Waiting is a way of life in Zimbabwe.

I’ve been watching and waiting for over 36 hours for the official announcement of Zimbabwe’s just-ended one-horse-race – the Run-off of the Presidential election. I don’t normally watch zanu-pf’s brand of national television programming, but have had to do so in order to see the official Election results. It is a cross between good AIDS-awareness adverts/programs and bad pro-zanu-pf propaganda. Of it all, what sticks in my mind are the words of the one advert “Imagine the possibility of an AIDS-free generation – it starts with you!”.

So what is that to the world? Nothing on the face of it, but if we look deeper at the situation in Zimbabwe, the latest tragedy unfolds. Outplayed, out-manouevered or just plain outclassed in the game of political genocide, the peaceful people of Zimbabwe stand stunned by the sheer brazenness of their murderous President-to-be. The majority of the populace has just ‘lost’ the latest round of manipulated and rigged elections to him and his political minority.

With the ability to shed political skins like a snake – one minute a venomous cobra sending waves of paid thugs to kill and mutilate defenceless villagers, the next a concerned and devoted family man and icon for the nation – he strides defiantly from the jaws of defeat once more.

One would expect him to rest – to recouperate from an election campaign in which he had to dig to the bottom of his dirty tricks bag for the most horrific forms of murder, shamelessly brutal violence and ballot-rigging to snatch a bloody victory from the people.

No – not our President-elect to-be will not rest! He is to be enthroned within 48 hours of the close of polling, then he is off to a Summit of the African Union in Cairo.

What of that? Having been publicly criticised by some members of the AU, he is now wearing his anti-colonial, anti-western, chameleon-skin cloak, to strut his stuff in front of his African peers. This cloak is well-known in Africa. It can make a mass-murderer look like a choir-boy. That – together with his legendary eloquence which allows him to turn mesmerising lies into the “truth” – he will be attempting to persuade his peers that not only does he speak for the people of Zimbabwe (by right of conquest) but that he should be allowed to pervert the course of Africa’s re-birth as a continent of self-reliant sovereign states. His stance is that he is leading the people of the continent in the struggle to free them from colonialist and capitalist western oppression and exploitation.

What he won’t be telling them is how he equates murdering the people of Zimbabwe – and stealing the wealth of the nation – with giving the people of Africa freedom from anything! What he won’t be explaining is how an oppressive African dictator is better than an honest, patriotic, democratic African leader!

Will he succeed in this crusade? Will men of high political stature – astute and well-seasoned African politicians – allow themselves to be manipulated, mesmerised, bullied and cajoled into uniting behind the one-way walls of dictatorship? Will they stand by their principles and the rights of the people of the people of Africa?

We have hope! We have recently seen and heard African leaders of integrity refusing to accept the actions of Mugabe and his supporters.

Stand fast and pray, people of Africa! Imagine the possibility of a dictator-free generation. It starts with you!

Hey – but am I missing something here? Zim has an independent electoral body – the Zimbabwe Electoral Comission (ZEC) – who are appointed by the President, and are supposedly completely autonomous. On TV they display their logo, surrounded by the words “INDEPENDENCE”, “TRANSPARENCY”, and “IMPARTIALITY”.

We also have a government and a ruling party that insist that they have run a free and fair election. Then again, several groups of international observers have departed from Zim after echoing the government’s mantra of “free and fair”.

Since 29 March we have had several developments that are so bizarre and so completely ludicrous that they effectively rubbish any pretence that the just-held Zimbabweean harmonised elections (Presidential, House of Assembly, Senatorial and Local Government) were free or fair.

Firstly, after an emergency meeting of the ruling party’s politburo last week, they issued a statement saying that they would participate in a run-off for the presidential poll.

Secondly, shortly after that, the very same zanupf announced that they will be demanding a recount on the presidential vote. Last but not least, the government has ordered the arrest of ZEC officials for allegedly understating the official presidential vote figures!

This is all very well, but the difficulty I have with this is that ZEC have – to date – refused to publish the results of the presidential poll.

So what run-off are zanupf talking about? What result are they basing their decision to demand a recount on? How indeed do they intend to prosecute people for understating the count, when only ZEC should actually have the official figures?

In fact, the only presidential results that have been put on the table are the unofficial results collected and put forward by the MDC. Surely zanupf would not act on onofficial results, and surely not those from their mortal enemies? Theoretically, there are no other results until ZEC makes the official results public.

Or could it be that ZEC has handed the results over to zanupf? Surely not, because they are independent, transparent and impartial? Surely the government would never stoop so low as to accepting/taking the official results from ZEC prior to their official announcement?

But there are only two sources of the results: so which is it zanupf? Are you cribbing MDC’s figures (which would be a really stupid move), or have you stolen/appropriated the official figures from ZEC – which has to be illegal in itself?

Time to resign Bob. You are a failed politician – you can’t even tell a good lie any more!

At 11.25 pm Sunday evening, the ZEC finally broke its silence over the election results. Justice George Chiweshe spent nearly 20 minutes trying to maximise the ZEC’s image and belittle that of zim’s electorate and other interested parties – particularly the international press.

Through his arrogant and over-extended explanation, he attempted to defend his commission’s almost total blackout of information for the last 12 hours. He confirmed that the ZEC would only start announcing the official results at 6 am on Monday morning, 31st March – with the qualification – “if they had been received”.

He “expected most results to be received by tonight”.

He went to great lengths to sarcastically indicate that the ZEC – and the ZEC alone – were the sole legal and authentic source of the election results.

He went on to berate “some sources” who had “taken it upon themselves” to announce results.

He was supported by a toadying presenter who prompted him with several questions designed to show him and the commission in a favourable light, and leave the listed wrongdoers standing in the spotlight.

These related to:

• their legal right to do what they did and how they did it, whether right or wrong.
• their being up to the task at hand, with the necessary technical ability and resources to deal with 220 parliamentary seats, 60 senate seats, 1000+ council seats, and the presidential election.

  Here he had to stress that “by any standards” it was providing very early results, and that “in other countries” the process takes much longer – “up to a week”.

  He felt that this this was a record time for an “election of this magnitude”.

