I recently spoke to a friend of mine who lives at Nkulumane and she’s very amused by what is happening there.

Nkulumane has not had water now for some months. The only place residents can get water is in a dirty hole they call a watering point. Fortunately for my friend her house is not too far from this place.

She is very amused though that the police compound is not getting any water either, but they have to walk four kilometres to fill their buckets every day.

There is some justice in a funny way, and we just sit back and smile.

They have been making life so difficult for us, now they are having a little bit of their own troubles.

Zimbabwe, Poverty, Police, Water

Share This

We apologise to readers for the disturbing picture which accompanies this short news piece. The fact is that this is the ugly reality that Mugabe has created in our beautiful Zimbabwe, once a land of peace and harmony in which innocent citizens like the one in the picture were protected from violent and lawless thugs. Now the thugs roam our streets freely, inflicting terrible suffering on a defenceless civilian population, confident in the knowledge that, provided they have the right political connections to the ruling ZANU PF elite or to the politicized law-enforcement agents, they will never be held to account for their dastardly acts.

The man with the terrible head injuries was a game scout employed on a ranch in the Lowveld, just outside Chiredzi. Earlier in the month he was out on light patrol duties on the ranch when he came across three AI settlers from the area. They obviously objected to the work in which he was engaged protecting game from poachers, and did not want to have him around, so they attacked him there and then, viciously, with an axe. They very nearly killed the scout who was rushed to Chiredzi hospital for treatment. The horrific injuries shown in the picture speak for themselves of a barbaric attack.

The incident was immediately reported to the local police. The victim is able to identify his assailants who deserve to face the full force of the law. To date however no arrests have been made. Indeed there is no indication that the police intend to investigate the matter any further. All of which prompts the simple question - on whose side are the police now acting? On the side of innocent civilians or violent criminals? On the side of the people of Zimbabwe or the lawless clique that now rules the country?

Zimbabwe, Mugabe, Lawlessness, Violence

Share This

It is nearly two weeks since robert mugabe controversially addressed the United Nations in Rome, and the state-controlled press here at home are still trying to milk as much political mileage out of it as possible.

An article appearing today in The Horrid (state-controlled Herald newspaper) (link), chortles away at how mugabe and hugo chavez, the president of Venezuela “emerged as the most critical voices at the just ended 60th anniversary commemorations of the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO)”.

The article goes on to describe chavez as one of Latin America’s most popular leaders and as mugabe’s “new comrade and solidarity”. Mugabe’s speech was “rousing” and captured the “political chemistry” and “rainbow spirit” between the two leaders. Apparently the warmth generated by the speech “radiated to all other world leaders” present.

According to The Horrid, the two “uncompromisingly principled” men “had the guts to say what many other people throughout the world would want to say but don’t and can’t afford to because they fear the wrath of the powerful nations.”

No one is clapping in Zimbabwe; no one is impressed. Why? Because we’re starving, and we’re not fools. We know, because of Operation Murambatsvina, that the combative words mugabe hurled from the podium had less to do with his “concerns of the poor” and more to do with trying to find something to say - anything at all - at a conference where everyone else was talking about famine and starvation in the world.

What else could mugabe say? ‘I am a dictator who destroys my people’s homes, deprives them of their income, and then does nothing while they starve’…?

Hardly likely!

This is what he did say:

“I have a soul, I have a heart, I have a conscience and I dare not allow anything that is untoward to happen to my people”

Excuse me while I fall about laughing my head off!

Zimbabwe, Mugabe, Chavez, United Nations, Famine, Propaganda

Share This

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

Share This

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

Share This

Friends and family abroad always ask me why I choose to live in Zimbabwe. “Leave now, start afresh, there is nothing left for you there.” When I see friends who I have not seen for some time, the common greeting is “You still here?” followed by “Are you going?” and then the usual pros and cons of living abroad. So, why do I choose to stay here? Its simple. I was born here and this is my home; I will not be forced out against my will.

But living in a country like this, where there is poverty and sickness and mass starvation all around you is not easy. The people are suffering, the animals are suffering - we’re all innocent victims of one pathetic old man; robert mugabe! Some days the pure sadness is overwhelming. My darkest day happened about a year ago. I was in my car, parked outside a bakery just getting ready to drive off. A scuffle took place inside the shop and I witnessed the security guard who was manning the door physically throw a lady out of the bakery. She was middle aged, dirty and dishevelled. In one hand she held an assortment of scruffy plastic bags filled with her possessions, and in the other she clutched a LARGE bundle of $100 bills. Standing on the pavement about a meter away from the bakery, she collapsed into great big sobs. Gut wrenching cries came from deep down inside her.

