWS Sandra, Bulawayo Farai, Harare Masiza, Harare Richard, Hwange Cleopas, Marondera

I regard Morgan Tsvangirai very highly because he has done a lot for the struggle against tyranny, dictatorship and bad governance. He was an icon for democracy.

But I think that Simba Makoni has a better chance because he can destroy Zanu from within and can easily weaken its grip on power.

Judging by the way the campaigns are being run - the posters, placards and so on - you can see that the opposition is well organised, so I think we have hope now.

'Spies everywhere'

Things just deteriorated gradually. Maybe one or two years ago I had pocket money to spend when at college. With time I realised that I had to really compromise and curtail my budget to meet all my expenses.

It's so difficult. You can't get a decent breakfast, a decent meal. You have to reduce meals to two a day so that you meet the financial requirements.

Everyone is affected.

We are originally from a small village in Manicaland. We do get to go back to our village. The conditions are bad there but there are donor organisations there are trying to supplement the food that people have.

It is better than other rural parts of Zimbabwe because people can still get three meals a day compared to other places which is virtually nothing.

We really feel hard done by. Any process of human engagement is spied on. There are spies everywhere. They detect everything. The environment is so bad you can't trust anyone.

There is a real climate of mistrust.

But the period before the elections is generally been quiet. It's so different to previous elections. It's really surprising. I think that something is brewing behind the scenes.

I think we can expect something much better. I know that the dictator will pull out tricks from his book, but people are determined to act.

No change

I voted in the elections in 2002 and it was not very pleasant.

There are spies everywhere. They detect everything. The environment is so bad

Everyone thought that change was on its way but something happened behind closed doors with the election commission because it declared victory for Robert Mugabe.

Previous elections were very violent but now things seem much more peaceful and we have not witnessed widespread trouble or any intimidation so far.

At the moment I think that Mugabe is concentrating more on cleaning up his party.

Now the opposition vote is split between Tsvangirai and Makoni but by election day I hope that people will come up with just one candidate.

Simba Makoni has made inroads into the rural vote that used to support Mugabe. Also business people have faith in him.

Elections across Africa have not reflected the will of the people. Human processes have collapsed and people are unable to do things. Corruption is everywhere.

In Zimbabwe we have suffered a great deal but this time I really hope that a solution is coming our way!

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