• ensuring that the public knew just how big a task he was doing and how import it was to the future of the country – like we don’t know that!

He couldn’t understand the impatience of other stakeholders who had been putting pressure on him. He asked how he could be expected to be independent when “locked up with howling journalists”. He tried to stress that he had been “very accessible” to the media both internal and foreign.

Maybe he should take into account the fact that there were virtually no public announcements for over twelve hours?

Maybe someone should tell him that we all know that they were playing for time while the government decided how to convert a massive defeat into a comfortable win?

Well now! What have we here? Another admission of failure by the zanupf government? Or another act of paranoia by bob?

‘What is it?” you may ask, and indeed, well you may.

These days, the zanupf government seems to alternate from shooting itself in the left foot, then the right, then the left…… ad nauseum!

Well, I’m talking about the latest news that Angola is supposedly going to be sending 3000 of their “ninja” police militia to Zimbabwe, and that, in fact , these guys are due here any minute now. So – is it true? Have bob’s thugs been busy behind closed doors, making careful strategic plans to rescue mugabe from the stewpot?

I really wonder if this is true, or just another figment of the propaganda monster’s well-fertilised imagination. I recall, over the past few months, huge business deals with the Russians and the Chinese that were reported by government ministers, only to have the so-called partners, denying it within days.

So – should we be shaking in our boots? Should we lock ourselves in our rooms at night? Should we underfeed the dog to make sure that he is extra hungry and ready to attack strangers on sight? I’m not so sure myself.

One problem I foresee is that the average rank and file militia man is neither well spoken in his own language, nor fluent in others. Are these portuguese-speaking demons, coming with their own translators, or have they all been issued with the Angolan militia’s standard Portuguese-to-English/English-to-Portuguese camouflage mini-dictionaries? I posed the question to my brother: “That’s easy to solve”, he replied, grinning, holding up his right hand in a familiar (and rather impolite) gesture. “I’m sure they’ll understand sign language!”

Another thought – I wonder how the National Youth service will feel about these guys – (lets not be too formal – lets call them the “ninnies”) having earned their title of “green bombers” (let’s call them the “greenies”) by unleashing well trained, drug and alcohol heightened assaults with blunt weapons on unarmed, untrained and unsuspecting civilians, whilst backed up by armed police and army (ooh – that takes a lot of bravery that does!).

Are they about to be knocked off their perch? Are they going to be upstaged? Beware the backlash bob!

Then what about you mr gideon gono – financial wizard and saviour of our bankrupted nation? Has bob told you that he is bringing these guys in? Has he told you what it will cost to feed and maintain them? You can bet your collection of silver teaspoons that Angola will not be sending them at their own expense.

Yes sir, the “greenies” get Z$1.2 million a month. What will the “ninnies” be paid, seeing as they will not be on home soil and will need danger pay? I’ll bet my collection of beer cans that they won’t want Angolan rupees (or whatever they use in that part of the world). Nope, I bet they’ll want US dollars. So remember! When you next trade your forex on the street – that buyer may well be gideon in disguise, buying up all your US dollars to pay the “ninnies”. Sorry, “greenies”, but you’re no longer going to be flavour of the day!

Technorati Tags: Zimbabwe, Mugabe, propaganda, Angola, military

Boy, is my neighbour steamed up! He is the kind of guy who regularly pays his bills on time, and always used to get that little note printed on his electricity bill “Thank you for keeping your account up to date”. However, loyalty to customers seems to be slipping into obscurity as far as ZESA (Zimbabwe Electricity Supply Authority) are concerned, as they try desperately to rake in every cent they can to save it from financial (zanupf – caused) ruin .

On 20th of October he got a phonecall from home, to say that ZESA had paid a visit and left a disconnection notice. Now that is something you don’t ignore in Zim. If they say you are going to be disconnected, you jump around – it can take many days to get re-connected. When he got home, he examined the document and found that in fact , he hadn’t paid his bill, so they were going to charge him not only what he owed – Z$5,300.00 – but a penalty of Z$3,000.00, and just for good measure, a re-connection fee of about Z$8,000.00! The trouble was – he had not received a bill from them for the outstanding amount.

Just to add insult to injury, he received his bill in yesterday’s post. The date of the bill was the 22nd September and the due date was 6th October. But the date on which the bill was posted? – 1st November – over 3 weeks AFTER it was due for payment!

I sympathise with him – I have my own billing problems with ZESA. Over the past month, I had a no less then seven bills from ZESA for the same account. This comes after not having received any bills for most of the past year. It seems that ZESA had a flaw in their billing system. Because sometimes they are unable to read meters, the system was designed in such a way that they could send out bills based on an estimated figure. They built in a “safety mechanism” that if the customer’s meter was not read within three months then the system would just stop billing until such time as the problem was resolved. That’s all very well if your meter readers do their job! However, when you have a disinterested bunch, they find any excuse not to do the job.

As a result, the system couldn’t bill the customer and ZESA could not disconnect the customer because the billing system did not see them as being in default. I tried to get around to the system by phoning in my meter readings but sadly, that didn’t work – my account was on the problems pile! Instead I resorted to making blind monthly payments so that I would not be in default when they finally caught up.

But now ZESA seem to have altered the system – they can produce as many estimated bills as they want and boy, are they going wild! I have had a veritable flood of bills. Not knowing that they were going to be more bills coming soon, I have been diligently paying each bill as it came.

I must say that ZESA is NOT my favourite supplier at this point in time – I am literally all billed out!

And – just to make matters worse – I still owe then more money!

Technorati Tags: ZESA, Zimbabwe, power cut, energy supply

Well, that is scary! But then again, with the current shortages in Zim, it had to happen.

My wife went to check her tyre pressures today – one tyre was looking a bit soft. She pulled into a petrol station, only to be told by the disinterested fuel attendant, “Ahh, no pressure”. She tried another petrol station. This time the attendant was more helpful, but once again it was, “Sorry, but we’ve got no air”. She tried several more stations, but with no luck.

Guess what folks? It’s official – Zimbabwe has run out of air!

