http://www.zimonline.co.za
by Cuthbert Nzou Thursday
21 August 2008
HARARE - President Thabo Mbeki is now expected
to meet Zimbabwean main
opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai in South Africa
to find out if he was
ready to sign a power-sharing deal with President
Robert Mugabe, diplomatic
sources told ZimOnline.
Mbeki had been
expected to travel to Harare this week to try one more time
to push Mugabe,
Tsvangirai and another opposition leader Arthur Mutambara to
agree a
power-sharing pact after a summit of southern African leaders last
weekend
failed to make the Zimbabwean rivals agree to form a government of
national
unity.
"Tsvangirai is already in South Africa, ready to meet Mbeki," a
diplomat
said. "They will meet most probably on Thursday. It is up to
Tsvangirai to
inform Mbeki that his party has a new position and wants
power-sharing talks
to continue."
Acting spokesman for Tsvangirai's
MDC party, Tapiwa Mashakada confirmed that
his leader, who has been touring
southern African countries, arrived in
South Africa on
Wednesday.
"President Tsvangirai is now in South Africa on his diplomatic
offensive,"
Mashakada said, but refused to be disclose more details on the
MDC leader's
visit.
According to our sources, Mbeki was likely to
come to Harare only if
Tsvangirai indicates that he was prepared to
reconsider his opposition to
the proposed power-sharing deal on the
table.
Tsvangirai has in the past two weeks refused to sign a unity
government
agreement with Mugabe and Mutambara, insisting that he needed
full executive
powers if he were to become prime minister. The MDC leader
wants Mugabe to
be a ceremonial president.
The Southern African
Development Community (SADC) summit in Johannesburg
last weekend failed to
convince Tsvangirai to agree to a power-sharing deal
without the full
executive powers.
The summit however endorsed the Mbeki-brokered deal
under which Mugabe would
remain executive president while Tsvangirai would
be prime minister but
without power to hire or fire government ministers or
to chair the Cabinet.
However the opposition leader, who defeated Mugabe
in the March 29
presidential election but failed to secure the margin
required to takeover
the presidency, would be deputy chair of the Cabinet
under the proposed
deal.
Tsvangirai has since the SADC summit been
visiting regional countries asking
leaders to lean on Mugabe to cede all
executive powers to him.
His MDC party said on Wednesday that plans by
Mugabe to open Parliament next
Tuesday could derail altogether the stalled
power-sharing talks.
Clerk of Parliament Austin Zvoma told reporters the
new parliament would
convene on Monday and Mugabe would officially open the
House the following
day.
"Any decision to convene parliament will be
a clear repudiation of the
Memorandum of Understanding, and an indication
beyond reasonable doubt of
ZANU PF's unwillingness to continue to be part of
the talks. In short
convening Parliament decapitates the dialogue," MDC
secretary general Tendai
Biti said in a statement.
A government of
national unity is seen as the best way to end Zimbabwe's
crisis that is
marked by the world's highest inflation of more than 11
million percent,
severe shortages of food, jobs, foreign currency and
deepening
poverty.
Western nations, whose financial aid is vital to any effort to
revive
Zimbabwe's economy, have said they will support such a unity
government only
if its executive head is Tsvangirai. - ZimOnline
| ||
REPORT: Counting the
Cost of Courage: Trauma experiences of women human rights defenders in Zimbabwe
Zimbabwe is a nation in crisis, a crisis that has been on going since at least the year 2000, but probably dating from 1997, with the collapse of the Zimbabwe dollar, and the exacerbation of the socio-economic crisis.
The crisis began in the political sphere and has
spread to the economy and all aspects of social interaction, as ill-conceived
government policies have turned peoples’ lives upside down. The ability to earn
a living is drastically curtailed, basic shelter is compromised by overcrowding
or deliberate destruction of housing units by government, and schooling is no
longer available to many children. Bare physical survival is at risk through
lack of food supplies coupled with the collapse of services, including water,
sanitation and health services.
Families are divided through the migration of
breadwinners, and the whole of life has become a constant, debilitating struggle
for the vast majority of Zimbabweans.
Any attempt by political or civic groups to press
for alternative policies has been met with repression, effectively cutting off
the possibility of working towards improvements in peoples’ lives. The ruling
party has subverted all electoral processes since 2000, the legislative process,
the law enforcement, and judicial processes in favour of its own perpetual rule,
with any resistance met by force, both overt and clandestine, actual and
threatened.
Despite electoral reform brokered as part of the
Southern African Development Community (SADC) mediation process, before the
peaceful March 2008 election, a wave of violence and retribution was unleashed
on citizens even before the results were announced and continued up to, and
beyond, the one-candidate run-off on June 27.
In the context of the desperate situation since
2000, Women of Zimbabwe Arise (WOZA) has emerged as a leading rights group
calling for change. It is a social justice movement engaged in nonviolent civic
action to promote renewal in a politically repressive environment. They claim
that their right to freedom of expression has been stifled by unconstitutional
legislation, but they aim nevertheless to keep the voice of protest alive. The
members demonstrate in the streets and distribute fliers and newsletters calling
for government policies which honour the civil and political rights protected in
the national constitution, and the economic and social rights guaranteed under
international law. They have embraced a programme of peaceful civil disobedience
in the face of unjust laws. As is the fate of any other group mounting protests,
the women have encountered harassment, brutality and imprisonment at the hands
of state agents, who act in breach of their professional and legal
obligations.
A recent example of such treatment occurred on 28
May 2008 when 14 members were arrested in Harare during a peaceful procession.
After 48 hours in police custody they were taken to court where the magistrate
granted bail.
The state appealed against that decision to the High
Court and the group was remanded in custody for the appeal period. On 10 June,
Judge Hlatshwayo allowed 12 of the accused to be released, but refused bail for
two leaders, Jenni Williams and Magodonga Mahlangu, saying it would be
‘childish’ to grant them bail prior to the presidential run-off. The state
argued that these nonviolent human rights defenders would mobilise a
Kenyan-style revolt before the 27 June election. They were eventually granted
bail after 37 days in custody. This development shows a clear increase in
repression of peace activists, which is a patent echo of the brutality that has
been meted out to members of the political opposition, Movement for Democratic
Change (MDC) since March 2008.
Research on Rights
Violations experienced by WOZA
In 2007 research was carried out to determine the
nature and extent of violations perpetrated on WOZA members by state actors. It
used a questionnaire administered verbally to more than 2,000 WOZA members by
interviewers from among the WOZA membership. The major results have been
detailed in a report released recently. They showed a high level of arrests,
assaults, torture and cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment, primarily by
members of various sections of the Zimbabwe Republic Police.
One section of the questionnaire sought to document
traumatic experiences of WOZA women in order to understand the basis of possible
psychological and emotional disorders arising from their civic activism –
‘counting the cost of their courage’. The results of this part of the research
were not included in the main report, and are rather being presented separately
here.
It should be noted that this research was carried
out and completed before the wave of political violence following the 29 March
2008 election. The atrocities committed since April have drastically increased
the levels of trauma experience by both activists and ordinary
citizens.
Trauma experiences
Two broad categories of trauma were explored in the
research into violence against WOZA women. The first will be described as
“displacement” experiences. This concept was developed first in relation to the
psychological and emotional plight of refugees fleeing war zones. It details
events such as loss of home, failing to access food and medical care, being
lost, being caught up in fighting and similar experiences. While the subjects of
this research in Zimbabwe are not refugees in the conventional sense and have
not recently experienced war, most have suffered serious dislocation in their
lives, both materially and socially, hence it is felt that the concept of
displacement can be validly applied to them. There is, however, a sense in which
Zimbabwe is like a war, a “complex emergency” which is how experts now term
situations in which there is significant violence, severe economic decline, and
the destruction of social capital. Recent events have only intensified
displacement producing both internal and external refugees accompanied by a
full-scale humanitarian crisis.
The second source of trauma considered here is
constituted by the abuses WOZA women have suffered at the hands of state agents,
primarily the police, but historically also the army. These can be categorised
under the rubric, “organised violence and torture” (OVT). They include events of
torture per se as well as assaults, cruel inhuman and degrading treatment, and
verbal threats, insults and taunts.
While a large proportion of Zimbabweans are victims
of the displacement type of trauma events, WOZA women who are the subject of
this research have experienced OVT events as well. The section on trauma in the
questionnaire sought to quantify all those experiences. The detailed
descriptions of the kinds of trauma events reported are given in Appendices 3
and 4.
From the questionnaire it is not possible to
determine the degree of behavioural or emotional symptoms resulting from the
accumulated traumas, but the frequency of trauma reported in this study suggests
that there could well be psychological effects. There is abundant evidence from
studies of the effect of traumatic events on populations caught up in war or
civil conflict that both displacement and OVT types of trauma-inducing
experiences can lead to mental health problems, sometimes amounting to severe
psychological disorders.
Zimbabwe’s History
of Mass Trauma – 1960s to 2000s
Zimbabwe’s colonial history (1890-1980) saw
conquest, forced labour recruitment, and forced evictions from ancestral lands,
all of which constituted collective mass trauma experiences. But here the
concentration is on the past 50 years, events within the collective memory of
WOZA members.
The history of Zimbabwe over the past half-century
reveals several periods in which mass trauma has occurred:
· The Liberation War of the 1970s;
· The ‘Gukurahundi’ period of the 1980s;
· The ‘Food Riots’ of 1998;
· The violence since 2000, mainly, but not
exclusively, associated with elections in 2000, 2002, 2005, and 2008;
· Operation Murambatsvina in 2005.8
In each case there were both displacement and OVT
sources of trauma, in varying proportions. During the 1970s Liberation War and
the Gukurahundi period, there are at least some of the features of war. They
were definitely present in the 1970s, where there are at least two opposing
armies and a civilian population caught in the middle.
It is to some extent the same for the Gukurahundi
period, although the violence was not national and it involved very small
numbers of opponents on the one side. Torture was a key component of violence
experienced by civilians in both the 1970s and during Gukurahundi, as they were
caught in the middle ground between opposing forces and became victims of
violence from both sides.
From 1987 onwards it is abundantly clear that no
party or group has offered a military threat to ZANU PF, or even a threat of
violence. Thus, in contrast to previous periods, the data show a wholly
one-sided pattern of violence, with state agents, government supporters, and
even militia being the major perpetrators. Their aim has been not to fight an
armed insurrection, but to quell non-violent political and civic
activity. Nevertheless, torture has remained a major component
of this violence.
Both displacement events and organised violence and
torture have been frequently experienced by Zimbabweans in all the past four
decades, although less so in the 1990s. The current period, from 2000 onwards,
is clearly a phase of epidemic torture and organised violence in a variety of
forms, as well as a period of experiences similar to the displacement of
refugees in a war situation.
The WOZA
research
The 2007 survey of WOZA members included a section
on trauma experienced pre-Independence (before 1980), post-Independence
(1980-1999), and since 2000. While the younger women were either born
post-Independence or were too young to have memories of the pre-Independence
period, women over 35 (58.8% of the respondents) could be expected to have some
recollections of each period.
The data relating to trauma was based on the Harvard
Trauma Questionnaire [HTQ]. It was altered slightly from previous uses in
Zimbabwe in order to include an historical element, so that there might be a
long-range understanding of the women’s experience of trauma throughout their
adult lives.
Interviewees were asked to indicate trauma events in
two forms: those they have experienced themselves, and those they witnessed
being experienced by others. They were asked to record these events for three
periods: pre-Independence, 1980-1999, and for each year since
1999.
A number of different measures were taken from the
data as follows:
· Total Harvard Trauma Questionnaire score: this
records the total number of all Experienced and Witnessed items, for all years
[HTQ Total];
· Total Harvard Trauma Questionnaire [Experienced]
score: the total of all Experienced items, for all years 2000 - 2007 [HTQ
Experienced];
· Total Harvard Trauma Questionnaire [Witnessed]
score: the total of all Witnessed items, all years 2000 - 2007 [HTQ Witnessed].
The items in the questionnaire were then separated
into those representing displacement and those representing organised violence
and torture, and two more measures were isolated:
· Score for Organised Violence and Torture [OVT]
items, by year [HTQ OVT];
· Score for Displacement items, by year [HTQ
Displaced].
The same measures were then taken for two historical
periods, pre-Independence and 1980-1999.
