Looking for food among the rubbish

Those who have not been exposed to Zimbabwe's hyperinflation may find it difficult to comprehend the intensity of the suffering it causes to the country's citizens. What difference does it make to people's everyday lives? To say that inflation has become a matter of life and death for many, may sound like an exaggeration to readers outside Zimbabwe. But that is the tragic reality as this real life story illustrates. Inflation is a direct cause of incredible stress and hardship.

The names in this article have been changed to protect the identity of our interviewee and people around him, but all the other details are exactly as provided to our reporter.

Rural road in Zimbabwe

Zimbabweans as a people are not given to complaining. They put up with no end of hardships and difficulties with a dull sense of resignation to the worst. Normally such a stoical attitude would be regarded as a virtue. After all who wants to be known as a whinger? But in Zimbabwe things are very far from normal. The cause of our suffering as a people is not the weather or the stars, nor even Tony Blair (someone please tell Mugabe!) No, the cause of ninety-nine per cent of our suffering can be traced back to bad governance and the appalling mismanagement of the economy. For this reason it is high time we stopped suffering in silence, and let out a roar of disapproval to the authors of our misfortune, who of course are none other than the ZANU PF elite. It is time we demanded our dignity, our God-given freedom and the human rights which were once enshrined in our Constitution - until, that is, the ruling clique decided it was necessary to their continued enjoyment of power and privilege that we be deprived of them.

On Sunday July 10 an elderly lady died in Bulawayo's Gwabalanda high-density suburb. Her death was directly attributable to an act of wanton violence of a police officer or - as one should say these days - by a person wearing the uniform of the Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP). The incident was observed by a number of witnesses who, not having any faith in the ZRP to carry out a proper investigation and bring the perpetrator to justice, wish to report it first, through us, to the national and international media. This was a savage and unprovoked act committed against an innocent and defenceless bystander. It certainly qualifies as murder, and should be treated as such.