sweeteners

"Did you see those buses in town?" H, a young Shona school teacher and mother-of-two, asks. "The new ones with the Zimbabwe flags on the side? They're coming in from Beira."

Mr Mugabe handed out 300 buses at the weekend. Last week he was pretty prolific in his gift giving, doling out hundreds of computers (to schools without power and teachers who are on strike), 500 tractors, a drum of diesel per traditional chief, generators, an indigenisation law that'll mean locals will get a 51 percent in foreign and white-owned businesses, ox-drawn ploughs and lots of ruling party regalia.

"C's dad works for Red Star (Holdings, a major local wholesaler). He says there's no sugar. They (and we all know who They are) have taken it to the rural areas." Deputy Minister of Information Bright Matonga this week accused the opposition of vote-buying with money and food. Vote-buying's an offence punishable by a fine and/or up to 2 years in jail, according to Zimbabwe's Electoral Act. Obviously the rules don't apply to everyone.

"They've lost it," H says. "Totally lost it. They don't know what they're doing." She fans herself. It'll be 33 degrees today, the radio says. It was hot in the car on March 11 last year, I remember. That was when police were beating opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai and his supporters for trying to attend a prayer rally.

"We just want someone new who'll bring change," H says.