Results
The results are reported here in two sections. The
first deals with historical trauma, which covers the pre-Independence era before
1980, and the post-Independence era from 1980 to 1999. The second section deals
with the current trauma, from 2000 to 2007.
Historical trauma
Of the 1,983 women interviewed, 1,505 filled in the
historical section of the trauma questionnaire. Those who did not would have
been either too young to remember or not yet born in the early years. As
indicated above, this covered both the pre-Independence period and the
Gukurahundi era. Figures from Matabeleland were looked at separately to
ascertain the levels of trauma during Gukurahundi.
The two time periods [pre-1980 and 1980-1999] were
negatively correlated [p=-0.09], meaning that the probability of a violation in
one period is not related to the probability in the next, but there was a marked
and statistically significant increase in the number of trauma types reported in
the 1980-1999 period compared to the pre-Independence period. This shows that,
for the WOZA women, post-Independence carried greater risks than the
pre-Independence era. While the average number of trauma events experienced and
witnessed by each respondent before 1980 was 2.9, the average for the first two
decades of independence was 5.8.
Table 1: Trauma totals: pre-1980 & 1980-1999
1979 1980-1999
Mean 2.9 5.8
Standard Deviation 5.3 5.6
The difference between the two periods applied for
every measure taken of the trauma, as can be seen from the table below, and the
differences were strongly statistically significant. Considering that the 1970s
were a decade of open armed liberation struggle, this seems improbable until one
remembers that WOZA began in Bulawayo, that many of its members come from the
Matabeleland provinces, and many were affected by the Gukurahundi violations.
Table 2: Comparison of trauma types:
pre-Independence [1980] & post-Independence [1980-1999]
HTQ
[Total]
HTQ
[Experienced]
HTQ
[Witnessed]
HTQ
[OVT]
HTQ
[Displace]
Pre-Independence 2.9 1.5 1.5 0.3 0.5
Post-Independence 5.8* 2.6* 3.3* 0.4* 1.4*
*p=0.0001
When the breakdown of the types of trauma is
examined, virtually every type of trauma, deriving from both displacement and
from OVT, was reported more frequently in the post-Independence era. The
increases were very dramatic in the case of some types of trauma, especially
food deprivation and beatings.
As can be seen from Table 3, and in line with the
comments above, the Matabeleland sample reported significantly more trauma than
the Mashonaland sample for both the pre-Independence and Gukurahundi eras. This
might have been an artefact of the age structure of the two groups, since the
Matabeleland sample was slightly older than the Mashonaland sample. However, it
is essential to note that the Matabeleland sample includes a large group of
rural women who were subject to a multitude of trauma-inducing events during the
Gukurahundi violence. Even the urban women of Matabeleland have rural origins,
some of them having moved permanently to Bulawayo during Gukurahundi, hence the
abuses of that period will also be reflected in the Bulawayo data.
Table 3: Comparison of trauma between provinces:
pre-1980 & 1980-1999
Mashonaland Matabeleland
Pre-1980 [Experienced] 1.11 1.59*
Pre-1980 [Witnessed] 1.11 1.59*
Pre-1980 [OVT] 0.22 0.33*
Pre-1980 [Displaced] 0.43 0.53
1980-1999 [Experienced] 2.26 2.7*
1980-1999 [Witnessed] 2.45 3.55*
1980-1999 [OVT] 0.3 0.46*
1980-1999 [Displaced] 1.36 1.37
*p=0.001
Given the possibility that the differences might
result from a large number of older women forming the Matabeleland sample, the
effects of age were examined for the women throughout the country, by comparing
trauma witnessed and experienced pre-1980 and 1980-1999 in those under-35 and
those over-35 years.
Unsurprisingly, the older women everywhere reported
more trauma compared to the younger women, so it seems unlikely that the
differences seen between the two groups were due to age alone.
When the age difference was examined for
Matabeleland only, which was done mainly to get an idea of the trauma
experienced during the Gukurahundi years, the trends seen above remained the
same, with older women reporting more trauma generally [see Table 4
below]. It is again also evident that the frequency of
trauma increased during the two post-Independence decades, and this was due to
the increase in trauma events that would be associated with the Gukurahundi,
such as deprivation of food, imprisonment, rape, severe beatings, and torture
[see Appendix 2].13
Table 4: Comparison of trauma [Matabeleland only]:
under 35 & over 35 years
Under 35 yrs Over 35 yrs
Pre-1980 [Experienced] 0.51 1.95*
Pre-1980 [Witnessed] 0.53 1.95*
Pre-1980 [OVT] 0.12 0.41*
Pre-1980 [Displaced] 0.17 0.66*
1980-1999 [Experienced] 2.19 2.87*
1980-1999 [Witnessed] 3.02 3.73**
1980-1999 [OVT] 0.22 0.55*
1980-1999 [Displaced] 1.41 1.36
*p=0.0001; **p=0.01
The major conclusion to be drawn from the historical
data is that experience of trauma existed in terms of both displacement and
organised violence and torture. The post-Independence years were more traumatic
than the pre-Independence decades, with older women reporting more experience of
trauma countrywide, and women in Matabeleland reporting significantly higher
levels of trauma than those elsewhere.
Trauma (2000-2007)
The sample here was larger, with a total of 1,972;
11 people either did not experience any trauma or the interviewer omitted to
fill in the relevant section.
Overall, a high number of trauma events were
reported on average, with enormous variation over the sample, and some persons
reporting as many as 30 trauma items over the past eight years. The number of
events experienced, both of a displacement nature and of OVT, was calculated for
each respondent, and an average of the totals worked out. This produced the
results in the table below, with an average of 8.8 trauma events experienced,
and 7.9 witnessed. And it must be remembered that this can only indicate the
types of events for each year, not the number of similar events. For example, if
a person recorded beating in the year 2002, but was beaten three times that
year, this has not been captured, and it will only show up as a single trauma
event.
Table 5: Trauma Questionnaire scores [means &
standard deviation]
There is also a steady increase in the number of
trauma items reported over the years, as can be seen from the figure
below.
Figure 1
Comparison of trauma
scores: 2000 to 2007
0
0.5
1
1.5
2
2.5
3
3.5
4
4.5
2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007
Year Mean
score
HTQTot
EXPTot
WITTot
OVT
Displacement
Trauma scale Number [n=1972]
No. of trauma events Experienced 8.8 [6.4]
No. of trauma events Witnessed 7.9 [10.4]
Total no. of trauma events 16.7 [13.9]
There are number of observations to be made here.
Firstly, there are clear increases for the election
years 2000 and 2002, and dips prior and subsequent to these years. However,
there is a very steady and marked increase in the number of trauma events
reported from 2005 onwards. This corresponds more or less exactly to the data
reported by Zimbabwean human rights groups, such as the Zimbabwe Human Rights
NGO Forum. All reports from Zimbabwe human rights groups show the same trends:
human rights violations (and hence trauma) increase during elections, and all
violations have been increasing since 2005, which saw the beginning of
Murambatsvina, the effects of which continue to be felt. In common with the
Human Rights Forum, the WOZA sample reports 2007 as the worst year since 2000.
However, since this data was collected, it is evident from the reports of the
Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum that the violence has worsened significantly in
2008, and, in particular, the violence since the March 2008 election has been
extreme.
Table 6: Trauma scores by year 2000-2007
2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007
HTQ [Total] 1.1 0.7 2.1 1.4 1.4 2.7 3.3 4.01
HTQ [Experienced] 0.6 0.4 1.1 0.8 0.8 1.4 1.8 2.1
HTQ [Witnessed] 0.5 0.4 1 0.6 0.64 1.3 1.4 1.96
HTQ [OVT] 0.1 0.03 0.11 0.1 0.1 0.2 0.5 0.4
HTQ [Displace] 0.4 0.3 0.7 0.5 0.54 0.97 1.04 1.3
Secondly, looking at the table above, it can be seen
that the average frequency for Experienced items exceeds that for Witnessed
items. Although this is not statistically significant, interestingly this is the
case for every single year since 2000. This seems counter-intuitive – that
people should experience more trauma than they witness – but it must be
remembered that the WOZA women are activists, and have been engaged in
protesting the terrible conditions that they and their families have been
experiencing since 2003. Given the repressive attitudes of the state and state
agents to dissent and disagreement, it is predictable that the actions of the
WOZA women would lead to them directly facing possible trauma, and the data
bears this out.
Thirdly, Displacement items are more frequent than
OVT items for all years. The comment here is that the Displacement score does
not only reflect actual displacement but also the increasing economic hardship
faced by these women. Lack of food, lack of shelter – especially after Operation
Murambatsvina – and lack of access to medical care have become common features
of Zimbabwean life in the last few years, and particularly for working and
sub-working class families, which are the social groups from which WOZA draws
the major portion of its membership.
There was also a significant correlation between the
total number of human rights violations reported and the number of trauma events
Experienced [0.37; p=0.005]. The actual violations reported by the sample
correlated strongly with the measure of OVT from the HTQ [imprisonment, rape,
kidnapping, severe beatings, torture, and sexual abuse] but not at all with the
measure of Displacement. This is perhaps unremarkable and to be expected, but it
does give considerable confidence in the data that different measures of the
same events correlate strongly.
Average number of
trauma events reported between 2000 & 2007: comparison between Mashonaland
& Matabeleland
It was observed under the section on historical
trauma that the sample from Matabeleland consistently reported greater numbers
of trauma events both pre- and post-Independence, and, to some extent, this
observation still applies for the period since 2000. However, as can be seen
from the figure above, this pattern only holds until 2007, when the Mashonaland
sample reports markedly more trauma events than the Matabeleland sample. This
finding accords with the reports of human rights groups that 2007 has been the
worst year since 2000 for human rights violations, the majority of which have
been reported in the northern half of the country. It is also evident that the
general trend for violations to increase during election years is seen for both
groups.
One of the reasons for studying trauma experiences
is to be in a position to determine the psychological effects and devise
appropriate treatment if it is required. This research did not directly measure
psychological disorder, but used an indirect measure, the overall score on the
HTQ of the last year, 2007.
Research carried out in
Zimbabwe, by ActionAid, in the aftermath of Murambatsvina indicated that
psychological disorder among a random sample of victims, as measured by a
psychological screening instrument, the SRQ-8,19 correlated with scores on the
HTQ of 3 or more.
Using this as a measure on the
HTQ in the present study, it was found that 1,051 [53%] women in the sample had
scores on the HTQ of 3 or more, and hence indicative of psychological disorder.
This is not as high as that found in the ActionAid survey, where 69% of the
sample drawn from Bulawayo, Harare, and Mutare were suffering from psychological
disorder, but is nonetheless much higher than estimates from the general
population.
Effects of Trauma
Research into the effects of trauma experiences in
many other countries has shown that they frequently result in psychological
disturbance and disorder. Many studies demonstrate high rates of Post-Traumatic
Stress Disorder [PTSD] and other disorders as a consequence of OVT. For example,
a multi-country study of the relationship between life events, such as torture,
and PTSD showed very high rates of PTSD in all four countries surveyed: the
prevalence rate of assessed PTSD was 37% in Algeria, 28% in Cambodia, 16% in
Ethiopia, and 18% in Gaza. Conflict-related trauma after age 12 years was the
only risk factor for PTSD that was present in all four samples, whilst torture
was a risk factor in all samples except Cambodia. A longitudinal study of
Bosnian refugees showed similar high rates of disorder.
As noted previously, this survey did not directly
measure the degree or nature of psychological disturbance resulting from trauma
among the WOZA women.
This awaits further research.
Nevertheless, considering the level of trauma recorded and the psychological
effects observed in victims in other situations, it could be expected that such
effects would be discovered if an attempt to document them was made.
Furthermore, trauma research suggests that repeated exposure to trauma has a
cumulative effect, making the victim more likely to suffer from a psychological
disorder. Zimbabwean women, with their history of repeated trauma through recent
history are then candidates for clinical psychological symptoms resulting from
repeated trauma of various types.
WOZA women have received very little counselling to
help them deal with their trauma. Some group healing sessions with professional
counsellors were organised, but remarkably, the women seemed more concerned to
discuss their ‘displacement’ issues than their experiences of OVT, which they
said they expected in any case and they had recovered from. Of course, this does
not mean that they do not have any trauma-related disorders, but they themselves
do not perceive them, and their observed behaviour does not indicate them
either. It is interesting to speculate on the reasons for this, in the absence
of any scientific data.