Technorati Tags: Zimbabwe, inflation, economy

It was a relatively small, but significant, show of defiance. Today, a group of Christian Pastors, accompanied by members of their congregations, staged a peaceful march and prayer service in Zimbabwe’s second city, Bulawayo - our City of Kings.

Originally banned by the police, the event went ahead after the High Court granted them a last-minute go-ahead yesterday. And go ahead they did – despite the presence of baton weilding police patrolling the route of the march. It was estimated that, in all, about three hundred people took part.

So – what of it? Well – in the first place – it was to mark the first anniversary of mugabe’s horrific “Operation Murambatsvina“. Secondly, it was to show solidarity with the victims of this inhuman abuse of Zimbabwe’s poorest, and to remind the world of thier continued sufferings. I can almost hear so many people around the world saying, “So what? Dry your eyes!”. Lets face it – most of the world has heard of Murambatsvina, and what has been done by the international community? The plight of it’s victims has largely been ignored by the world, so why bother doing re-runs of re-runs? It’s just a case of another African dictator flexing his muscles isn’t it? No ways – it isn’t! Not to anyone who has a heart it isn’t! These are people that are being abused – our people! We will see justice restored, and we will see justice done!

So what was really significant about this march? Firstly, it says to mugabe and his pitiful followers that the people of Zimbabwe are not afraid to stand up to them – even though we stand defenceless against thier tear gas, their batons and their guns! Secondly, personally, I see it as a wake-up call for mugabe and his overfed band of theives. He has pushed the freedoms of the Zimbabwean people to the limit. The one freedom that he has not directly legislated against is the one fredom that will be his downfall – the freedom of worship. True – he has tried to silence the churches by using and abusing POSA. But he hasn’t been able to, has he? While many have been silent, for some time the spotlight has been on the Catholics and, in particular Archbishop Pius Ncube, in their condemnation of the excesses of the mugabe regime. But all that has ended today. The regime tried to deny the right of Zimbabweans to exercise their constitutional freedom to prayer, and once again – they failed! This marks a turning point in the unity of Christians in Zimbabwe – today many of the other Christian churches closed ranks against mugabe and his abuse of power!

Many pastors addressed the crowd today, many sad stories of victims were told, and many words of wisdom were spoken, but it was the words of a poet who addressed the crowd that were reported by a friend of mine:

“My brothers and sisters, our country’s salvation will not come from the West, nor will it come from the East. It will not come from the North, nor the South. It will come from above! Pray my people, pray Zimbabwe!”

Amen, my Brother … Amen!

Technorati Tags: Zimbabwe, Bulawayo, Operation Murambatsvina, Murambatsvina, mugabe, worship, POSA, Archbishop Pius Ncube, prayer, Christian, churche, pray

This story comes from a close friend. It grabbed my attention immediately, not just because he is a friend, but because the depth of his caring has helped reinforce my belief that there is hope for us all yet.

Some years ago, he employed a gardener called Simon. He was a rare breed – one of those people that you like as soon as you meet them. Over the years I got to know him quite well on visits to my friend’s home, and on the odd occasion when he came to help us out with a special task. He was the proverbial gem – polite and hardworking, with an air of wisdom about him. It was surely one of God’s unfathomable mysteries that had made him accept the menial post of gardener.

After about five years, Simon was summoned by his father. His father was a Veteran from the Liberation War, and had been allocated a piece of land as a gratuity. His father was getting older now, and could not continue developing his small farm. Accordingly, he called his son to take over from him. Just to take the shine off the deal, the farm was in one of those real undeveloped middle-of-nowhere places that had a dodgy rainfall record. It was about 400km away by road and about 250km North of Bulawayo as the crow flies. Simon’s elder brother had actually refused his father, but Simon – being Simon – reluctantly but dutifully agreed to his father’s request. To our shame, I have to admit that we all tried to sway Simon’s decision, but he would have none of it. My friends finally and sadly accepted the fact that he was leaving. We all pitched in and gathered together for him all sorts of useful tools and materials that would help him set up a home and a new life, and said a tearful goodbye to Simon, his wife and two young children. We heard nothing from Simon for some time, but about 6 months later my friends finally received a letter from him. It was an upbeat letter – he and his family had been blessed with a good rainy season, and were literally reaping the rewards of their hard work. Some months later, came another letter. Simon had taken the plunge, and taken up a position as a Christian Minister in his rural home area. His family were leaving the farm in the hands of a co-operative, and following him. All seemed set for him.

No-one heard from Simon for about two years. But, this is Zimbabwe – there are few fairy-tale stories to be heard – unless you listen to Gideon Gono and his financial plans for the economy! Drought happened to drop by, closely followed by political devastation of the economy. Late last year, another letter arrived from Simon – bad news this time. He was in serious financial difficulties, and could someone help him to get a job? My friends wasted no time in welcoming him back, and he arrived in early December, leaving his family at their rural home. He settled in and things were going smoothly until Simon received a message from the co-operative who were running the farm. They had a bank account, but their signatories had left and could not be traced. Could Simon, who was still a signatory, come and help them sort their account out? It really was urgent! True to form, Simon agreed to go back to the farm and help out. He would also visit his family on the way back. Reluctantly my friends gave him an advance and he left on a truck that was heading past the farm.

That was the last they heard of Simon until about 10 days ago – nearly 2 months later! They had been extremely worried – Simon was not the kind to take the money and run. Was he sick? He often had recurring bouts of malaria in the rainy season. Had he run out of money? Had he been robbed or injured? All the awful pictures sprang to mind! The longer they waited, the more they worried. Then came the phonecall! It was from someone who they had never heard of, calling from a place they had never heard of, near Simon’s rural home. The caller said that he had received a letter from Simon, who had asked the caller to contact his employer. Simon had run out of money, the caller said. He had found his family on the verge of starvation, and had spent all of his money buying food. He was now stranded with no money, no transport, and was running out of food. How could they help Simon, my friends asked. The simple answer was – money! If they would just transfer money to the caller’s bank account, he could then draw it and give it to Simon, and all would be okay. How much money was their next question. Oh – about four or five million should be okay, came the reply. Four or five million! They gasped – inflation is hitting them hard, and that was still a large amount of money for them. What would he need that much for, they queried. Well, he explained, first there is the bus fare back, which is about one and a half million. That sounded right – a trip of about 600km with the black market price of fuel running at over Z$200,000 a litre! And the rest? Well – you know how it is in the rural areas, went on the caller. Ordinary people are not allowed to buy maize from the Grain Marketing Board depot – only people with political clout are allowed to purchase grain – at the subsidised government-controlled price. They then resell it to the “ordinary” people at a fat profit! The current price for a twenty litre bucket of unmilled grain was Z$800,000! (It sells on the black market in Bulawayo for about Z$300,000!) Their blood ran cold!