I realised what had happened (which I later confirmed with the bakery staff). She had saved up her money (acquired probably through hours of begging on the streets) and proudly went into the bakery to purchase a loaf of bread. Not realising that the price had increased, she did not have enough cash with her and she argued the price. They physically threw her out. On that day, I was able to help: I purchased two loaves of bread for her and we both stood on the pavement outside the bakery and cried together.

I don’t have much to give but that day, I had enough to change that lady’s life (if only for a few hours). I have never seen her again; I often wonder where she is today. Did she become one of bob’s starvation victims or has she found sanctuary somewhere? In my heart I hope she is alive and well, but my brain tells me otherwise. Realistically, I know her chances of survival are slim. This is the cruelty of life under the rule of mugabe. When I have any doubt as to whether I should be living in Zimbabwe, I think of that day and remember how fortunate I am in life. I look forward to the day when we get beyond this evil bitter little man robert mugabe.

Zimbabwe, Mugabe, Poverty, Exile

Share This

Beatrice Mtetwa has been awarded one of the 2005 Press Freedom Awards by the New York-based campaign group the Committee to Protect Journalists. Congratulations Beatrice - we’re very proud of you!

The Zimbabwean lawyer has defended the rights both of Zimbabwean journalists and of foreign correspondents working in the country, and the CPJ award reflects the fact that internationally, Ms Mtetwa is best known for her work in defence of the media.

But she says she also takes a lot of cases involving constitutional law, mostly in the area of human rights.

“My most important work never gets near the media,” she told the BBC News website, adding jokingly: “You guys just like to report on yourselves.”

Full story here on the BBC

Zimbabwe, Human Rights, Press Freedom, Beatrice Mtetwa

Share This

“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,

Share This

In our latest Sokwanele release, mailed out today, Cardinal Napier and Archbishop Pius Ncube, two leading clerics in the Roman Catholic Church, stress that if the United Nations’ Security Council does not respond quickly and decisively to ensure that food aid comes into the country and is distributed fairly to all communities without political interference, it will become complicit in the rapidly unfolding humanitarian disaster. Both men have separately called on the United Nations’ Security Council to take responsibility for the crisis and act immediately. They join other regional church leaders in branding the Mugabe regime guilty of a crime against humanity in relation to the politicization of food, and in calling upon the international community to act.

In July, the Executive Council of the Methodist Church of Southern Africa noted: “There is little doubt that we are witnessing a tragedy of unprecedented enormity. We have on our hands a complete recipe for genocide.” They went on to urge the international community to act “vigorously” to expose the tragedy of Zimbabwe.

While Zimbabweans face death by starvation, the man at the centre of this crime against humanity, robert mugabe, is due to today address an international gathering as part of celebrations marking the Food and Agriculture Organisations’s 60th anniversary (BBC report here).

The full Sokwanele release is available on our website here.

Zimbabwe, Mugabe, United Nations, Famine, Starvation, Sokwanele

Share This

Themba* is back at work and we’re all happy - we thought we’d never see him again.

About 8 months ago he was attacked by a gang of thugs who, after stealing his pay check and his shoes, set about beating him. He came back to work immediately the next day - bruised and battered and angry - they were all youngsters and he was disgusted at the way youths had no respect for people these days. But as the days went by he became quieter and quieter. At first, we didn’t see anything that we needed to be concerned about, but then we noticed that he used the wall to support himself when he walked, that he looked to be in considerable pain after moving anything heavy, and that he couldn’t hear us when we talked to him.

Confronted with all this, he finally admitted to dizzyness, pain, and problems with his hearing. He told us he’d already tried to get medical help; he didn’t say so, but we all knew he was terrified about losing his job. He refused to go home on sick leave and we all started to cover for him and do whatever we could to help. But times are hard and the place where we work couldn’t manage with two people doing one person’s job.

Themba was getting worse. He’d lost a lot of weight and was very very thin. We’d seen this before and we all thought the worst; that Themba was HIV positive, and that per
haps the trauma of his experience and his struggle to recover had worsened the disease. In the end, our boss took him to one side and insisted that he go home, on sick leave, and told Themba to do everything he could to get better. He paid for Themba to see a specialist and he told him that his job was safe and waiting for him. Themba was so ill by then that he couldn’t argue. He went home. We all thought we’d never see him again. Usually, when someone is so sick that they have to go home, if it’s AIDS, it means that you never see that person again - they go home to die.

Months went by and sometimes we’d hear from Themba through a family member who came to collect his monthly pay-check for him. Then last week he came back to work. I am so glad to say that he is completely recovered, strong, fit and healthy again. He has put weight back on. For me, it’s as if he came back from death.