Possibly the torture episodes were not as serious as
those inflicted on some other activists. WOZA women have been threatened with
dire consequences of their actions, but none have been subjected to prolonged
physical or even mental torture such as electric shocks or lengthy detention.
Most have been released from police custody within a few days of arrest.
However, the threat and possibility of such harsh treatment is always present,
and many women struggle to overcome fear in order to participate in actions.
Another possible explanation for the lack of trauma
symptoms could be the preparedness of the women for mistreatment. There is some
indication from other studies that an individual’s or a community’s response to
trauma, and the psychological damage it produces, is strongly influenced by the
person’s mental preparedness.
One study from Zimbabwe is Richard Werbner’s Tears
of the Dead. Werbner is an anthropologist, not a psychologist, but his study of
a community in rural Matabeleland showed a marked difference between the way
people responded to organized violence and torture during the liberation war and
during Gukurahundi. During the war they knew what they were fighting for, and
there appeared to be a meaning for sacrifices and suffering; but during
Gukurahundi, the violence seemed to target virtually everyone and the reason for
it was not at all clear.
The trauma experienced in the 1980s was much more
damaging to individuals and to the community than that experienced during the
70s. Studies from other parts of the world seem to draw similar conclusions.
It is also a fact that WOZA women are specifically
prepared to expect violence, and are trained on how to
respond.
Thus, they know that when they demonstrate in the
streets they are likely to be arrested and may well be beaten and tortured. They
never know exactly what to expect, but they go into action in a state of mental
preparedness.
They understand why they are carrying out their
actions and are committed to the ideals for which they take a stand. If there
are arrests and/or injuries, there is always a back-up team that goes into
action to bring lawyers, food, medicines, to arrange for medical examination and
treatment, and to give the emotional support that might be needed at the time.
In police custody the women support each other. If it appears that only one is
being arrested, others will hand themselves in as a solidarity gesture. Thus a
network of caring and support sustains and builds the strength of the women as a
group. Furthermore, after each action, de-briefings are
held. Those in the action meet to review what happened, success and failures,
including their feelings about their action. Were they proud of themselves, were
they very afraid, how did they get through it? What could be done differently
next time? Mistakes are analysed. These processes may well have an “immunising”
effect for the WOZA women.
Evidence from studies in Bosnia suggests that
experience of torture may produce feelings of hatred and desire for revenge, all
of which can retard healing. WOZA women learn to treat the police officers that
mistreat them as human beings who also have feelings. They take it as a
challenge to try to win respect from the police officers, and to help them to
also understand the reasons for their protests. For example, on one Valentine’s
Day, a police officer in charge of detaining over a hundred women was happy to
receive a WOZA red rose to give to his wife.
Others, especially female officers, whisper support
for the women and encourage them to continue to be brave.
All of this, which creates an understanding and a
belief that the suffering is worthwhile, has made WOZA women strong and prepared
and thus probably less likely to suffer the normal consequences of torture and
mistreatment.
No one could claim that no WOZA women have feelings
of hatred for and desire to revenge against their tormentors, but the group
ethos and solidarity helps to reduce this. It is probable that the network of
understanding, support and preparedness created by WOZA among its membership
enables them to cope more effectively psychologically with the kinds of
treatment that they have experienced.
Conclusions
Collective trauma usually occurs among civilian
populations caught up in war and civil disturbance. Currently these conditions
are referred to as complex emergencies. Zimbabwe has clearly experienced a
number of complex emergencies over the past few decades, and certainly both the
Liberation War of the 1970s and the Gukurahundi of the 1980s would conform to
the definition of a complex emergency. It can be debated whether the period
since 2000 would be classified as a complex emergency, as there were no obvious
signs of war, but it is indisputable that there has been severe economic
disruption, destruction of social capital, and widespread human rights
violations, with significant violence, although not large numbers of deaths.
However the escalation of levels of violence, torture, deliberate maiming and
physical elimination of political opponents since March 2008 has brought
Zimbabwe to a state of virtual undeclared war and a political and humanitarian
emergency of complex proportions.
As is the case in most complex emergencies, women
and their families are generally the most common victims, and Zimbabwe is no
exception. Many women of all ages have been brutalised, raped, tortured, and
even killed for their political activities and of those of their male family
members. As children are normally in the presence of their mothers, they been
equally victimised. Most often such victims demonstrate psychological effects of
their experience and witnessing of traumatic events.
The women of WOZA, like most Zimbabweans, are
victims of displacement types of trauma events. These were experienced as far
back as the 1970s by some WOZA members, but have accelerated over the
post-Independence years. Some of the women also experienced OVT trauma-inducing
events after 2000 before WOZA was formed in 2003. Since then, they have for five
years attempted to bring the attention of the state and the international
community to the parlous position in which Zimbabwean women have found
themselves. Their protests have not met with the concern of the state, but have
rather been met with repression and gross human rights violations.
These are additional events of the sort that would
normally induce further trauma. It is for this reason that WOZA has sought to
systematically document their treatment.
From the analysis of the responses to the research
questionnaire, the following conclusions have been able to be drawn:
· The members of WOZA have experienced trauma over
all the past three decades, as well as before Independence in 1980.
· The kinds of trauma are not confined to those most
documented by human rights groups, and include a whole range of events that
reflect the destruction of the social fabric of society. These have been
classified as displacement type events and organised violence and torture (OVT).
· The frequency of trauma of all kinds has been
steadily increasing.
An average of 2.9 events per
respondent for the pre-Independence period doubled to 5.8 in the two
post-Independence decades, and then tripled to 16.7 in the period 2000 to
2007.
· A number of differences between different time
periods and places emerged. Women from Matabeleland reported higher rates of
trauma in all three decades and it was evident that Gukurahundi had significant
effects during the 1980s.
· While specific measures of the consequences of the
trauma for these women could not be made, it was estimated that over 50% of the
sample are at risk of developing significant psychological disorders. The
effects may not be experienced immediately – there is little time for the women
to focus on their inner worlds with all the many problems they solve daily – but
it is probable that the sequential trauma they have suffered will in the future
affect them more directly.
· It is also probable that the psychological effects
of their trauma may well be lessened due to their understanding of the reason
for their suffering and their preparedness to make a sacrifice for the future of
their families and their nation. Their commitment and dedication to a cause that
they believe in makes them stronger than the person who becomes a victim of
random violence without any understanding. Scientific evidence of this
assumption relating to WOZA women awaits further systematic research.
The level of deliberate displacement and OVT in
Zimbabwe suggests a large number of perpetrators of these abuses. But very
little attention has been given to the effect of OVT in particular on these
perpetrators of violence. This is not surprising for a variety of reasons, but
experience world-wide shows that the perpetrators themselves frequently develop
psychological disturbances as a result of the guilt and shame that they feel.
Anecdotal information describes soldiers who
perpetrated massacres and torture during Gukurahundi seeking out their victims’
families in order, in the traditional parlance to “cleanse” themselves, thus
curing distressing symptoms of psychological disorders. When considering the
need to deal with Zimbabweans’ traumatic experiences of the past 40 years, it
will be necessary not to forget the need for healing of the perpetrators as well
as the victims.
It would appear that this trend has not continued
through 2008 in view of election violence in rural areas across the country.
The state has a responsibility to protect, as was
pointed out by the UN Special Envoy in 2005,33 and the Zimbabwean state has not
only failed to protect but also rather inflicted harm on citizens exercising
their constitutional rights. It has turned young men and women into torturers
who themselves may become tormented. At what point will a Zimbabwean government
confront the legacy of trauma and look to begin a healing process? This must be
an important consideration in determining what form of authority emerges from
the current SADC mediation process.
Recommendations
Trauma resulting from displacement can only be
rectified over the medium to long term by a government that cares for its
citizen’s socio-economic needs.
In regard to organized violence
and torture, we feel that there are specific recommendations that need to be
made to deal with the consequences and ensure that it stops and does not start
again.
The ZANU PF government, in common with some other
African governments, has seemed oblivious to the destructive impact of
widespread use of violence as a political tool of control and repression. While
it may have achieved its immediate goal of stifling dissent for some years, it
has surely had seriously deleterious long-term effects on both the victims and
the perpetrators.
However this research on WOZA
women was not intended to show long-term effects of traumatic experiences
because the time lapse was too short.
In order to deal with the problem of the prevalence
of OVT as a common feature of our society, we recommend the following:
· Stop the political violence; disband militia camps
in all areas of the country. Any political violence must be reported,
investigated and prosecuted through the courts without any form of favour or
political influence.
· Intensive research should be undertaken into the
effects of OVT on Zimbabweans, both as victims and as perpetrators.
· A centre be established within Zimbabwe to carry
out research, training and treatment related to victims and perpetrators of
violence.
· A needs assessment be conducted regarding what
treatment is needed to heal both victims and perpetrators.
· Research should be conducted and disseminated on
the most effective ways for non-violent protestors to prepare themselves to
lessen the traumatic effects of torture and other forms of violence.
· All government law enforcement agents be trained
specifically on their international responsibilities regarding OVT and be
required to make specific commitments not to follow orders which require them to
contravene this commitment; an international rescue programme could be
established to assist any who lose employment as a result of adhering to this
commitment.
· All members of the government, defence forces and
party institutions who are identified as perpetrators be required to appear
before a forum where they admit their crimes; the more senior officers
identified as giving orders should be prosecuted.
· Joint sessions of victims and perpetrators should
be held to aid the healing process on both sides.
· Government should immediately lift the current ban
on organisations providing humanitarian assistance and also allow a United
Nations team to address the humanitarian crisis and widespread hunger without
political interference.
· A transitional authority should form a body to
consult and develop a transitional justice plan of action designed to bring
healing and reconciliation and then deal with justice and restitution for
victims in the new Zimbabwe.
The type of evil that has become an integral part of
government behaviour in Zimbabwe must be eradicated and the mindset of power
hunger and disrespect for other human beings overcome. It can only happen
through the actions of a government with a strong will to correct wrongs and
ensure that the rights of all Zimbabweans be respected. We therefore believe
that the most appropriate government to replace the current illegitimate
incumbent would be a non-political transitional authority whose members have as
a priority transitional process of healing, transforming and
rebuilding. Such an authority will have the capacity and
neutrality necessary to dismantle the structures of violence and
oppression.
Nonetheless, whatever format the new political
dispensation in Zimbabwe takes, it will need to embark on an official programme
of acknowledgement of injustices. Economic recovery and democratic reform,
whilst imperative, can only go so far in restoring the dignity of people. We
believe that for dignity to be fully restored a new administration needs to
assist individual survivors to rebuild their broken lives whilst ensuring that
‘liveable peace’ is achieved. It is the only way Zimbabweans can bury the ghosts
of their past and move forward into a more secure future.
Appendix 1:
Comparison of Experienced and Witnessed Trauma:
pre-1980 & 1980-1999.
1979 1979 1980-1999 1980-1999
Experienced Witnessed Experienced Witnessed
Food (lack of) 14% 4% 66% 21%
Medical (inaccessible) 9% 6% 24% 17%
Shelter (lack of) 6% 5% 12% 16%
Prison 3% 6% 5% 12%
Injury 6% 11% 7% 24%
Combat 9% 6% 11% 13%
Rape 2% 7% 2% 2%
Isolated 1% 3% 2% 5%
Close to death 9% 6% 12% 17%
Separation 6% 5% 5% 10%
Kidnapped 3% 7% 3% 15%
Beating 10% 13% 13% 28%
Torture 11% 9% 15% 19%
Scary situation 17% 7% 26% 16%
Property destruction 11% 7% 11% 16%
Sexual abuse 2% 5% 3% 7%
Dependency 11% 5% 25% 11%
Appendix 2:
Comparison of pre-Independence and post-Independence
trauma for Matabeleland sample only.
1979 1979 1980-1999 1980-1999
Experienced Witnessed Experienced Witnessed
Food (lack of) 17% 6% 64% 24%
Medical (inaccessible) 10% 7% 23% 20%
Shelter (lack of) 6% 6% 13% 17%
Prison 2% 6% 4% 12%
Injury 7% 15% 8% 26%
Combat 9% 6% 9% 13%
Rape 3% 10% 3% 12%
Isolated 1% 3% 2% 5%
Close to death 11% 7% 16% 19%
Separation 8% 6% 6% 11%
Kidnapped 3% 10% 4% 20%
Beating 14% 17% 17% 33%
Torture 13% 11% 17% 22%
Scary situation 22% 8% 31% 19%
Property destruction 15% 9% 14% 18%
Sexual abuse 3% 6% 5% 8%
Dependency 12% 7% 23% 11%
Appendix 3:
Experienced items by year [2000 to 2007]: percentage
reporting each item.