I blew my top at this news! How can you not get angry at such a blatant, murderous abuse of power! Villagers in an underdeveloped and impoverished rural area have virtually no hope of finding this sort of money! Without outside help, they WILL starve to death, while those with political clout will live to deny their part in what can only be called genocide!

My friends were now in the most awful quandary! How could they help Simon? Should they borrow money (they have a big family). If they did that, could they really consider sending money off to a total stranger in the middle of nowhere in the vain hope that some of it might get to Simon? We talked it over with them. It was probabably true that Simon and his family were stranded and short of food. But then, was this person – the caller – with both a phone and a bank account, a real friend? Or was he another of those with “political clout” who had figured out a way to take Simon’s starving family for their final ride?

Our thoughts and prayers are with Simon and his family, wherever they are now. We are desperately trying to track down a relative, to try and find another way to get in touch with Simon, so that we can help them. Please pray with us that we get there in time!

Technorati Tags: Zimbabwe, rural, maize, food supply, inflation, poverty, corruption

I’m sure that are some people who still wonder why I do this – why I bare my heart, why I vent my anger and frustrations on cyberspace. There is a simple answer to that – because I care! I care for my country. I care for my people. I care about the things that make life liveable – democracy, justice and peace! I know that there are millions of other people out there who care for these ideals just as deeply as I do, and I hope and pray that they will in turn pass on my message – and indeed that of Sokwanele as a whole – to others who care. This is my public contribution to the struggle that we wage against opression and injustice in Zimbabwe. As a simple blogger, I stand proud in the knowledge that – in this small way – I am supporting Sokwanele, and in doing so, supporting my country and my people. Congratulations, Sokwanele, on the first anniversary of your Blogsite! You have done Zimbabwe proud!

Technorati Tags: Zimbabwe, Sokwanele, blogging

Podging the dotholes - that’s the way we start most days at the moment in Zim. For those who don’t know us, that’s my mad family’s name for the increasingly popular Zimbabwean sport of dodging potholes in the – previously good (tarmac) – roads. It has become so popular that everyone is doing it – except the drunk drivers! Nearly every second well-to-do businessman or zanupf apologist is buying at least one huge shiny new four-by-four to join in the fun. Some have even bought one each for every member of the family! The craze has hit the yougsters as well, with Creamy Inn reporting a massive increase in the sales of ‘Rocky Road’ ice creams! In a short stretch of road (about 200m) to my youngest son’s school, I counted no less than 33 potholes ranging from biscuit-tin size to small crater! Okay, I hear you Harare residents boasting that you can do better, but by our standards, this is quite awesome!

Given the unprecedented demand for potholes, I have been seriously thinking about pioneering a new sport called speed potholing. It would be a bit like drag racing, but the contestants would have to dodge a standard number of small to crater-sized potholes in the process. There could also be several different classes; e.g. there could be “Clear Road” Class for novices (no other vehicles on the drag strip); “Omnibus” Class for experienced drivers (Commuter Omnibuses would be parked at crazy angles all over the drag strip, and at least one would pull out onto the strip at the last second), and “Oncoming Traffic” Class for expert drivers (drivers would be subjected to a number of oncoming cars both on the right and the left sides of the drag strip, whilst dodging potholes and Commuter Omnibuses). Who knows – I might be able to franchise the sport and export it for forex! That way the zanupf apologists would be able to forcibly buy the forex off me at the controlled bank rate, sell it on the black market for 10 times what they paid, and grow ever more obese and greedy.

And you think I jest? You should have been in the car with me today, trying to remain calm and remain a law-abiding driver and citizen! I artfully dodged potholes to the first school, dropped off one child, carefully negotiated the next wave of advancing potholes, calmly avoided several cyclists with death wishes, skillfully circumvented numerous pedestrians walking two or more abreast on blind corners on a narrow road (they can’t walk on the verges any longer as they are so overgrown that you would need a 4×4 and a trained guide) without even touching the hooter once, and politely followed a truck travelling at 40km/hr in a 60 km/h road most of the way to the next school.

As I pulled off from there, I thought – time to relax – that was the worst part of the morning journey over. Yeah right! As I headed into town on the 4-lane main road, I managed to dodge past two slow-moving vehicles and get into the leading position in the right-hand lane. Watching my rear-view mirror I saw an old Datsun 1200 weaving its way through the traffic behind me. I continued on my way up the road at the speed limit, noting that the energetic driver was following my lead, and rapidly catching up with me. All of a sudden I saw a movement on the road ahead! A young schoolboy had decided to run across a pedestrian crossing leading across my path! My foot went for the brakes, but my eyes were flashing back and forth from the rear-view mirror to the the running child. After a few seconds I had resigned myself to a rear-end shunt, when the child realised what he had done and suddenly stopped just short of my path. Cursing inwardly at myself and the cowboy behind me I reluctlantly floored the accelerator and got out of the impact zone. Yes – I thanked God for stopping the child! At least it seemed to have woken up the agressive driver behind me, as he slowed right down after that.

I continued into town without incident, besides the “floaters” (the drivers who seem to find it impossible to drive down the road in a straight line and stay in one lane, encroaching on lanes either side of theirs at random). I pulled up at a Give Way intersection in the right hand (turning lane). A Commuter Omnibus pulled up at the intersection in the middle (straight only) lane. It didn’t take more than a glance to tell what he was going to do. I told my passenger “watch this guy”. I was not to be disappointed! At the first sign of a short break in the traffic, and in the face of oncoming traffic, the driver pulled out, turned right across the front of my car and tore off down the road. Amazingly enough, there was not a single hoot, not a single curse – drivers just avoided him and went on their way!

