The Zimbabwe Situation

Tuesday, March 29, 2005

Dead BC

Although my doctor told me to watch my blood pressure, I decided to watch the news on ZBC last night, locally known as 'Dead BC'. Their antidemocratic, one sided reporting is quite remarkable. They showed no less than seven zpf rallies held around the country yesterday, and only one MDC rally - the President Morgan Tsvangirai at star rally in Harare the day before.

The hilarious element of their riveting reports was that in three of the rallies they showed the same footage of dancing, singing women - boy, zpf women get around the country fast! Beam me up Scottie, because they must have moved at lightning speed to attend all of those events in one day. Indeed, in two rallies the entire audience had translocated to show their grim support for these masters of deceit.

A South African hijacking in Bulawayo..?

All very quiet in our area. The greatest excitement has been the attempted hijacking of a Botswanan car by 2 armed men in a South African car in the middle of a main street on Saturday morning. Fortunately it failed as the car didn't start. The driver had to run off down the road as fast as he could!

Stacks of posters around the city mostly for the opposition! Also, lots of open handed salutes from everyone!

Freedom requires courage

Action is taking place! These flyers are being distributed under the 'Sokwanele - Zvakwana - Enough is Enough' banner. Visit www.sokwanele.com to view enlarged versions.

The rain has come too late

Bulawayo has finally been blessed with some rain. Night before last the heavens opened with a spectacular thunderstorm and the clouds have been heavy with thunder.

But, Selina killed my joy yesterday afternoon when she came into the house and said, "Ah, but it’s too late. The crops we planted are already dead and the commercial farmers from my area have all been kicked out. My children are hungry all because of one man."

The government and the Western media seem to be in cahoots over the reason for hunger in this country and it is not the fault of late rains that there is no maize. We have had worse droughts in previous years with main catchment dams far below current levels and we still managed to pull through.

It is the chaotic land seizures that are directly to blame, for those resettled on the farms have no financial backing or training in running large scale irrigation programmes. The zanupf chefs who are the main beneficiaries of stolen farms simply reaped what was previously planted by commercial farmers and haven’t bothered to keep the farms going.

I dread to think about what Selina and the rest of the country are going to do come winter and how will she feed her hungry children. She supports 9 grandchildren as AIDS has already claimed three of her children.

Forced to vote

One of my workmates is married to a man who has served this country in the Zimbabwe National Army since soon after Independence. She recently commented that no matter what he is paid, they find it hard to feed and improve the lives of their children. She told me that last week he was forced to vote for ZanuPF and was told to make his men to do the same. He is unhappy with not having the freedom of choice. She commented that he felt as if he had lost his human rights. What next?

*Sokwanele has created this pseudonym for those people who are uncomfortable with the idea of being associated too closely with our movement. We thank them for speaking to us and, like them, we look forward to the day when we can stand side by side openly in public.

Observing or boozing?

I went out jolling the other night and had a gas at a somewhat seedy, but well known down town nightclub. I was gob smacked to be introduced to some of the South African observers. They were more than a little pissed and were still going for it when I left in the early hours of the morning. Rumour has it that the stock of vodka in Zim is at stake because the Russian observer team have already finished their own stash.

How do they protect the vote when they wake up with a major hang over, dry mouthed and in serious need of dark glasses?