As advertising by the ruling ZANU-PF party blitzed state-run television with messages to resist neocolonialism, anti- regime cellphone text messages bounced around the country: Some said voting was pointless. Others urged voters to spoil their ballots by putting a cross beside both Mugabe's name and Tsvangirai's.
ZANU-PF officials, war veterans and youth militias at bases around the country have been warning people that door-to-door inspections will be carried out by militias after election day, to check that people have ink on a finger to prove that they voted, according to opposition officials. Voters' fingers are inked in Zimbabwe to prevent duplicate voting.
"They are telling people, 'We will move around checking your fingers to make sure you have ink on your finger,' " said Prosper Mutseyama, an official of Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change. His assertion was backed up by several people forced to join the youth militias, who were interviewed Thursday by The Times.
ZANU-PF militias "are saying that they will go to each homestead to find out if everybody has voted for the ZANU-PF party. If not, they will destroy your house and you can go to Britain. Or they can give you poison to drink so that you can die. They're serious because they say that they're prepared to go to war against anybody," said Andrew, who was forced to join a youth militia at a base near Harare, the capital.
The ruling party accuses Britain, Zimbabwe's former ruler, of plotting to recolonize the country. Andrew asked that only his first name be used.
Several voters said this week that they were told that serial numbers on ballots would enable the ruling party to identify those who voted for the opposition so they could be killed.
Army soldiers who cast ballots in the last week so they could be on duty on election day had to vote in front of their senior officers, said an army captain who asked to be identified only by his first name, Morris. He said army brigades were undergoing intensive training.
"As I speak now, the defense forces are ready for war," he said. "They are on 100% standby. They have suspended all leave and resignations."
A senior ZANU-PF official said the regime was ready for an uprising. "Everybody is expecting that [the opposition] will take up arms," he said.
Meanwhile, the MDC's No. 2 official was freed on bail Thursday, the Associated Press reported, two weeks after he was arrested and charged with treason.
Tendai Biti returned to his home in Harare late in the afternoon, looking tired and frail but still sounding defiant.
"Some people stay 27 years in prison, so two weeks is nothing," he told Associated Press Television. "It wasn't easy though, but we have to continue fighting."