Still quite calm, I approached the drop-off for my passenger, I had to brake for a vehicle that was reversing out of a parking in front of me, and I hooted both to warn the driver and in annoyance. In the first place, the vehicle had very obviously approached from the opposite direction, and had turned into the parking on the opposite (my) side of the road across a double solid white line, stopping straddled across a couple of parkings. The driver turned and abused me angrily, then just as I had expected an incident to erupt, he seemed to think better of it and moved out of the way. Maybe it was the sight of the group of policeman walking along the pavement? But then again, they just glanced across and went on their way! Sayings thanks for another problem averted, I dropped off my passenger and headed for work, winding my way through the pedestrains that continuously wander aimlessly – and with no open sign of fear – through the traffic around that area of town. I turned right at a traffic light after having waited in the intersection until a very late orange light. A vehicle that had been oncoming, and who had more than enough time to stop, calmy continued through the red light and turned to follow me. Still calm? Doing good today, I thought!

A couple of blocks away from work, I pulled up behind a Commuter Omnibus at a traffic light. He had stopped in the left turning lane to drop off a passenger, then turned across the solid white lines to get into the centre lane. Not to be outdone, a second Commuter Omnibus – ignoring me – did a U-turn (across the solid white lines – need I say?) from the right-hand side of the road, and the pair of them started to “jostle” for the centre lane. By the time the lights had turned green, they were almost in the centre of the intersection! I have to admit – by the time I got to work I desperately needed a cup of coffee!

Later, at lunchtime, I decided to brave the traffic jungle again and go to the bank. I was just approaching a Give Way intersection where there was a stationary car parked on the left verge, and a vehicle in the right turning lane waiting to turn right onto the main road. Blow me down if a driver on the main road doesn’t try and turn right into the road I was approaching on, cutting the corner on the INSIDE of the vehicle waiting to turn right – and this all in the face of oncoming traffic on the main road, and with me oncoming! Happily, everyone managed to stop in time, and the driver who caused the chaos just sat there smiling and laughing at everyone until everyone managed to move away!

And this all in the space of 4 hours! Should we marvel at Zimbabwean drivers, and just accept their abuse of traffic laws in an attempt to remain sane? Should we just cry for a country where standards are being swept aside in the face of blatant corruption and abuse of power, with the rot pervading all levels and aspects of society? Or do we stand up against the rot with the sane voices and brave hearts among our people? For me there has never been, and never will be, a choice. That is why you are reading this. I hope you are with me – with us – as we continue podging the dotholes all the way to the end of the road.

Technorati Tags: Zimbabwe, potholes, democracy, activism, activist

When I was doing a crossword puzzle some time ago, one of the clues was “an awful purple dinosaur”. It didn’t take a second for the penny to drop and “Barney” to come up in flashing purple lights. Well, now, if I came across the same clue today, I’d have to think a bit longer. Why? Because Zim now has its own purple dinosaur – the new Z$50,000 note!

Our very own boot-licking gideon gono (holder of a doctorate, no less – but what in, is anyone’s guess), Governor of the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe, this week unveiled a long-promised and much- trumpeted new issue of currency – one solitary Z$50,000 note! Well, not exactly ……… It’s just another of those very Zimbabwean oddities – another “bearer cheque”. And that? Well, it’s sort of a bank note, but it isn’t. It’s legal tender, but only for a limited time – it has an expiry date! The Z$50,000 bearer cheque expires on 31st December 2006. It joins the (very slowly) growing list of bearer cheques – Z$5,000, Z$10,000 and Z$20,000.

Now this is from a government and a Reserve Bank that claim they are in control of the country and the country’s finances. Yeah right! So, if you’re in control of the situation mr gono, why didn’t inflation slow right down by the end of 2005 as you predicted (to an unbelieving public)? Why do you have to you introduce new currency notes at all? It seems to me that the public has more financial savvy than you!

Another question mr gono – seeing as you’ve got a firm grasp on the financial situation – why do you insist on producing “bearer cheques” instead of genuine currency? Then again, why produce “bearer cheques” in useless denominations? Okay – it is useful to be able to buy a loaf of bread (at Z$45,000 a loaf) with only one note, or even a bottle of beer (Z$50,000 each), but what if you want to pay for a tank of petrol? That’s a normal enough thing isn’t it? Okay, so you it’s hypothetical in Zim – big deal! A forty litre tank will cost you about Z$6 million to fill at the going black market rate of Z$150,000 per litre. That means you will need 120 of Zim’s largest note to pay for it! Now you can understand the problem of any one who wants to pay their workers in cash, or do a cash deal on a second washing machine, or a car or …….the mind boggles! We need a Z$500,000 note – at least – to help people in the street turn Zim’s cash bottleneck into a cash flow again. A Z$1,000,000 note would probably be better!

Seeing as you really do not seem to get the picture, mr gono, can I try and put it a bit more simply for you? If a Z$20,000 bearer cheque is worth nothing, two and a half nothings is still nothing!

Technorati Tags: Zimbabwe, currency, economy, money, bearer cheques, Gideon Gono, Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe

Now here’s a cool bit of info! Shows the sheer folly of zanupf’s arrogance, in particular our witless idiot of a minister of agriculture (joseph made)! Also shows clearly how they (zanupf) are – faster than ever before – burning the country’s bridges.

That friend of a friend’s uncle, who so often drops me pearls, commented that he had been talking with a senior official from the sugar estates in Triangle - where all of the country’s sugar is grown. In good times sugar also used to be a major export crop.

Last year they realised a crop of about 790,000 tonnes. But then along came zanupf, led by that idiot Made! They were going to grow winter maize! You may have heard of it before? This is something that the world has never thought of, because they are all idiots right?

Yessir, you just plant your maize – in winter – and then you irrigate it, right?

Now why hadn’t the world thought of that before?

So … now you take the biggest sugar plantation in the country and appropriate it to grow your WINTER maize, because it is already conveniently piped for irrigation. You then just plant your seed and it all grows like triffids – yay!

Well done minister Made! What a triumph for zanupf! No more maize shortages – food for all!