2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007
Food 23.5 17.2 50.4 30.5 30.4 48.1 46.6 59.5
Medical 6.5 6.3 8.9 10.1 12.6 17.5 27.3 26.7
Shelter 2.5 1.9 3.1 2.6 4.4 12.4 7.9 7.9
Prison 1.1 1.02 2.5 3.5 3.9 10.1 24.2 14.6
Injury 0.9 0.4 2.3 1.6 1.3 2.4 4.2 3.6
Combat 3.5 1.4 7.01 4.5 3.4 5.9 9.8 11.3
Rape 0 0 0.1 0.1 0.1 0.1 0.3 0.3
Isolated 0.4 0.2 0.5 0.9 0.44 0.7 1.9 1.7
Close to death 1.1 0.5 3.1 1.7 0.7 1.9 3.3 3.4
Separation 0.3 0.1 0.5 0.22 0.5 0.4 0.5 1.6
Kidnapped 0.5 0.2 0.8 0.4 0.3 0.4 0.7 1.3
Beating 1.3 0.2 2.6 1.5 1.4 4.01 7.7 5.6
Torture 3.6 1.2 5.1 3.9 2.9 5.9 13.4 14.1
Scary situation 3.9 2.1 10.1 4.2 3.8 7.4 9.8 16.4
Property destruction 1.2 0.4 2.1 1.3 1.2 5.9 2.2 1.5
Sexual abuse 0.22 0.5 0 0.2 0.2 0.4 0.3 0.5
Dependency 2.9 1.9 6.7 6.1 5.7 13.2 19.9 30.6
Appendix 4:
Witnessed items by year [2000 to 2007]: percentage
reporting each item.
2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007
Food 9.6 7.9 18.5 10.3 10.9 18.8 15.03 19.2
Medical 4.7 5.2 6.5 7.7 9.9 15.1 19.4 18.4
Shelter 4.6 3.2 5.03 5.2 8.8 26.9 15.1 15.9
Prison 1.7 1.6 4.1 3.5 3.4 7.7 12.6 14.6
Injury 3.4 2.1 6.8 3.9 3.2 6.3 10.7 13.5
Combat 2.5 1.2 5.1 2.1 2.1 4.4 6.8 10
Rape 1.1 0.8 0.9 0.9 0.7 1.02 1.4 1.1
Isolated 0.6 0.5 1.2 1.2 1.3 2.2 3.7 7.1
Close to death 1.8 1.3 5.5 2.1 1.6 2.8 6.6 8.2
Separation 1.9 1.6 5.1 2.1 2.8 2.7 3.8 6.9
Kidnapped 1.4 0.6 2.8 1.3 1.3 1.4 1.9 5.3
Beating 4.3 3.1 9.8 4.7 3.1 6.9 11.3 15.7
Torture 4.01 2.3 7.4 4.2 3.3 5.8 7.9 11.1
Scary situation 2.7 1.4 4.3 2.2 1.7 3.9 4.7 8.9
Property destruction 1.5 0.8 2.03 1.4 1.7 10.8 4.3
4.8
Dependency 1.4 1.2 2.8 2.6 2.4 5.7 7.3 10.3 – ZimOnline
Last year, Justine Shaw was forced to flee her beloved Zimbabwe. Like millions of others, she had suffered years of threats, poverty and intimidation at the hands of Robert Mugabe's men. Here, she recounts how paradise turned to poverty – and her fears for the elderly parents she left behind
Thursday, 21 August 2008
The cursor hovers over the "send and receive" icon and I hesitate before pressing enter. I haven't heard from my parents for a week. Although I know the telephone line had been faulty, I desperately hope that it has been fixed – however temporarily – simply so they can reassure me they're OK.
I have three new emails. The first informs that I have enough FlyBuys points to purchase free electronic products online. It has been 19 months since my husband, two children and I settled in Australia, and yet, I'm still amazed by the giveaways, promotions, sales and bonus offers.
The second email is deleted immediately. It's advising me to resend it to seven friends within 10 minutes or be cursed with years of hardship. It's already disappeared, but suddenly I feel superstitious. I'm a Zimbabwean. For years I've binned emails like this. Perhaps all my fellow countrymen did the same? It certainly seems that nothing but misfortune and bad luck have shrouded our beautiful country for more than a decade.
The third message is the one I've been waiting for. I'm relieved and happy, eager to hear my parents' news. I still retain a desperate longing to keep up to date with the dismal state of affairs unfolding at home. The recent flawed election process has once again propelled Zimbabwe into the news and my appetite for information about the situation is insatiable.
My parents, left in the capital, Harare, form part of a population subjected to unabated, deplorable actions sanctioned by their government. In five months' time, I can initiate an application for a visa that will hopefully give them the opportunity to begin a new life with us here in Australia. Whenever I hear from them, left behind there, I feel a terrible sense of guilt, and find myself wondering.... Could I have made a difference had I stayed?
I can't help but feel I have let them – and Zimbabwe – down, choosing to slip through the gap in the fence and run away from the chaos.
When I look at my children, Karly-Emma and Kieran, now seven and six respectively, I see how they have grown in just 19 months. How different they are from the shy, apprehensive, withdrawn immigrants that arrived in Australia. They have become outgoing, confident characters, focused on the business of growing up without being ground down by the transference of our worries, fears, insecurities and stresses. We took them away because we were fortunate enough to be able to move. We took them away because we wanted them to have a normal life, one where their father didn't carry a gun and they weren't afraid of walking out of the front gate.
We have started life again. However, I cannot let go. I am constantly revisiting the place, a cauldron of 33 years' worth of memories – delightful, happy, exhilarating times and ones that still seem so unbelievably tragic that it often seems surreal that I was once a part of them. A piece of me remains in Zimbabwe with my parents. A piece is still trying to comprehend how they lost their farm four years ago and how we lived through and recovered from an armed robbery five years ago.
I regularly ponder how it became possible for one man and his handful of ruthless, greedy colleagues to so carefully orchestrate such devastation and reduce a once thriving country to a desperate, starving nation crying out for salvation.
Of course, we are the fortunate ones to have the choice of starting again. So many thousands have no option but to remain in the country and I can only admire their resilience, their determination and their will to survive this continuing holocaust of suppression, food deprivation and brutality.
I turn back to the email, typed by my unshaven, unwashed father and my mother who is "hanging on with very shredded fingernails".
When they left the farm in 2004 – a household run on borehole water, with ageing power cables and serviced by an erratic party telephone line, 40 kilometres away from the nearest town, they should have been leaving erratic services behind. Their suburban rental in Harare should, by all accounts, have had more efficient services; council water, reliable electricity and a telephone line not shared by neighbouring farms. I continue to read their news.
They have only had municipal water once in two months, and that was only for 12 hours. During this time, they managed to top up the swimming pool – water from which they use for filling up the toilets and doing the laundry. Buckets of cold water are carried from the pool into the shower to wash. It is like a black comedy and I manage a small smile as my mother describes herself "bottoms up and bent over a bucket" in the shower, dousing herself with cold, chlorinated water in an effort to keep herself clean.
They have a quarter of a loaf of frozen bread which they've preserved in the freezer by running the generator for an hour each day. My mother is an artist, but she's now been forced to supplement their income (to cover rent and the spiralling cost of living) by teaching. After work, she begins her search – scouting from shop to shop looking for grossly expensive commodities to ensure they have food for the week. Supermarket shelves are generally empty and street vendors haunt the pavements, selling anything from eggs to cooking oil at extortionate prices that increase daily. Most of their groceries are sourced from various "contacts" that have various "contacts".
The power cuts are frequent, haphazard and unannounced, so they are unable to plan activities around them. They cannot run the generator for too long as there is still the ever present prospect of fuel shortages. Their rent has just gone up 6,250 per cent.
They spend days queuing at banks and building societies with scores of other Zimbabweans, resigned to hours of idleness as they wait to withdraw vast sums of money that will only enable them to buy a loaf of bread or a tin of baked beans. There is an automatic 50 per cent price increase if you pay by cheque, simply because this is the amount the currency will have devalued by the time the cheque is cleared.
My mother has just become used to performing mathematics in the trillions and will now have to reprogram her arithmetic. To date, the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe has dropped 13 zeroes off the currency, although this does little to lift my parents' spirits. They sign off the email with assurances that they are coping, that they are safe and send much love to their grandchildren.
I stare at the screen and glance across the words, trying to convince myself that the most important thing is that they are fine and that as long as they can battle on until the end of the year, when they will qualify for a migrating parent visa, they have more than many other Zimbabweans can hope for. However, I find myself banging my fists on the computer table with tears in my eyes, screaming, "It isn't fair."
My parents have lost almost everything and instead of arriving at a point where their lifetime of hard work rewards them with adequate pensions, a home of their own and long afternoons of reflection, they are confronted with the overwhelming necessity of starting again.
They are not alone.
The commercial farm invasions continue, intensifying during the election period, in spite of the increasing need for productive agricultural areas to feed a starving nation. While the President, Robert Mugabe, cradles his well-fed belly, he offers little comfort to the nation, reminding us in speeches and interviews that like most of the problems faced by Zimbabwe, hunger is a result of actions sanctioned by Tony Blair, Gordon Brown and George Bush.
Zanu-PF and the ruling elite set the stage for a guaranteed victory when they held the elections earlier this year. Re-education camps were set up to brainwash, beat and coerce people to remain loyal to the dictatorship. Food aid organisations were banned from operating, accused of gathering support for the opposition. Suspected opposition supporters paid the price in life and limb simply for exercising their democratic right to vote. The voices that cried out for change were heard, but only for an instant and then quickly silenced. The results of the elections were ignored and Zanu-PF remains in power, as though there had never been a vote. Terrified Zimbabwean refugees fled across the borders and, in South Africa, found themselves in another hostile environment where they were subjected to horrific xenophobic attacks and blamed for rising unemployment and escalating crime.
Four months later, the talks on power-sharing between Zanu-PF and the opposition MDC have failed to produce a deal. Mugabe has snubbed the world and lords over a crippled nation. The democratic right of the people has been ignored. However, as the impasse drags on, nothing improves for ordinary Zimbabweans and they continue enduring a miserable existence where scavenging for food is the hot topic each and every day. And I can't help but feel guilty.
Perhaps my guilt comes from the fact that we could escape while so many others are sentenced to see things through until the end, and I am powerless to help them. I didn't run away or pack it all in for an extraordinary adventure in a new country. We did what had to be done for our children and I will always cherish the memories and the amazing, unpredictable place I used to call home.
For a while, I had it all. My earliest childhood recollections are a fusion of vague recollections. I was born in colonial Rhodesia and had the geographical privilege of growing up as the country made the transition to independence – as the African nation of Zimbabwe.
My parents played a large part in preparing us for a multiracial inevitability and ensured that we held no biases with regards to race or colour.
We confidently became Zimbabweans and, in spite of the sudden exodus of many white countrymen who predicted doom and degradation of the black ruling party, chose to remain.
My parents purchased a farm, and were committed to a future in a racially tolerant community. After independence, laws stipulated that when farms were made available for sale, they first had to be offered to the government for resettlement or redistribution to the indigenous people. My parents received the required "certificate of no current interest" from the government and embarked on a three-year project of constructing their home, a place in which they imagined they would grow old.
My childhood was an exhilarating period of adventure, experience, lessons and an eager anticipation for a future unknown. I was given the opportunity to dive into whichever activity I deemed imperative to my advancement and drifted through the years, driven by the common aspirations of becoming a princess, an actress or a prima ballerina. I was blessed with storybook parents who made me believe that anything was possible and loved me unconditionally.
My only sibling and younger brother was a friend, accomplice and constant playmate. Together, we tackled life growing up on a farm, playing cowboys on real horses, rearing orphaned calves and climbing lichen-encrusted kopjes. We swam in dams, took annual bilharzia medication and spent our childhood with freckles dancing across our cheeks like small flecks of sunlight.
