Opinions: Eddie Cross and Cathy Buckle
December 12th, 2005
Eddie Cross’s latest diary entry (8 Dec) looks back on 2005 and focusses on the outlook for Zimbabwe in 2006. 2005, he writes,
… will also go down as a year of failure – failure of the regional community to face up to what is going on here and to tackle the crisis, the failure of Mbeki’s “quiet diplomacy” and the failure of the international community to make progress in resolving the plight of the many who live in the “outposts of tyranny”.
For the Zimbabwe government it has also been a year of failure – failure of the much talked about “economic recovery”, failure of their agricultural policies, failure to get any sort of growth and recovery in the mining and tourism industries. To this we might add the failure to halt the slide in the public service and in all social sectors.
And so we come to Christmas 2005, hungry, angry and disappointed. Disappointed with our leaders and disappointed with ourselves for having achieved so little when the needs around us are so great. I think this is going to be the worst Christmas ever for most Zimbabweans.
Cathy Buckle has also recently published another of her now famous letters from Zimbabwe (10 December), and she too comments on failure:
Zimbabwe‘s ruling Zanu PF party have been holding their annual congress this week and watching some of the coverage on television made for staggering viewing. By any standards Zimbabwe is a country in dire trouble. Inflation, which began the year at 134% is again completely out of control and presently at over 400%. Life expectancy continues to plummet and is now just over 30 years. Unemployment is well over 70%, almost a quarter of our population are eating food provided by international donors and the number of people in need grows by the week. With these dreadful facts and figures you would think that our ruling party would have more than enough to worry and talk about at their annual congress. The posters adorning the walls of the now well known enormous white tent were damning. The slogans were not about the economy, early death, hunger or inflation. They were the same old deflectory attacks, just as they have been since Zanu PF first realised they had lost popular support when they were defeated in the constitutional referendum in 2000.
Read both their letters in full at this site, and this one. Be warned, Eddie Cross‘s outlook for 2006 comes with a caveat:
I am the proverbial optimist so all my friends will take what I have to say with the proverbial pinch of salt, but since they will not put their necks on the block – why should I not have a go?