But – oops, it didn’t work so good, did it? The yield from the entire estate was equated by my friend of a friend’s uncle as about one day’s maize requirement for Zim’s second city, Bulawayo. What a success!

But that was not the full extent of zanupf’s triumph! Nope!

The problem now is that the fertilizers used for maize and for sugar cane are different – so different that the lands cannot be used for sugar cane cropping for 3 years!

Aiiessh! But minister Made – it couldn’t have been you that made such a blunder, could it?

And just to follow on from that – without the appropriated lands, this year’s crop has been limited to about 70,000 tonnes. Double whammy!

Guess there are going to be a few Zimbos going without their traditional sweet tea, hey!

Technorati Tags: joseph made, Triangle, winter maize, Zimbabwe, famine, food aid

My office phone rang – a call from a friend. “I don’t believe it”, she said in a weak voice. I sat up with a start! What was wrong? “Are you okay?”, I asked? “No – I don’t think so”, came the simple reply. Had she had an accident? “No” again. “So what’s the matter then?”, I asked, now quite worried. Slowly she began to settle down and tell me her story.

It was a short, simple story – one which would have had absolutely no relevance in a normal society. But then Zim is rapidly precipitating from normality. The cause for her shock? She had phoned her stationery supplier! Now that is hardly any likely cause for shock, is it? All she had wanted was a ream of thin white A4-size card. “No problem”, said the supplier, “That will be Z$295,000 per sheet”. PER SHEET???

Now I thought that I was used to inflation! I thought I was used to profiteering, but no way – I was not ready for that! Some simple maths – that’s Z$147,000,000 for a ream of thin A4 card! Yep – now I knew that cause of my friend’s shock. Let’s look at this a bit closer – Zim’s highest denomination banknote is a Z$20,000 “Bearer Cheque”. You would need a wad of 7375 x Z$20,000 Bearer Cheques to buy one ream! Some more simple maths – Bearer Cheques are usually packed in bundles of 100, which are about 15mm thick. That is then a pile of notes about 1.1 metres tall! Even when it comes to profiteering, those are awesome stats!

Okay – that’s the simplistic way of looking at it. Let’s put that into more human terms to get the real live perspective. The minimum wage for a domestic worker is about Z$ 1,000,000. That means that their pay is worth the cost of 4 sheets of card!

I don’t think that the enormity of the unfolding disaster that is engulfing our country has even begun to enter the minds of the majority of our people, 70% of whom are unemployed. They are caught up in the unrelenting daily struggle to survive. If one could use the word “blissfully” in this context, I would say they were blissfully ignorant of what is about to hit them – but “blissfully” has absolutely nothing to do with it! I think a more appropriate picture to describe ignorance of what is about to happen here would be that of the American bomber “Enola Gay”, flying in a clear blue sky over an unsuspecting Hiroshima on 6th August 1945 – just before they dropped the first atomic bomb …

But then who really cares? Mugabe hasn’t dropped any atom bombs, has he? He is just slowly starving the opposition in Zim to death behind his disinformation screen, even a fool knows that. But it’s so much easier on the world’s consciences, isn’t it?

Technorati Tags: inflation, Mugabe, Zimbabwe, poverty, economy, hyper-inflation

So many things have changed in Zimbabwe over the past five years, and continue to change at an astonishing rate, so much so that you begin to feel like nothing will really surprise you. However, the sheer audacity and brazenness with which zanu-pf’s master thieves continue to steal public and private property never really ceases to amaze me! It is in almost all cases nothing short of a life-changing experience for all concerned!

Take the recent leo mugabe case (a nephew of bob’s). He manages to purchase many tonnes of flour – a scarce commodity in half-starved Zim – and then tries to export it to Mozambique to sell on their black market for hard currency. Now this is quite a plan, hey, because this is illegal in Zim – flour is a controlled commodity (so that the government can manipulate its use)! But then what happens? He gets caught somehow – must have not paid someone his dues (tut, tut) – and he gets arrested. He then winds up in jail for a bit and gets hauled into court. Ready to face up to his crimes we think? No such luck! He gets let off – there is supposedly not enough evidence to prosecute.

Not enough evidence? What are we missing?

ZIMRA is auctioning the evidence – the impounded flour – to the public!

Next contender for theft of the year is the case of 600 head of cattle stolen – literally – from Roy Bennett’s Charleswood Estate. Somehow these 600 cattle resurfaced on Charter Estate (and ARDA farm), overbranded with an ARDA (a parastatal – the Agricultural Rural Development Authority) brand. Then they get discovered, so what happens? Roy Bennett suddenly gets an offer to “purchase” his stolen cattle from him. The great part about this story is that someone’s plan is coming unglued! Roy refuses to accept payment – he wants the law to take its course. This is cattle rustling with the direct involvement of governmental employees! Way to go Roy! We wish you the miracle that you deserve! Hope these theives get what is coming to them, sooner rather than later!

Who’s next? Oh yes! None less than our taker-of-all-he-surveys, the provincial governor of Matabeleland North – obert mpofu! We pause here for a short history break …… Some years ago, at the height of a drought, Bulawayo was in dire straits for water. The City Fathers in their wisdom decided to drill boreholes in the Nyamandhlovu aquifer which lies to the north of Bulawayo, from which they planned to supplement the city’s water supply. Holes were drilled, pumps were donated by the Indian government, they were fitted and tested, but the rains came and the boreholes were mothballed. We now revert to the present – Bulawayo has a serious shortage of water, and where have all the boreholes gone (sing to the tune of “Where have all the flowers gone?”)? They’ve gone to obert, nearly every one! My friend of a friend’s brother tells me that obert has nicked most of the pumps for his ranch. What a public spirited chap!

But probably the winner, the biggest, the best – for sheer bloody-minded greed, racist venom, and wanton destruction, is the current impounding of all and any farming equipment from the few remaining Zimbabwean white commercial farmers. The perpetrators are still yet to be clearly identified, and we may never get to know them – once the sheer folly of the corruption exercise is realised!

They are using (obviously with open approval from the highest levels of government) police and army personal to search for and remove to custody all agricultural equipment, or anything that they think qualifies.