I was so happy to see him that I spent a whole lunch hour telling my friend his story. She told me that he, like us, probably thought he had AIDS and that the worry of that probably made him sicker and sicker. Just like us, he would also know what happened to people when they get thinner and thinner and when they finally have to go home. He probably thought it was happening to him.

She then told me about a guy who was a gardener where she worked. His problems started with a small cough which got worse and worse. One day she saw this gardener - skin and bone - working very slowly and coughing all the time. She asked him if he’d gone to a doctor. He told her that there was no point because he knew he was going to die. She refused to go along with his story and put him in her car and took him straight to her own doctor. It turns out he was very sick - he had TB. But he did NOT have AIDS and he didn’t die. That was years ago and he’s still working as a gardner where she works. She ended her story by telling me that a few weeks after he’d seen the doctor and recovered, he was smiling and getting fatter by the day.

What nearly killed him, she said, was fear. I think maybe that’s what happened to Themba: first, fear he couldn’t work, or feed his family which made him lose weight; and then maybe fear he was going to die. Maybe knowing his job was safe made the difference. I don’t know.

But it really made me think. I believe now that that’s how mugabe is controlling us and ruling our lives and keeping himself in power - with fear. When we’re frightened we’re too scared to seek help and too scared to face up to what we have to do to survive. But maybe, somehow, we will all be courageous and face our fear and rise from the death, just like Themba did. I pray for that day to come soon.

* name has been changed

Zimbabwe, Mugabe, HIV/AIDS, AIDS, Health

Share This

Organised by the Zimbabwe Vigil Coalition:
The Chair of the all-party Parliamentary Group on Zimbabwe, Kate Hoey, is to present a petition entitled ‘No shaking hands with Mugabe’ to 10 Downing Street at 3 pm on Thursday, 13th October, calling on Mr Blair to bring the Zimbabwe situation to the attention of the UN Security Council. The petition reads:

The latest elections in Zimbabwe were once again stolen by the Mugabe regime with the connivan
ce of its neighbours. Retaliation is now being meted out to people who supported the opposition. We urge the British government to end Mugabe’s reign of terror and halt his drive for legitimacy:

• Bring the matter to the UN Security Council.
• Make it a priority during term as President of the EU and G8 (group of leading industrial nations).
• Put pressure on South Africa to allow democracy in Zimbabwe.
• Extend targeted sanctions against Mugabe’s cronies.

Zimbabwe Vigil invites Zimbabwean exiles and demostrators to walk with them to hand in the petition.

Meet tomorrow (13th October) at 1.45 pm, at Zimbabwe Embassy (429 Strand, London WC2) (nearest station: Charing Cross - click here for map).

Further details for the planned demonstration available on their website.

Zimbabwe, Mugabe, Human Rights, United Nations, Britain, Protest

Share This

Our latest Sokwanele newsletter calls attention to the rise in cases of sleeping sickness in certain areas of Zimbabwe:

Certain low-lying areas in Zimbabwe, such as along the course of the Zambezi River, have always been known to be at risk because of the prevalence of tsetse fly. Before the advent of insecticides this had a natural limiting effect upon human habitation and cattle rearing in these areas. However once the cause of the disease was understood, and effective preventative measures put in place (through spraying and maintaining extensive clearings around human settlement), these regions could be settled without undue risk. This is what happened with the building of Kariba and the development of the tourist industry along the shores of the lake and beyond.

The Department of Veterinary Services established check points at strategic points along the road networks to ensure that vehicles entering and leaving known tsetse areas might be sprayed to keep the disease in check. Clearing and spraying programmes around villages and tourist areas were routine and, through vigilance, cases of sleeping sickness became extremely rare even in areas afflicted with the dreaded tsetse fly. But that is no more.

Today the disease is rampant again across a huge swathe of prime tourist resorts in huge triangle between Chirundu and Makuti to the north and east of Kariba, to the Omay Communal Lands far out to the west. Ever since the European Union (EU) funding of the Department of Veterinary Services’ control programme came to an end some five years ago, and with it the cessation of all preventative measures, the inhabitants of this vast area, including tourists, have been sitting on a time bomb.

Read the full article here. Subscribe to receive our newsletter here.

Zimbabwe, Sokwanele,Health, Sleeping sickness,

Share This

My daily email courtesy of zwnews arrived this morning bearing an unapologetically emotional outburst by Pius Wakatama - the full article carried in The Standard. He gives full vent to the many and various reasons why he takes an ‘emotional’ position on what’s happening in Zimbabwe. But it was this that caught my eye (he’s talking about Mugabe’s zanu-pf government).