School inspired, challenged and facilitated the cementing of lasting friendships. It was where I met my future husband, Ross. I was impatient to grow up and become independent, imagining a future of motherhood and homemaking.
However, after a less than a decade of silencing the sceptics, Mugabe and Zanu-PF could no longer disguise the evidence of corruption, embezzling of the country's wealth and constant bleeding of taxpayers' money to feed rapidly swelling personal coffers. Instead of reviewing their mistakes and making proactive decisions in response to the trade unions' riots against rising costs, unemployment and inflation, they diverted the nation's attention by resurrecting promises of returning land to the peasants and embarked upon a destructive course of governance, authorising war veterans to invade white-owned farms and claim them as their own. Soon, Zimbabwe's land seizures made headline news.
I married Ross, and, at the age of 30, I was the mother of two young children. With the responsibility of parenthood came the realisation that Zimbabwe was no longer the country I'd grown up in and that my children would never have the same carefree childhood that I had been so privileged to enjoy. Daily chores had become insurmountable challenges.
My parents relocated into the city, worn down by uncompromising vagrants, threats, blackmail and the sad evacuation of so many neighbours. But in spite of everything, we all clung to the belief that things would be resolved and that the atrocities would have to cease. However, the carnage of the land invasions spilled over into the city. Unemployment spiralled, accelerating residential armed robberies, hijackings and muggings.
In January 2003, armed robbers attacked my family, threatened my children's lives and violated our home and our sanctuary. Suddenly, I could no longer focus on better times to come. I was constantly afraid and found my ability to perform as a mother, wife and Zimbabwean were compromised horribly by fear and loss of hope. I became numb. We were content to go to bed each day knowing that our finances were still adequate, our children were safe and our large wall, alarm system and electrified fence would protect us from any intruders. We ploughed through each day, resigned to the uncontrolled political anarchy, trying to ignore the racism, the inflation, and escalating crime. We received our regular bills for irregular water and electricity.
And we watched as the nightmare "Operation Murambatsvina" (Drive Out Filth) was skillfully executed by the government and military. Hundreds of thousands of Zimbabweans were left homeless as their humble dwellings were burnt or bulldozed to the ground.
With every new tragedy and every new incomprehensible act of dictatorship we became more and more grateful that we had food on our table, a roof over our heads and a routine to follow each day. I no longer expected anything or hoped for more. Once I refused to entertain bribery. Now we were forced to establish various "contacts" to ensure that passports and vehicle licences were issued.
Finally, we were forced to sit down and take a long, hard, critical look at our lives. The preceding four years had been a vacuum, a regimented sequence of parenting, feeding and protecting an existence that became more desperate with each passing month.
My father always says the hardest part is to make the decision and we made the decision. It made me smile, laugh and explode with uncontrollable tears. I was inspired and devastated. Inspired to begin again and devastated to be leaving my home, my country and my parents.
Life is a constant process of moving forward and leaving behind. Most of the time, this progression goes largely unnoticed among routines and daily commitments. Occasionally, we find we have to take a giant stride in order to move forward. We took our great leap in January 2007 when we packed up our lives and emigrated to Australia.
Now I sit here with a cupboard full of groceries, a deep freeze stocked with meat and a fridge packed with yoghurt and eggs. I am only just starting to regard them as "groceries" and not luxury items. I am only mildly concerned about the world fuel price increases, secretly grateful that I can fill up my vehicle without having to purchase fuel on the black market. I and my family are becoming part of a society that functions, where there are prospects for the hard-working as opposed to the corrupt and connected. I have learnt not to be astounded by the things thrown away during bulk refuse collection days and no longer want to stop and pick up every abandoned television. I am slowly becoming an Australian, but I am humbled by where we have come from and will never take for granted the opportunities that lie ahead.
The Zimbabwean exodus continues and we are a halfway house for family and friends who all hope to have their immigration applications approved. We watch as they walk down the same paths, come to the same conclusions and make the same decisions that we made 19 months ago. Mugabe has crippled Zimbabwe, reducing most of its people to beggars or barterers and black marketeers. The ultimate irony is that, whether by accident or design, it has taken 28 years for them to prove the racist detractors correct when they prophesied that the incoming Zanu-PF government would be incapable of governing the country.
If you would like to find out more about Justine's story, please contact shonaabhyankar@yahoo.com.au
From breadbasket to bare shelves
1931: The Land Apportionment Act gives one million blacks 29 million acres; 48,000 whites are are given 48 million acres in the British colony of Southern Rhodesia.
April 1980: Southern Rhodesia becomes independent Zimbabwe and the green colour in its new flag symbolises agriculture. White farmers produce three quarters of agricultural output including maize, cotton, tobacco, wheat, coffee, tea and sugar.
1990: President Robert Mugabe implements a plan to confiscate land from white farmers, and denies the right to appeal for compensation. "It makes absolute nonsense... that most of our arable land is still in the hands of our erstwhile colonisers," he declares.
1997: The government publishes a list of 1,503 farms – 12 million acres, representing 45 per cent of land held by commercial farmers – to be expropriated.
1998: In need of loans from the World Bank, agriculture minister Kumbirai Kangai declares that no land will be seized. In November, Kangai announced the seizure of 841 white-owned farms.
2000: The government and war veterans launch a land redistribution programme which included the forced expulsion of white farmers.
2001: Mugabe orders the expropriation of virtually all white-owned farms without compensation.
2002: In May, 3,000 white farmers are given 45 days to stop all production and a further 45 days to vacate their properties. Harvests plummet and Zimbabwe has to rely on food imports and aid supplies. Seven million people are at risk of starvation.
2005: Mugabe implements Operation Murambatsvina. Its literal translation is "getting rid of the filth" although the government claims it meant "Operation Clean-up". Its stated aim is to clear slums across the country, stop disease and illegal housing, 300,000 people are displaced.
2008: In March, elections are dogged with accusations of rigging and violence, with opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai later withdrawing from the second round citing violence against his supporters. This week Zimbabwe's inflation hits 11m per cent, a new world record.
Laura Scarrott
Sources: Sokwanele.com; Mugabe by Martin Meredith (Publicaffairs)
http://www.thezimbabwetimes.com/?p=2971
August 21, 2008
By a
Correspondent
MUTARE - Violence and intimidation against MDC supporters
continues unabated
in Manicaland Province as efforts to find a power-sharing
arrangement
between President Robert Mugabe's ruling Zanu-PF and the
opposition parties
continue on both sides of the Limpopo River which divides
Zimbabwe and South
Africa.
MDC officials in the Manicaland province
have reported yet another
abduction,following the kidnapping and assault of
the wife of an activist of
the party in in Buhera South. Juliet Dakacha,
wife of activist Killian
Chirau, was abducted on Thursday and released the
same day after she was
severely beaten and tortured.
Chirau's younger
brother, Moses was kidnapped by suspected war veterans and
Zanu-PF militia
over the weekend and is believed to be held at the notorious
Mutiusinazita
torture base.
The MDC spokesman for the Manicaland Province, Pishai
Muchauraya, said on
Tuesday that Dakacha has been unable to receive medical
treatment and had
not even been transported to hospital because most of MDC
vehicles were in
the hands of the police who confiscated them during the
turbulent period
following the March 29 elections.
Muchauraya said
war veterans were still waging a violent campaign against
MDC supporters in
the Manicaland province. He said a large number of MDC
supporters in
Manicaland were yet to receive medical care for
election-period injuries,
due to lack of transport and other problems.
Muchauraya said Buhera South
was the worst affected area as groups under the
leadership of the notorious
Joseph Chinotimba were "terrorising the area and
brutalising our
supporters". MDC MP-elect for Buhera South, Naison
Nemadziva, remains in
hiding in Mutare, after serious threats against his
life by Zanu-PF militia.
Muchauraya said they had threatened to kill
Nemadziva, saying the seat that
he won belongs to Zanu-PF.
Muchauraya said while Zanu-PF militants
continued with their reign of
terror, people were beginning to starve to
death because of a serious
shortage of food. He said in Makoni South alone,
five people had already
died of starvation. He said that without
humanitarian aid thousands more
could die.
He said that Zanu-PF
"manipulation" was forcing people to give up their
livestock for meagre
amounts of maize meal. Members of the Zanu-PF militia
were now controlling
people's lives and stealing their limited food
supplies. Muchauraya said
that the severe shortage of food in the province
was "not sparing anyone and
even those with money are starving".
http://www.thezimbabwean.co.uk/
Tuesday, 19 August 2008 12:45
Rural families eat wild fruits; some sell
daughters to old men
BY OUR CORRESPONDENT
JOHANNESBURG - By
the end of the year nearly half of Zimbabwe's
population will be at risk of
starvation, and right now hungry people are
resorting to desperate measures,
including marrying off underage daughters
to old men in return for food and
general support, a new report says.
The reason for this huge increase
in suffering is as simple as it is
brutal: Robert Mugabe has reneged on the
pledge he made when he signed the
21 July Memorandum of Understanding with
Morgan Tsvangarai to lift
immediately and unconditionally his regime's ban
on NGOs distributing food
aid.
The report, compiled by the Crisis
in Zimbabwe Coalition, Solidarity
Peace Trust and Amandla Publishers, is
based partly on interviews with
Zimbabweans at Musina, who are among the
upsurge in those fleeing to South
Africa, refugees in Johannesburg, and
people in Harare. The interviews were
done between July 27 and August
13.
Mugabe, in characteristic fashion, has ignored first private and
then
public appeals from Japan, Western countries, which are the major aid
donors, and the European Commission, as well as from Tsvangarai himself to
lift the ban. It was imposed by the regime June 4 on the spurious ground
that NGOs were campaigning for the MDC.
At the beginning of August,
the regime announced a partial lifting of
the ban, permitting the resumption
of feeding programmes for HIV/AIDs
patients. But the wider ban remains in
effect.
"The suspension of humanitarian operations is estimated to have
put
the lives of more than 1.5 million marginalised Zimbabweans at risk
already," said the report. "Without the immediate resumption of food aid
across the country, widespread hunger and worsening malnutrition are
unavoidable."
It noted that the two main international food
agencies, the World Food
Programme and the Food and Agricultural
Organisation, estimate that 2.04
million Zimbabweans in rural and urban
areas do not have enough food now. By
January, the organisations say that
5.1 million will be at risk of
starvation - about 45% of the
population.
"The government has always maintained a stranglehold on
food
distribution with a view to ensuring that those receiving the food
associate
this generosity with the government, rather than the donors," the
report
noted.
It quoted Mbare residents as saying they registered
for but have never
received the recently announced state-funded hampers,
and independent media
reports say these are reserved for supporters of
Mugabe's Zanu (PF).
Opposition supporters have to resort to measures like
buying maize meal for
hard currency from those "connected," such as
policemen.
Many families eat only once a day, and rural people are
selling off
livestock for cash to buy food, and eating wild fruits.
"Reports of the revival of the tradition of child brides under which
desperate families marry off their underage girls to elderly well-off men in
return for food and general support are now commonplace in rural areas in
the southern provinces," the report added.
As well as food, the
continuing ban on NGO operations affects water
and sanitation services as
some aid agencies provide these, and has led to
staff being laid off, adding
to the legions of unemployed.
The report cited the case of a young
woman working for the field
office of an international organisation in
Zvishavane who was laid off July
7. With the prospect of returning to work
diminishing, she sold off her
mobile phone line and handset for Rands, gave
some to her sister to continue
paying her one-room lodgings, and made her
way to South Africa in the hope
of finding work.
"It is critical
that the Zimbabwe government immediately lift the
suspension of field
operations by aid agencies," the report said. "Given the
lead time required
to bring in imported maize for distribution and
agricultural inputs for the
new planting season, the government needs to act
swiftly to avert a very
serious humanitarian catastrophe from worsening next
year," the report
said.
VOA
By Patience Rusere
Washington
20 August
2008
Zimbabwe's National Association of Non-Governmental
organizations on
Wednesday criticized the Southern African Development
Community for failing
to produce a solution to the crisis in Zimbabwe during
the SADC summit which
ended Sunday in Johannesburg.
NANGO said it
"regrets the continued failure by the Southern African
Development Community
to oversee the much needed conclusion to its mediation
process on
Zimbabwe."
