Operation Drive Out Trash : A Bulawayo Pastor's view

Bulawayo, 5th Ave market

A Bulawayo pastor visits the scene of desolation on 5th Avenue following the trail of destruction left by Mugabe's stormtroopers.

All is quiet on 5th Avenue, but all is not well. The scene is of utter chaos. The stalls have been trashed, the produce destroyed. Rats are running all over the place. Wooden tables lean drunkenly on three legs, torn plastic covers are draped over twisted metal frames. It is a scene of desolation and a scene of despair. Everything is broken. A few shattered and squashed vegetables are lying on the ground. An occasional cyclist and Scania (handcart) move slowly down the street making their way round the scattered pathetic debris.

The police came on Wednesday morning under direct orders from the highest office in the government and in just a brief time brought crashing down the stalls, the hopes and the livelihood of hundreds of innocent people unable to defend themselves. People trying to earn an honest living have been left destitute by a cruel, unjust and vicious government.

These people were doing nothing illegal. They have licences to carry on their business. They have paid for those licences. They each have a licence number and a stall number. They pay rent for the sites along 5th Avenue.

On Wednesday, I stopped to speak to two of the stallholders. They were too frightened to give me their names. They were just sitting there. And yet when we spoke they were able to manage a smile. They have current licences and they have paid for their site. I asked them what they would do now. Their answer was brief and heart rending: "We will starve and our children will starve."

I did not know these two, but over the years have come to know several of these hardworking, cheerful and patient people. Their stalls were open for long hours as they waited patiently for customers. They were up early in the morning to buy good quality produce. Some of them must have risen before 4 am to get from their homes in the western suburbs. Now they will be unable to pay their rent and face eviction from their homes. No jobs are available. Their children will have to leave school, unable to raise school fees.

Anger and sympathy welled up in me in equal proportions. There is little doubt in my mind that there will be some divine judgment meted out in due course. God is neither deaf nor blind and he hears the cries of the oppressed. I pray that those who ordered this wickedness and those who carried it out will be hounded by their consciences until their dying day. If they have no conscience, then I pity them exceedingly. People with no compassion or mercy will receive none.

Wicked! Wicked! Wicked!