Three Zimbabwean exiles on Tuesday staged a dramatic pre-election protest in South Africa, where they chained themselves to a statue of that country's liberation hero, Nelson Mandela.

The brief protest happened in the affluent Sandton City shopping centre, the site of an iconic, nine foot high bronze statue of Madiba.

The three Zimbabwean nationals wrapped chains around their necks to secure themselves to the statue, and brandished placards with the message: "Zimbabwe deserves to be free."

The protest did not last long after security guards told them and some supporters and passersby to leave.

But the message soon spread on Facebook and Twitter, with other Zimbabwean exiles echoing the sentiment that the country is still not free from the control of Robert Mugabe and ZANU PF.

Respected human rights advocate and the head of the Zimbabwe Exiles Forum, Gabriel Shumba, told SW Radio Africa that voting day is a bittersweet one for Zimbabweans in the Diaspora. He said that while there is "so much hope for change," there is still skepticism.

Thousands of Zimbabweans in the Diaspora have returned home to vote, after the right to vote in their resident countries was denied by the government. This is in spite of a successful court application that Shumba filed at the African Commission on Human and People's Rights, which ordered the Zim government to allow the postal vote for Zimbabweans in the Diaspora.

"What we were told when the government defied this order is that we should try go back and vote anyway. Unfortunately not everyone can do this, and even when they do, it seems the practice on the ground is to deny this," Shumba said.

He was referring to the fact that at least seven buses believed to be filled with Zimbabweans travelling from South Africa to cast their votes, were stopped at Beitbridge in the early hours of Wednesday morning. One of the buses was impounded and the others were prevented from travelling onto their final destinations. It is understood that the Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights were trying to intervene on Wednesday morning.

"So there is a mood of skepticism that this vote will bring change. We don't think this election will be credible, legitimate, free and fair," Shumba said.