The NANGO statement expressed "regret" that SADC had in effect
endorsed
President Robert Mugabe by inviting him to participate while
ignoring a call
by Zimbabwean civil society for a transitional authority
transcending ruling
party-opposition antagonism.
It said the SADC's
"failure...to uphold and enforce compliance with its
stated commitments to
democracy, rule of law and human rights has
contributed to the rapid
deterioration of humanitarian and human rights
conditions in
Zimbabwe."
NANGO spokesman Fambai Ngirande told reporter Patience Rusere
of VOA's
Studio 7 for Zimbabwe that SADC must be tougher on leaders who gain
power
through unconstitutional means to prove Southern Africa is genuinely
committed to democratic ideals.
Meanwhile, Secretary General
Wellington Chibebe of the Zimbabwe Congress of
Trade Unions warned that
unless civil society is brought into the talks
between the ruling and
opposition parties, power-sharing negotiations will
never succeed, as
Ntungamili Nkomo reported.
The power-sharing talks between the Zimbabwean president Robert Mugabe and the opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai have been presented as the best hope of bringing peace to the embattled country. However, power-sharing agreements are in fact a poor strategy for resolving conflicts. They are extremely difficult to reach and possibly even more difficult to implement and sustain. Power sharing is not a credible or viable solution to the crisis in Zimbabwe, either in the immediate or longer term. It is unlikely to bring a durable peace, is inherently undemocratic and rewards ruthless behaviour.
Power-sharing deals are difficult to negotiate under the best of circumstances. Reaching an agreement in Zimbabwe will be particularly problematic, for at least three reasons. First, the ruling party's interest in sharing power is highly questionable. Negotiators from Zanu-PF are reportedly refusing to consider ceding any executive powers to an opposition prime minister – the main bone of contention in the power-sharing agreement that ended a standoff following Kenya's December 2007 elections. Zanu-PF is only sitting at the bargaining table because of international pressure, notably from South Africa and other neighbours, and will be loth to compromise. While the opposition is more likely to be negotiating in good faith than the government, the failure of talks may help the MDC's case that Zanu-PF is intransigent and that sterner international pressure will be required.
Another major impediment to agreement is the lack of trust between actors. Not only has the ruling party brutalised MDC officials and supporters in myriad ways since 2000, its previous power-sharing agreement serves as a stern warning to the MDC. In 1987, a deal was signed between Mugabe and Joshua Nkomo, the leader of the then main opposition party. Nkomo was brought in as a figurehead vice-president and the deal resulted in his party's absorption and disbandment, serving to consolidate Mugabe's power.
A third challenge is internal fragmentation. Though not as significant as the multiplication of actors that have plagued negotiations in the Democratic Republic of Congo or Darfur, both Zanu-PF and the MDC are factionalised. Not all perspectives are represented at the bargaining table and further splits may be forthcoming if any eventual agreement displeases significant wings on one or both sides. For instance, even if Arthur Mutambara's MDC faction signs a separate agreement with Mugabe, his 10 MPs might defect to the main MDC wing, leaving Zanu-PF no closer to achieving a parliamentary majority. In addition, high-ranking military officials in Zanu-PF, who have consolidated political and economic power in recent years, may prevent Mugabe from reaching an agreement detrimental to their interests.
Even if a deal is reached, three principal challenges threaten its viability. First, governing elites might lack the commitment to applying the terms of the agreement. They might actually only be seeking to co-opt the opposition and could renege on the agreement if they fail. Alternatively, there may be institutional resistance to sharing power. For instance, where the bureaucracy of the state and a party apparatus have been one and the same for a long time, a political agreement at the top does not guarantee compliance at the middle and lower echelons of government, and indeed resistance may be orchestrated from the top. In Sudan, members of the National Congress party continue to dominate state institutions, in spite of the power-sharing provisions of the 2003 comprehensive peace agreement that ended the north-south conflict.
Second, government and opposition elites might lack the ability to deliver their commitments, particularly where key parts of their constituency are resistant to a political deal. Veterans, one of Mugabe's most powerful constituencies, may attempt to spoil a transfer of executive powers if they fear losing influence. This is not unique to Zimbabwe. Veterans have obstructed progress in other locales such as the Serb entity in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Third, the MDC's shortcomings might impede power sharing. Where incumbents have been in power for a very long time, the opposition's capacity to govern is likely to be limited. That was the case in Sudan, where the Sudan People's Liberation Movement found itself propelled to a governing position overnight. Permitting ill-equipped opposition leaders to assume positions of responsibility is also a way of ensuring they will stumble and fall, especially when assigned near-impossible tasks. For this reason, one could expect Mugabe to give Tsvangirai responsibility for redressing Zimbabwe's economic woes.
Even if a power-sharing arrangement was a viable option and could prevent more violence in the shorter or longer term, it is not necessarily a strategy worth pursuing. Allowing a small number of elites to determine outcomes is inherently undemocratic, and manifestly ignores voters' choices. It would make more sense to hold new elections as soon as possible, preferably under a caretaker government. Otherwise, a terrible precedent is set, encouraging politicians who are not committed to democracy to attempt to steal elections and then, through power-sharing agreements, secure a much stronger position than they otherwise would have held. The Zimbabwean opposition and international actors would be well advised to consider this before supporting further negotiations.
Chandra Lekha Sriram is director of the Centre on
Human Rights in Conflict at the University of East London School of Law and
author of Peace as governance: Armed groups, power-sharing, and contemporary
peace negotiations.
Marie-Joëlle Zahar is associate professor of political
science at the University of Montreal specialising in the politics of
power-sharing and conflict resolution
Comments
Mad Bad Bob and his corrupt and brutal cronies will never willingly let go the reins of power. At most they will co-opt a compliant (and Tsvangirailess) rump of the MDC and call it power sharing. And Bob's tame little leg humper, Thabo Mbeki, will say that it is so and proclaim a triumph for "quiet diplomacy".
I'm just waiting for the rush of the usual suspects to post about Mugabe being a hero of the anti-liberation struggle and to sing the praises of this thug to the high heavens. After all, one-eyed ideology trumps human rights for that lot. Every time.
Correction. That should have read:
I'm just waiting for the rush of the usual suspects to post about Mugabe being a hero of the anti-imperialist struggle and to sing the praises of this thug to the high heavens. After all, one-eyed ideology trumps human rights for that lot. Every time.
My problem with this article is simple. I have no idea what Mr Morgan Tsvangarai stands for, except that he would like to replace Bad Bob Mugabe, and is the preferred candidate of the British media and political establishment. I am also amazed at the coverage that Bad Bob's gangsterism gets in the British media. Yeah, he is truly awful, but that, sad to say, is not unique, either in Africa or the wider world.
Palastova, you delude yourself. There are few, if any, who would support Mr Mugabe on CiF. I would suggest to you that my own indifference is more representative of British public opinion. I would also suggest that the usual suspects who support Bad Bob exist mostly in your own head, where they serve the purpose of shoring up your belief, evident in your posts, that you are one of the few sane individuals in a world gone mad.
For Britain, I think, the anti-imperialist struggle ended in Central Africa on the day Ian Smith declared independence. Since then Rhodesia/Zimbabwe has gone its own way, and what happens there, or who is in charge, is of no concern to anyone in Great Britain.
My problem with this article is simple. I have no idea what Mr Morgan Tsvangarai stands for, except that he would like to replace Bad Bob Mugabe, and is the preferred candidate of the British media and political establishment. I am also amazed at the coverage that Bad Bob's gangsterism gets in the British media. Yeah, he is truly awful, but that, sad to say, is not unique, either in Africa or the wider world.
I agree that MT is something of an unknown quantity but he can only be better, and significantly better, than Bob. The fact that MT is preferred by the British media and political establishment is hardly reason in itself to object to him (unless one is going to go into kneejerk "anti imperialist" mode). Of course Bob is not unique as a nasty national leader, but again that is hardly reason why the very real suffering of the Zimbabwean people should be ignored.
Palastova, you delude yourself. There are few, if any, who would support Mr Mugabe on CiF. I would suggest to you that my own indifference is more representative of British public opinion. I would also suggest that the usual suspects who support Bad Bob exist mostly in your own head, where they serve the purpose of shoring up your belief, evident in your posts, that you are one of the few sane individuals in a world gone mad.
Well, I live in the UK and have done so for 9 years (I am a South African who was born in Zim and spent the first year and a half of my life there). Most of the Brits with whom I have discussed Zim are anything but indifferent (all have a firm opinion on the matter).
As for my comments regarding the usual suspects. I have read enough posts on CiF to realise that any international figure who describes himself as "anti imperialist" and sets himself against the USA and UK is going to have a gang of groupies here, regardless of how nasty and repressive that person might be.
For Britain, I think, the anti-imperialist struggle ended in Central Africa on the day Ian Smith declared independence. Since then Rhodesia/Zimbabwe has gone its own way, and what happens there, or who is in charge, is of no concern to anyone in Great Britain.
I beg to dispute that.
A British great uncle of mine was all for bombing rebel Rhodesia in 1965/6 despite his niece (my mom) and the infant me living there at the time. The UK slapped sanctions on Rhodesia after UDI and in 1979 brokered the Lancaster House settlement, and has been very very concerned about Zim since 2000.
The great tragedy of Zimbabwe is that it has been inflicted with two very nasty pieces of work in succession: Ian Smith and Robert Mugabe. It is a country of tremendous potential, which has been turned from a breadbasket into a basket case and it deserves a a decent leader (even half-decent will do at the moment).
peerlesspundit: "There are few, if any, who would support Mr Mugabe on CiF."
Clearly you are new to CiF. There has been plenty of support for Mugabe on CiF by Africans and British 'socialists'.
However, you are right that most Britons don't care about what happens in Zimbabwe.
"I have no idea what Mr Morgan Tsvangarai stands for"
You should inform yourself. Morgan Tsvangirai and the MDC stand for democracy and the rule of law, and have done since 1999. That means they are willing to accept that they may be removed from power in free and fair elections and that they will accept the decisions of an independent judiciary. Mugabe and ZANU PF accept neither.
The affairs of Zimbabwe are of no concern to Britons, except those who know and love Zimbabweans. Those of us who love them will do anything legal to hasten the departure of Mugabe.
Those of us who love them will do anything legal to hasten the departure of Mugabe.
Ain't nothing gonna happen while Mbeki continues in the following manner (cartoons by Zapiro, a South African cartoonist).
http://www.mg.co.za/ContentImages/337590/23-apr08x.gif
http://www.sokwanele.com/images/general/zapiro_14_3_2007_quietdiplo.gif
http://couldnthavehappenedtoanicerbunch.files.wordpress.com/2008/04/zapiro-2.gif
Perhaps things will change when (or if) Jacob Zuma becomes Prez. For all my many concerns about the prospects of a Zuma presidency, Showerhead at least seems to take a firm line on Bob.
Asking the MDC to share power with Zanu PF is liking asking the victim of a mugging to share the contents of his wallet with the mugger.
VOA
20 August 2008
Zimbabwean opposition
officials in Manicaland province have accused ruling
party officials in
Buhera district of using political influence to buy maize
from the state
monopoly Grain Marketing Board, then selling it to starving
villagers at
exorbitant prices.
The Movement for Democratic Change said ZANU-PF
officials have forced
villagers to part with their livestock in exchange for
small quantities of
maize.
The state-run Herald newspaper
Wednesday reported that Buhera villagers are
appealing for urgent food aid
following a prolonged dry spell. It quoted a
local chief as urging the
government to monitor maize distribution so all
residents will
benefit.
VOA was unable to obtain comment from local ZANU-PF officials on
the
allegations.
MDC Manicaland spokesman Pishai Muchauraya told
reporter Jonga Kandemiiri of
VOA's Studio 7 for Zimbabwe that five people
died of starvation in the
Makoni South constituency, adding that the
government must rescind a June
ban on non-governmental organization
distribution of food assistance to
prevent further deaths from
malnutrition.
Meanwhile, a source in Binga, Matabeleland North, said
some residents of the
Nsenga area are close to death due to the lack of
food. That source said
local residents are waiting in line for days to buy
maize meal, but the
supplies are insufficient to meet the needs of all.
VOA
By Carole Gombakomba
Washington
20 August
2008
Resident doctors and some nurses at Zimbabwe's four
major state hospitals
have gone on strike again, citing low salaries and
chronic shortages of
drugs.
