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