The fact that there are crops about to be planted, and that food is in short supply appears to be of no consequence. The fact that there are crops already in the ground and it is the beginning of the rainy season has also escaped their reasoning. The fact that no due process is being observed, or that valuations have not been done has OBVIOUSLY been taken into consideration. The fact that the shortfalls so created in the food supply will have to be imported with foreign currency has also escaped the thoughts of the perpetrators. The fact that equipment – billions of dollars worth – is being haphazardly removed and placed in “storage” by uncaring and unqualified personnel appears to be of no consequence.

Sophisticated and nationally valuable equipment is being literally “pulled out” and dragged off. It is going to sit and rot while the perpetrators divide – or fight over – the spoils of their debauched “acquisition” exercise. By the time anyone gets to use the equipment – if it is in any condition to be used – it is likely that several agricultural seasons will have passed. The losers will not just be the farmers, but all Zimbabweans, and most of all the poor , the sick, the unemployed and the socially disadvantaged!

There will be no winners here – congratulations zanupf!

Technorati Tags: Zimbabwe, zanu-pf, mugabe, black market, Roy Bennett, ARDA, obert mpofu, corruption

We had a bit of a cool, windy day yesterday in Bulawayo – quite a relief from the normal stinking hot October weather! It warmed up by lunchtime, but started cooling off quite rapidly from there . By the time I got home it was pretty chilly. As I sat down at my PC, I rummaged back in my mind over memories of this year’s winter.

Those thoughts were quite miserable really – a series of events and experiences best forgotten. I can only liken that winter to a night out in the cold with no blankets. At first you’re too cold to sleep, then too tired to stay awake, then you’re waking up every half hour, legs aching, arms aching, waiting, dozing, waking, waiting, until dawn mercifully slips over the horizon.

It wasn’t the worst of winters, but with things as they are in Zim at the moment, it seemed colder and more miserable than most I have lived through. I got sick for the first time in several years. A really bad cold was knocking people to their knees in Bullies this year, and
I just had to catch it, didn’t I! It took me nearly a month to shake it off. Yes – this winter showed me that I’m not a youngster any more – even if I still don’t act my age!

But that wasn’t the worst of it, nor was it the fact that I had had virtually no increase in salary for the best part of a year, while inflation crept behind me, ready to pounce at the first sign of any spare cash. It wasn’t because my kids put on brave smiles when we presented them with birthday presents that were so much smaller than most of their schoolmates got. Yes, that hurts … but nothing like the sheer cold-hearted inhumanity of our so-called leaders and their willing mercenaries who planned and perpetrated, and still continue, operation murambatsvina – an undeclared war on the poorest of our people. Can you believe it?

After months of international condemnation from most of the world, it still continues!

Now the rainy season is almost upon us – and if the signs are anything to go by, it will be quite a good season. That means torrential rains pouring from massive black clouds, thunderstoms with awesome earth-shaking thunder rolling from horizon to horizon, and lightning lashing out at anything brave enough to stand in the storm’s way. And here I sit in the relative luxury of my old house with it’s leaky old roof and think of those whose humble little shacks were bulldozed by mugabe’s thugs. Those whose homes, livelihoods, and families were trashed for nothing more than political muscle-flexing by a dictator well past his sell-by date! These people are still living out in the open, still being attacked and driven on by the so-called officers of the law!

Where will they find shelter from the rains? I think of the frustration and mental agony of all of those who care – those who are trying to provide for the needs of those displaced, those who are raising money and basic needs for these people – ducking and diving and dodging the “law”, risking assault and arrest – just to help those in need. This is what real people are made of!

“They” say that hardships bring out the best in people. I have to agree. Some months ago, we sat the kids down and explained to them the bleakness of our financial situation. The sat and listened, and took it all in without a single word of complaint.

Afterwards I retreated to my study, feeling thoroughly deflated. A couple of minutes later, my eldest son came through. He presented me with a handful of notes – all of the money he had received for his birthday. He wanted to help us, and it was okay, he didn’t want it back. I had wanted to cry during our talk, but now I couldn’t hold back the tears. Dear Lord – they are such wonderful kids, and I am so very proud of my son!

Zimbabwe, Human Rights, Poverty, Refugees, Children

I haven’t put pen to paper (figuratively speaking) in a while. I guess the depression has been getting the better of me.

For some months now, my mental picture of Zim’s future has been a blank, literally non-existent. Curiously enough, other people have come out with very similar thoughts as myself – that we can’t see anything beyond the end of the year. It’s really weird – as if Zim doesn’t exist beyond midnight on 31st December! I’ve been trying to figure it out, but it’s one of those thoughts that you can’t quite get a clear picture of. It doesn’t feel
bad, but then it doesn’t feel good either – it’s so very frustrating.

Zim has been my life for so long now – the wonderful people, the beautiful country, the great climate. Yes, things have changed – from the carefree school days of the sixties, the heartbreak and destruction of the war years, to the great hopes at Independence, and now into the decline. I can’t remember a holiday or trip outside the country that wasn’t better the moment I crossed the border back home.

Home! That just about says it all. Home – somewhere to celebrate your greatest joys, to share your sorrows, a place to settle and build great things, a place to love and be loved, to nurture justice and democracy …… and a place to stand and defend – shoulder to shoulder with your own – against that which would destroy you.

Well, we’ve been there and done most of that. Now it’s the stand and defend bit – together with our friends of all races, colours and creeds. We are know what we’re fighting for and we’re ready to see it to the end. We just don’t know what the future holds for us. All I know is, that whether we win or lose, we have been true to ourselves, to our people and to God, and in that we are – and will remain – truly blessed.

Zimbabwe

“Aaah, no – not again!” That was my youngest this morning. He was not at all happy! “Dad – why do we have semolina for breakfast every morning?”

I corrected him – we alternate between semolina one day, and mealie meal porridge the next.

“But Dad, come oooon! – why can’t we have fruit hoops (his favourite) or something else?”

“Because we can’t afford them, that why! And if you don’t eat up, I’ll put it on your sandwiches for school!”

“Yeah, right Dad”, was the retort, but that did the trick – he finished the whole bowl. Semolina sandwiches? There was a thought dark enough to dissuade the stoutest of ten-year-olds! Even I cringed at my own cruel humour.