Dr. Kudzanai Chimedza, incoming president
of the Hospital Doctors'
Association, said doctors are earning some Z$680 a
month (in redenominated
Zimbabwean dollars), not enough to cover
transportation or other costs amid
inflation over 11 million
percent.
Chimedza said residents and interns are obliged to pursue
commercial
activities - selling beer or engaging in cross-border trading -
simply to
make ends meet.
Doctors and nurses say that despite
promises from the government that it
will look into their grievances, there
is no sign any of their problems will
be resolved soon.
Doctors and
other staff at the main state hospitals in Harare and Bulawayo,
the
country's second-largest city, have gone on strike repeatedly in the
past
few years.
Correspondent Thomas Chiripasi told reporter Carole
Gombakomba that doctors
at Parirenyatwa Hospital, Harare, say they are
struggling for economic
survival.
VOA was unable to obtain comment
from Health Minister David Parirenyatwa.
Health Secretary Henry Madzorere of
the opposition formation led by Morgan
Tsvangirai said recurring strikes
indicate Harare has failed to resolve
mounting health sector woes.
http://kristof.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/08/20/what-zimbabwe-can-learn-from-its-neighbors/
August
20, 2008, 4:03 pm
By Josh
Ruxin
Josh Ruxin is a Columbia University expert on public health who
has spent
the last few years living in Rwanda. He's an unusual mix of
academic expert
and mud-between-the-toes aid worker.
Earlier this
month, Zimbabwe made financial news for the second time in a
year. The first
time was for an economic feat that made hundred-millionaires
of virtually
all Zimbabweans against a backdrop of hyperinflation that had
reached
9,030,000%, a figure that would make any macroeconomist's head spin
(and
it's climbed since then!). The second instance, related to the first,
was
that in an effort to shore up its crashing currency, Zimbabwe knocked
ten
zeroes off all its bills. There's no clearer manifestation of Zimbabwean
corruption than this currency catastrophe. Inflation is being driven by
world-class economic instability and no brakes on the corrupt government's
ability to print worthless currency to pay its way out of trouble.
On
Friday, August 1st, its virtually worthless $100 billion bank notes were
revalued and are now worth $10 Z, about $1 in U.S. currency. The irony is
that the bills themselves are hot items among collectors today, some selling
for as much as $200 on eBay as curiosities. However drastic the action, it
will likely have no stabilizing effect on the plummeting Zimbabwean
dollar.
After President Robert Mugabe's unopposed victory in what has
been broadly
viewed as a sham election, international pressure dictated that
talks begin
on a power-sharing deal with the opposition. Hopes are high
among observers
and Zimbabweans that these negotiations between opposition
leader Morgan
Tsvangirai and Mugabe's party will end the political crisis.
However, much
remains to be resolved, rebuilt, and resurrected, and these
talks should be
seen as a first step to the problems Zimbabwe faces, which
include wholesale
corruption, violence, a dying business climate, and
breakdown in both
services and infrastructure.
For a brief time
earlier in the year, it appeared that corruption and
failure to abide by
electoral principles had virulently invaded Kenya as
well. Anger over the
results of what was widely viewed as a rigged
presidential election
unleashed ethnic tensions in Kenya and prompted
violence that ultimately led
to countless injuries and hundreds of deaths.
Kenya has long been a global
destination; its wildlife parks, urban
entrepreneurship, and pristine
beaches serve as a magnet for tourists and
business alike. However, the
effects of its corrupt election shuttered its
businesses and forced the
nation to look civil war in the face before coming
to its
senses.
While visiting Kenya last week, my friends working in the tourism
industry
assured me that arrivals are on the upswing and the need to offer
discounts
and inducements to intrepid travelers, evident in the first half
of the
year, is fading away. It may be no coincidence that this improvement
accompanies a tidbit of good news: the great Kenyan corruption fighter, John
Githongo, is back in town for a conference and has Transparency
International and other activists cheering for the changing tide. It's hard
to imagine similar cheers heard in Zimbabwe these days.
Although
Zimbabwe's government has grown and operated along different lines
from
Kenya's, corruption anywhere has the same effect. Victoria Falls
provides an
example. The government refers to the Falls as the "Cradle of
Tourism," but
in recent years, what had been a thriving destination that
provided the
country with the growing business and fees from nearly a
million tourists a
year has languished. The flow of tourist dollars has
slowed to a trickle as
vacationers seek out attractions in areas where they
don't have to deal with
the political instability, enormous inflation, and
almost complete lack of
services, in part because of poor conditions and in
part because many
workers have fled the country.
It is no surprise then that the least
corrupt nations in Africa are the ones
that are becoming the most
successful. As I've stated in these pages before,
Rwanda, Uganda and
Tanzania provide examples of countries where there
appears to be enough
common sense to forge a consensus that a culture of
corruption kills
business, increases poverty, and leads to decay. None of
the three ranks low
on corruption-perception ratings but each is improving.
In turn, these are
among the few nations in Africa that are experiencing
steady
growth.
Three weeks ago, we hosted a delegation here from the bipartisan
organization ONE Vote '08 led by the organization's co-chairs, former U.S.
Senate majority leaders Tom Daschle and Bill Frist, and including Mike
Huckabee, Clinton White House chief of staff John Podesta and Cindy McCain.
The delegation was able to see firsthand what US-sponsored aid programs have
done for Rwandans in health care and infrastructure improvement. What most
impressed the delegation was that Rwandans including farmers, officials,
business owners and others, are not nearly as interested in American aid
packages as they are in investment and trade. The ONE delegation listened
and in a letter to millions of ONE members, Senator Frist noted that
"strategic support from the United States is driving robust economic growth
that is lifting people out of poverty." He further asked ONE members to sign
on to a petition to demand that the next president make poverty and disease
reduction priorities. Perhaps it's time to add corruption to the list of
priorities since poverty and disease reduction interventions appear to be
operating best in the less corrupt nations.
If Democrats and
Republicans can find common ground on these global issues,
is it too much to
ask that Africans should find common ground in
condemnation of Mugabe's
malfeasance? Certainly in Rwanda, Uganda and
Tanzania, with corruption
relatively low and investment expanding, these
nations are finally forging a
path out of poverty and toward prosperity.
Zimbabwe would do well to learn
from their experience.
http://www.radiovop.com
GUTU, August 20 2008 - Business owners whose
shops had been forced to
close at the height of political violence in
Masvingo, perpetrated mostly by
Zanu PF militia, have resumed
work.
Zanu PF militia and state security agents had forced
the closure of
opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) district
party tresurer
Bheria Musimudziwa's three supermarkets at Mupandawana growth
point, Bhasera
and Rasa townships following an orgy of violence that saw
Bheria's house and
car being torched in the dead of the
night.
Another MDC activist in the growth point, Enias Musoni,
who runs a
fast food outlet, had the windows of his shop smashed in the wave
of
violence, forcing him to close shop at the height of the
violence.
Bheria-who was assaulted together with his employees
- fled the area.
Bheria re-opened his shop last week but said
he was a bit cautious
after receiving repeated death threats from the Zanu
PF terror gang.
"I just re-opened my shop last week after about
a month without
operating. I am a bit cautious and have to close early than
the stipulated
time as I have continued to receive death threats," he
said.
He employs about 100 people. These had been left without
any source of
income during the time of the disturbances.
"I have close to 100 employees and their future was hanging in the
balance
if I had not re-opened," he said.
Official statistics reveal
that the unemployment rate is pegged at 80
percent, but independent economic
analysts say the figure is higher than
that.
However in
Zaka, prominent wholesaler, N Richards group of companies,
has closed some
of its shops dotted across the province, leaving dozens of
workers' future
in limbo.
N Richards group chairman, Edward Richards showed
that he meant his
words after he threatened to close all his shops in the
province in the
event of a ZANU PF victory in the second round of
elections.
Richards had once been quoted as saying: "I might
close shop in the
event of a ZANU PF victory. Business is no longer viable
in this
hyperinflationary environment."
True to his words,
Richards has closed one of his hardware shops in
Zaka and another wholesale
shop in Bikita district recently, amid fears that
he might also retrench
more than 5 000 other workers in his shops.
Richards confirmed
suspending most of his business operations, saying
he might go to South
Africa if the current harsh economic environment
persists.
"There is no business in Zimbabwe at the moment. I might diversify, or
migrate to neighbouring South Africa where business conditions are
favourable," said Richards.
One of his workers in Masvingo
said their future was now uncertain.
"We have spent close to a
month without stocks. Some of the workers
have been retrenched owing to
little work-load. Now that two branches have
been closed, we fear the same
will befall us," said the worker, who declined
to be named for fear of
losing his job.
The worker said most had stayed with the
company for more than 20
years.
"Many have nowhere to go,
they do not have proper educational
qualities. They were just employed at
the mercy of Richards," said the
worker.
N Richards,
arguably the most popular wholesaler in the province,
boast of many shops in
even the most remote districts. The wholesaler is
among one of the biggest
employers in Masvingo.
Meanwhile most Zanu PF militia who
terrorised villagers during the run
up to the second round of elections are
still walking scot free, despite
being nabbed ealier by the police in a
crackdown named 'Operation Waitumwa
Nani.'
The youths were
assaulting villagers and forcing them to strip naked,
drinking water from
the sewage, among others, as punishment for not voting
for President Robert
Mugabe in the March 29 harmonized elections.
The MDC claims
more than 120 party supporters were killed in the
period, while 30 000
others were internally displaced and dozens others
sustaining permanent life
threatening injuries.
Police Commissioner, Augustine Chihuri,
has requested all dockets
involving cases of political violence, a senior
magistrate revealed this
week.
"We received piles and piles
of cases of Zanu PF youths arrested for
political violence, some of the
cases being murder. But Chihuri took away
all the dockets before the cases
had appeared in court," said the
magistrate.
He said
Chihuri's action was a ploy to delay justice as he could
destroy the
dockets, showing that president Mugabe, who is involved in talks
with
Tsvangirai to try to bring an end to the country's decade long
political and
economic crisis, is not committed to dealing with the violence
claims that
suck in the people who violently campaigned for him.
The
magistrate said the police blitz was just some diguise by Mugabe
to make the
situation appear as if the rule of law had been restored
following the
political impasse that arose after March 29.
Chihuri refused to
comment on the matter.
"I do not think that the police were
really serious in their blitz. If
they were serious, why don't they appear
in court," quizzed the magistrate.
This failure by the
government to mete justice has angered some of the
political violence
victims who have vowed to vent their vengence on the
people who were beating
them up.
Only last week, some angered villagers in Gutu East's
Chin'ayi area
torched Zanu PF militia commander's house in frustration over
the non
prosecution of the self styled commander.
"Justice
delayed is justice denied," said the magistrate.
Mmegi/The Reporter
(Gaborone)
20 August 2008
Posted to the web 20 August
2008
Fraser Mpofu
Harare
The influx of Zimbabwean shoppers into
Botswana is set to continue after the
government there extended the waiver
on import duty for basic commodities
from August 10 to December
31.
Originally, the Zimbabwe government suspended duty on food and other
critical goods in May this year but the suspension expired on August
12.
During the 90 day suspension, Botswana experienced an increase in
the number
of Zimbabweans visiting Botswana, especially Francistown and
Gaborone, to
buy basic commodities which are in short supply at
home.
More did their shopping in other neighbouring countries - South
Africa,
Mozambique and Zambia - as Zimbabweans took advantage of the
relaxation on
imports.
In a statutory instrument published in an
extraordinary government gazette
last week, the Minister of Finance, Samuel
Mumbengegwi extended the
suspension for an additional five
months.
Products listed in the notice include cooking oil, margarine,
rice, flour,
salt, bath and laundry soap, washing powder, toothpaste and
petroleum jelly.
In terms of the suspension, people importing the
products for household
consumption do not pay duty. However, commercial
importers still pay import
duty.
"With effect from August 2008 to the
December 31, 2008, duty is wholly
suspended on goods of the following tariff
codes," say the regulations,
listing the items.Other products are rice in
husky, maize flour, wheat
flour, Soya-bean cooking oil, groundnut cooking
oil, palm cooking oil,
sunflower cooking oil, and beauty or make up
preparations for the skin and
other medicaments including sunscreen or sun
tan preparations.
The Zimbabwean economy has been on a decline since
2000. Food, fuel and
foreign currency shortages are
widespread.
