Of the workers killed, two had been publicly hanged by mobs purporting to be war veterans.. The road divided those who were afraid and those who were not. By the time the opposition messiah, Morgan Tsvangirai, pulled up on one side in his white Mazda, the crowd there had swelled to 1,500, and hundreds more joined it after he arrived. The road divided those who were afraid and those who were not. By the time the opposition messiah, Morgan Tsvangirai, pulled up on one side in his white Mazda, the crowd there had swelled to 1,500, and hundreds more joined it after he arrived.
But the interest was not in those who sang and danced openly before Mr Tsvangirai, open palms – the opposition salute – held high.

For anyone trying to measure the effect of President Robert Mugabe’s terror tactics on support for Mr Tsvangirai’s Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), in the run-up to Zimbabwe’s elections, the other side of the road was the place to be.Hundreds more stood on the frightened side of the street, crammed together, on the long raised verge. They did not raise their hands or shout but stood still and oddly silent. “Come and join us,” pleaded the MDC stewards patrolling the road, clasping little piles of membership cards. No-one took a card and anyone who did cross over did so further down the road, when they thought no-one was looking.However, the verge-side watchers were also resistant to the orders from a policeman to move back into their township.

When he moved away, they simply returned and resumed their passive vigil. Many discreet inquiries revealed that the verge-side was also filled with MDC supporters. Fortunate Madhau, 18, whispered, in an impossibly soft voice, for them all. “Ah, Mugabe is a thief,” she hissed, as if the old dictator had personally been to her house and stolen the cooker.Innocent Mudarikwa, 20, who runs one of a cluster of little stalls selling bruised and diseased vegetables, behind the silent lines, explained.