But – that’s what Zim is coming to. Inflation is destroying lives and livelihoods right across the social spectrum. We, as part of a fast-disappearing middle class, are being driven to save money wherever possible. Breakfasts are just one small example.

Good old basic cornflakes are Z$90,000 to 130,000 a box, and fancier breakfasts are even worse. Oats are not even available, but you can buy imported breakfasts for over Z$200,000 a box.

Well, no – that is just a figure of speech isn’t it?

Only the rich are able to buy it! A quarter of a million dollars for a box of breakfast cereal !! And by Christmas?? Maybe we might just have to get down to semolina sandwiches – that is supposing that we can still afford bread, if it it is still available!

Zimbabwe, Inflation,

I’ve recently heard yet another story showing the true nature of zanupf. This refers back to the recent Mayoral elections in Bulawayo.

Having just lost the Bulawayo Mayoral election to the MDC in a memorable and resounding defeat (even – as some say – with vote-rigging), they saw fit to take out their anger on the residents of the high-density suburbs.

The background here is that the City’s water supply infrastructure has been deteriorating, most of it having been installed well before Independence in 1980. Under the harsh economic climate that prevails, the Council has been unable to keep up with repairs to the system, let alone to replace it. Because of this, several of the high density suburbs – Emakandeni, Njube, Entumbane, Lobengula and Magwegwe – have had erratic water supplies. To try and alleviate the hardship of residents, the Council has been sending bowsers of water to the affected suburbs, supplemented by bowsers from the Army, where they fill residents’ containers at central points.

Now what would you expect the losers of an election to do? Maybe accept with good grace, maybe go and drown their sorrows, or go home and kick the dog? No – not zanupf! Those ideas would be far too reasonable – they don’t cause any human misery or suffering! No, zanupf – lead by party stalwart, Sithembiso Nyoni – forced the deliveries of water to these suburbs to be halted! The residentswere forced to walk many kilometres to adjoining suburbs to beg for water, then carry it several kilometres home!

The sheer venom, the sheer and deliberate denial of human rights by zanupf never ceases to amaze me!

Zimbabwe
Politics
Human Rights

When I got up yesterday morning, I felt different. Yes, something had definitely changed since yesterday! I eased a bleary eye through a crack in the curtains to get a foretaste of the weather. Slight haze and some light, low cloud, temperature moderate – not even slightly chilly. Prognosis – a mild
day, a sort of hazy day. Might get muggy by midday. Well hello, African summer! Is winter finally over, or is this just a sneak preview?

Then I thought – is this a sign? Last night I read that Bob, having been basically shunned by most of his former international cronies, was possibly under serious pressure from South Africa to make sweeping political and economic changes in Zimbabwe if he wanted loans from them. The mind boggles! Will this dream actually come true?

But hey! Who cares? It doesn’t matter what anyone says now. It doesn’t matter how much posturing and rhetoric goes on between bob and South Africa, or even what skullduggery is going on behind the scenes there. Look at it – whether he tells South Africa to sod off (doesn’t our ageing bully love to do that), or accepts the deal at first then reneges on it (true to his total lack of principles), or even if he accepts the deal (he has done some unbelieveable things during his reign, but never deliberately tried suicide), it all comes back to the same thing – the evil Grinch is about to get his come-uppance! He has reduced himself to a pathetic bankrupt (financially and morally) beggar who has nowhere to go (besides the corner he has so meticulously painted himself into)! The thaw has started! Summer is on its way! His ice castle – it’s walls built of so many cold hearts – is melting in the summer sun. The only question in this fairy tale is ….. how soon do we all get to live happily ever after?

That wasn’t all of Million’s news (see previous post).

The latest story coming from the War Vets is that mugabe’s thugs have come up with a new idea to increase the sufferings of the poor in Zimbabwe! They really are amazing – you get to the point where you think they can’t go much lower, then they defy all of your expectations and sink to another stunning all-time low!

Having just turned about two million of Zimbabwe’s poorest out onto the streets in the middle of winter with no shelter, having destroyed, confiscated or stolen most of their possessions (destroying their livelihoods in the process), arrested tens of thousands on spurious charges, forced hundreds of thousands of children to abandon school, and shut off access to medical care to most of those concerned, they still want to inflict more suffering!

How? The plan is aimed at the rural communities this time.

A large number of the refugees from the towns have fled to their rural homes. The rural people have not exactly welcomed them with open arms! The majority of them are victims of drought, their communal lands are overcrowded, and they have absorbed an ever increasing number of AIDS cases who have gone home to die. Indeed, most of them have only been existing on food handouts and money sent home from relatives in the towns (the very people who are being driven back by mugabe’s thugs).

As if that isn’t enough to hit them with, zanupf have come up with their latest masterstroke – they want to limit the number of cattle per rural household to five!

If you know anything about the culture and the social structure of Zimbabwean people, you will know that this will have profound and deep-reaching effects. Cattle are a sign of wealth and prestige – they are a part of our culture, as well as a source of food and draught power.

And what is the logic behind this plan? Is there any? Is it part of the current “operation murambatsvina”?

Can you picture obese zanupf chefs in a meeting, saying “We just can’t have this – all of those messy cattle wandering about the country – making the place look so untidy! It’s just like those awful flower-sellers we evicted! We just can’t let this continue! We will have to reduce their numbers!”

Maybe next they will expect their owners to follow them around the countryside, cleaning up cow-pats?

Seriously, there seems to be only one plausible reason for this idea – to reduce the majority of the poor to a suitably low level of abject poverty that they will be totally dependent on zanupf for food, and therefore totally subservient to them!

And what will happen to the excess
cattle? Will compensation be paid? Will the cattle be redistributed from those who have, to those who have not (sort-of Robin style)?

If the current inhuman “operation murambatsvina” is anything to go by, then yes – they will be restributed alright! But they will not go to the people!

Rather they will go to mugabe’s thugs who will either remove them to their own homes, or the cattle will be slaughtered and the meat sold to line their pockets with money! Patronage at its best (or should that be worst?)!

Zimbabwe, Human Rights, Poverty, Corruption