The only feelings they show are feelings of hatred for those who dare question their legitimacy or right to eat like pigs when the rest of the country goes hungry. How can any true and caring Zimbabwean not become emotional and mad when the country’s director of social welfare brazenly says Zimbabwe does not need international food aid? He actually said the majority of the people are able to buy food on their own thus invalidating the need for an international appeal for food aid. I wish I could call a rally of the starving masses in Dzivarasekwa and introduce him to them as the man who told willing donors that they didn’t need food aid. “Vaimuita kanyama-kanyama.”- They would tear him to pieces right there and then. The hunger and suffering there is pitiful. Ask the churches and non-governmental organisations who are trying to feed them with what little food they get if you want to know the truth.

I know how you feel Pius! In fact, I get emotional every time I think about the arrogance and evilness of Mugabe’s ‘let them eat potatoes’ comment, and as for what the Director of Social Welfare, Sydney Mhishi, said. Well……! Can someone please tell the man that inflation went up from 254,8% in July, to 265.1% in August, to a cracking 359.8% in September (here on Reuters). Get real!

But my emotions are not only restricted to Zanu-PF. Sometimes I get a little annoyed with the world too!

Why do warning bells not go off in the heads of the world’s leaders when zanu-pf comes out and says that if there is any food aid, it will only be distributed AFTER the Senate polls. How many times do Zimbabweans need to tell the same story before people realise that food in the hands of zanu-pf is a political weapon; that targetted starvation is a neat way of getting votes? No wonder Zimbabweans are getting bone weary and disenchanted. With that sort of timing, zanu-pf may as well just have come right out and said ‘we need people nice and hungry when voting comes around!’.

As Zimbabweans are all too aware, we’ve been there before - here, here and here.

Zimbabwe, Mugabe, Famine, Inflation, Human Rights

Share This

Our newsletter, mailed to our subscribers today, describes a conversation with an elderly woman who we respectfully refer to as ‘Gogo’ (grandmother). Gogo shares with us her experience of travelling between Bulawayo and her rural home in Siabuwa (in the Zambezi Valley). With no fuel or forex in the country, public transport has ground to a halt and Gogo’s journey is fraught with difficulties, as the following extract reveals:

Normally Gogo would have a choice of travelling either via (the Falls Road) Kamativi and Binga, or via Nkayi and Gokwe. The western or the eastern route as you could say, both of which take one over some difficult terrain and bone-shaking roads at the best of times. However in these grossly abnormal times one does not have these options any more. Because of the acute shortage of fuel across the whole country most rural buses have just stopped running. People may queue for days only to be told that the service has been cancelled. No forex, no fuel, no bus service - leaving thousands of stranded travellers in abject misery. And that was just the start of Gogo’s woes …

I enquired further what she was going to do. Could she not get a lift on some vehicle going to Binga? Possibly, replied Gogo (and at considerable cost) but the real problem with that route was how to get from Binga on the shores of Lake Kariba to Siabuwa, a hundred kilometres inland. No buses have run on this road for many weeks now, leaving desperate commuters to make the journey on foot. How long would such a journey take? Two to three days was the reply, depending on one’s state of health. Gogo went on to explain that rural people forced to walk this road had to be continually on the lookout for wild animals. (The road passes through forested areas and skirts wildlife safari areas and the Chizarira National Park). For this reason people tend to walk in groups, and they stop walking at 5 in the evening when the elephants are on the move, to or from the water. Walkers set up big bonfires at night to scare off the elephants and other wildlife.

Read the full article on our website here. Subscribe to our newsletter here.

Zimbabwe, Poverty, Rural areas

Share This

Godfrey Huggins School in Marondera called a parents’ meeting on Tuesday 4th October to discuss school fees. After the School authorities had indicated the huge increase in fees which would be necessary to keep the School running at a time of hyper-inflation an old man, Sekuru, rose slowly to his feet to speak. He was visibly angry:

“I am an old man,” he said, “and I have six orphaned grandchildren to care for. I have to pay their school fees. Now I am unemployed. I used to earn enough money by selling vegetables. Now I am not allowed to do that any more. The government has chased all vendors off the streets. So how can I pay the school fees ? If they are raised then I am prepared to fight. My family has suffered enough. Now I am ready for a civil war.”

The old man sat down to tumultuous applause.

Also seated in the audience and listening intently to Sekuru was none other than Sydney Sekeramayi, ZANU PF chef, loyal ally of Robert Mugabe and Minister of Defence in his Cabinet. It was impossible to read the inscrutable expression on his face. But he has heard the truth, and God help him and his ZANU PF colleagues responsible for the intolerable suffering, if they do not change their ways - at once.

ZVAKWANA ! ENOUGH IS ENOUGH ! SOKWANELE !

The people of the land have spoken.

Zimbabwe, Poverty, Economy, Inflation, Revolutions

Share This