Weighed down by high inflation, lack of fuel and foreign
currency,
industrial capacity utilisation is averaging 20 percent, according
to the
Confederation of Zimbabwe Industries.
A spokesman for the
Consumer Council of Zimbabwe (CCZ), Comfort Muchekeza,
said the extension of
the waiver would alleviate the challenges consumers
are facing because of
the prevailing shortage of basic commodities and high
prices.
He
accused local manufacturers of over pricing their products but also said
the
government, through the National Incomes and Pricing Commission, must
come
up with fair prices.
He said: "This will help consumers because we are
facing shortages at home
and the only viable option now is to allow them to
import without paying
duty. Another point is that locally manufactured
products are too expensive.
The prices of some products here are as much as
five times more expensive
than in Botswana".
As the political situation in Zimbabwe gets tougher it’s also getting
tougher for Viomak who has taken freedom of speech to a higher level.
As the political situation
in Zimbabwe gets tougher it’s also getting tougher for Viomak
who has taken freedom of speech to a higher and reputable level. ‘Zimbabwe
circus’, one of Viomak’s forthcoming music albums has it all. The self
explanatory protest music album which she composed and wrote will be available
anytime from now. ‘Zimbabwe circus’ is as controversial, as the politics of
Zimbabwe which she compares to a circus and as controversial as her music. The
album itself is also a ‘circus’ in a different way .It is loaded with unique
themes laced with rich truthful lyrics, and is very different from her Happy
birthday albums. In an unusual and expected move Viomak who has always refused
to oppress her voice, and strictly sings about the political situation in
Zimbabwe composed the songs which despise both Mugabe and Tsvangirai’s
leadership qualities in different ways, a move that will definitely take freedom
of artistic freedom in Zimbabwe to a new level whilst creating more enemies and
fans for the protest singer who compares MDC and Zanu pf to 6 and 9 when she
says, “Mugabe is a bad person and
bad leader. Tsvangirai is a good person but is not a good leader. Whilst some
protest musicians have taken political sides it is very healthy and important
for me to remain non partisan otherwise the people we sing for will be deprived
of the truth since pro political party musicians tend to be biased and speak
only good about the masters that they sing for .In many known cases they
exaggerate and give masses wrong impressions which is not good for
socio-political progress. For example, the MDC-T mayor of Chitungwiza, Israel
Marange was arrested for corruption and it is important that someone sings about
it, otherwise it will be water under the bridge.I understand that this album
will give birth to a new breed of haters since Zimbabweans are generally truth
haters, but with time people will understand and appreciate my
stance.” As Viomak continues to take
Zimbabwe protest art to a different level, she gave a brief speech at the launch
of the freedom to create prize launched by Article 19 and ArtVenture in London
on 1 July 2008.The singer who is also featuring on the freedom to create prize
site as one of the contenders for the prize at Viomok
it is important that Africans take freedom of expression seriously since the
barbarism that is rampant in our society is mainly caused by severe lack of
tolerance for one’s views and opinions . However, Viomak was quick to
point out that whilst she advocates for freedom of expression there are certain
limits to how far a normal being can go. Viomak is also raising the flag high
for Zimbabwe when she performs at the Birmingham Arts festival on the 14th of
September 2008. The singer, whose stories were banned in the Zimbabwe standard
newspaper, after she suspected one of their reporters Vusumuzi Sifile-Sibanda of
being a CIO, is very pleased that whilst some Zimbabwean journalists continue to
shun her work, she receives a lot of respect, support and encouragement from non
Zimbabwean media. The 10 track album, whose
songs are listed below, is a variety of Zimbabwean beats, the instruments of
which were done by live session musicians in Zimbabwe at a popular recording
studio. The change highlights another shift of her music from digital instrument
recording used in her previous albums to live instruments. This album shows the
singer’s real self. I happened to listen to all the samples of the rough tracks
and my personal assumption is that this type of thought provoking music will
make Zimbabweans wonder if they are doing the right thing or not. That’s the
purpose of art I suppose. To reach people’s minds, whilst modeling behaviors and
shaping beliefs. 1. Xenophobia ‘Zimbabwe circus’ is a
temporary shift away from political gospel ,her usual type of protest music
,but is a political album which she composed and wrote, after realizing that
some opposition politicians were getting away with all sorts of not so good
behavior whilst almost everyone’s eyes and thoughts are focused on Zanu PF ‘s
evilness and incompetence. Tsvangirai ’s indecisive nature which Viomak is
convinced is a disastrous quality in a leader is one reason that inspired her to
compose the album .The other reason she said is to expose some of Tsvangirai’s
supporters’ unbecoming behavior which should not be tolerated .The album will
definitely be a great and interesting innovation in a country where voices of
the voiceless are repressed not only by Zanupf and its supporters but also by
some of Tsvangirai’s dedicated fans ,who Viomak calls the CIO’s of tomorrow. In
the song ‘Mabhinya’ (Thugs), Viomak calls on Mugabe and Tsvangirai to control
their thugs, many of who terrorize and verbally abuse internet revelers who
speak against their presidents. “I was shocked and
frightened when one Tsvangirai supporter said, dying for Tsvangirai is his
choice which should be respected, and it’s his democratic right. When I queried
his stupidity he said to me, “Now please concentrate on taking your
anti-retrovirals”. I am convinced that Zimbabwe is in a political
crisis. Whilst many people think that they are fighting against ZanuPF’s
Chinotimbas, they are also fighting for MDC Chinotimbas in new formats.
“This supporter’s statement
is one of the many thuggish and irresponsible statements by many MDC supporters.
Some of the supporters are so barbaric and violent minded and I wonder what will
become of Zimbabwe incase Tsvangirai becomes president. Some MDC supporters
treat Tsvangirai like a God and use all sorts of foul language to verbally abuse
those who speak against their president. This is very wrong. If such kind of
fanaticism is not stopped it will become a deadly disease whose remedy is
bloodshed, rape, corruption and all the bad things that we see in Zanu PF now.
Zimbabwe doesn’t need this Zanu PF mentality anymore. Moreso there is only one
God and treating leaders like God should be despised at all costs. If MDC is
also fighting for the so called democracy then they should respect responsible
freedom of speech and opinion by allowing us to free our voices and our minds.
Sometime back some of the MDC supporters even threatened me saying I should stop
singing protest songs because the genre was for MDC cadres only” she
said. For the above reason,
Viomak said she also composed and wrote the song 6 na 9 which she compares to
ZanuPF and MDC in order to highlight the similarities in the two parties’
differences. After listening to all the rough samples of the tracks on the
album, I am convinced that this type of music will open doors for artistic
competence that doesn’t only reveal the significance of freedom of expression,
but that also reveals the skill of knowing what to sing about and how to sing it
without fear. One only hopes that in case events go otherwise and allow
Tsvangirai to fulfill his dream of becoming the president of Zimbabwe all
protest musicians will be accorded the airplay they all deserve on state radio.
With some singers’ airplay already guaranteed one starts wondering if non-
partisan protest singers who sing about political thugs will be accorded the
airplay that they also deserve as Zimbabwean singers. The more you tell the
truth the more your enemies multiply, so they say. Time will
tell. The song,’ Xenophobia ,is
an English song that mourns the immigrants and Zimbabweans who were burnt and
killed in South Africa in May 2008.With lyrics such as the ones below, Viomak
hopes to let Thabo Mbeki know that she has lost the little respect that she had
for him. “I cannot believe what happened to
them South Africa remember Zimbabwe and
apartheid. Thabo Mbeki be ashamed be ashamed of
yourself You’re, a failure, a coward, a loser you
will never be forgiven If you’re a human being you should
understand that everybody matters You are a worthless, a useless leader you
will never be forgiven”. The second song, ‘Dr
Gonoriya’ (pronounced Dr Gonorrhea), reminds the governor of the reserve bank of
Zimbabwe Dr Gono who she refers to as Dr Gonoriya, of Viomak‘s other song ‘Gono
bvisa father zero’ (Gono remove Father Zero) released in 2007 in which she
reminded him that the three zeros that he removed from the currency are not the
problem, but Mugabe is the father zero who should be removed from power. The new
song,’Dr Gonoriya’ tells the governor who recently removed ten zeros from the
currency that, his failure to take advice has made him repeat the mistake he did
before. According to Viomak, the problem is not the zeros but Mugabe is,
otherwise as long as Mugabe and Zanupf are ruling the zeros will come back and
he will continue removing them until kingdom come. Zimbabwe political parties
are locked in talks after signing the MOU (Memorandum of Understanding)
agreement. However, Viomak prefers to call the agreement MOM (Memorandum of
Misunderstanding), thereby naming the fourth song on her album MOM. The lyrics
which complain about why anyone would think of uniting with an inhuman murderer
and thug, who caused so much harm and pain to mankind is an issue of great
concern to her. “How can human beings and
inhuman beings work together .It’s like mixing water with oil. Why would someone
in their normal senses even think of talking with Mugabe and hope to come up
with a progressive move. Mugabe is a mad man whose language and actions are best
understood by psychiatrics” she said. The song Johnnie Walker was
composed and written in such a jocular manner such that listeners will
understand the strong message in the song without getting angry. The song was
inspired by the six negotiators of MOU who drank Johnnie walker (Johnnie
Mufambi), and refused to stay in a three star hotel complaining that it was not
luxurious enough whilst many Zimbabweans who they are promising heaven on earth,
sleep in ground star hotels (outside), and drink home brewed beer like tototo,
seven days and the poor man’s beer, scud. To put in Viomak’s words,
“The title track ‘Zimbabwe
circus’ summarises the fact that Zimbabwe’s mess is like a circus. Everything
seems to be mixed up. Political parties are making a whole lot of errors, stupid
and selfish decisions. A lot is going on, so much that it is difficult to tell
what will happen next. To sum it up, Zanu pf remains a party of unrepentant
crooks and evil doers, but funny enough Tsvangirai and Mutambara agreed to talk
with them by signing the (MOU) agreement. The signing of MOU is a circus on its
own. Why should people sign to agree to talk? As if that is not enough the talks
included negotiators who were not voted for by the people. The fact that MDC
Mutambara is involved in the talks makes me wonder why there were votes in the
first place if those who failed to qualify for the presidential run off are
involved. That said, why did Tsvangirai agree to be involved in the talks that
included Mutambara, only for his supporters to cry foul after rumours that
Mutambara had signed a power sharing deal with Mugabe started spreading? It’s
all their leader’s fault who agreed to go ahead with the talks that allowed
Mutambara to be part of the deal when he was not supposed to be in it according
to the logic behind it all. So they should stop terrorizing and blaming
Mutambara, but they should blame their leader for not querying Mutambara’s
presence. The fact that Tsvangirai did not raise any concerns about it implies
that all was good making Mutambara eligible for any post granted to him by
those involved .It’s all mixed up and senseless.” The lyrics of the song give
all the political leaders a fair share of the circus cake, as the song
unfolds. “Zimbabwe icircus Zimbabwe
icircus (Zimbabwe is a circus, Zimbabwe is circus) Zanupf icircus Zanupf
icircus ( Zanu pf is a circus, Zanu pf is a circus) MDC icircus ,MDC
icircus ( MDC is a circus, MDC is a circus) Mavambo icircus Mavambo
icircus ( Mavambo is a circus, Mavambo is a circus) ‘Tipeiwo’ is the only pure
gospel song on the album, and it asks God to bless Zimbabwe with good leaders
who are always there for the people of Zimbabwe, musicians who sing for the
people of Zimbabwe, workers who work for the people of Zimbabwe, fighters who
fight for the people of Zimbabwe and so on. Viomak is still set to
release her traditional Happy Birthday album on 21 February 2009 to mark
Mugabe’s 85th birthday. The songs on the album listed below are as
good as it comes. From the titles it’s all fireworks. 1.Gukurahundi
2.Dr Gonoriya
3.Chinja maitiro
4.MOM (Memorandum of Misunderstanding)
5.Johnnie
Walker
6.Dutch embassy
7.Mabhinya
8.6 na
9
9.Tipeiwo
10.Zimbabwe circus
2.Mavhoterapapi
3.Uchafa uri wega
4.Gore iro
5.Baba vaEdward
6.Matibili
wauraya
7.Operation Matibili
8.Musaregerere JOC
9.Batai
mutonge
10.Broke -buttock
blues
Aug 20 08, 9:08pm (about 3 hours ago)