 GB GL 4242 |
AFRICA 1970-95 |
 ZW 60-229Q | |
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In rural Zimbabwe, there is an incredible feeling of space,
buses excepted! The dry winter months are beautiful. With no cloud, the stars in a black velvet sky stretch from the arc of the heavens to the horizon. There is no rain during the winter months, from April to October.When we left Zimbabwe, the country was self-sufficient in food.
Irrigated wheat was grown in the winter. Zimbabwe exported wheat, cotton, soya beans and vegetables. In this year 2002, Mugabe's supporters have laid waste the land, destroying growing and harvested crops.
Now millions of people face starvation.The redistribution of land was under way. Commercial production continued whilst erstwhile landless families grew maize under the watchful eye of the Comrade in charge.
Then came Robert Mugabe's "Fast Track" solution to "winning" the Presidential election.
Within a few months, pastures were set alight,
irrigation schemes and machinery wrecked, crops
destroyed and farm houses looted.
Many people saw the pitiful picture of
the small dog curled beside his dead owner.
The farmer was beaten and shot
by a mob of Mugabe's men.
The people of Zimbabwe are delightful. Their courtesy puts most
First World westerners to shame. However, the Shona people have never
forgiven the Ndebele for their foraging victories
earlier in the last century.
During the '70s Independence war,
the two groups fought separately. Robert Mugabe, representing the
Shona people, became the first President of Zimbabwe.
Eventually Joshua Nkomo, the Ndebele leader, was brought into Government,
in the 1980s.
Rumours abounded, but few knew how many lives were lost, during the
campaign for unification.
The Foreign Office, hoping
that South Africa would follow Mugabe's "democratic" lead, treated the
thousands missing in Matabeleland as a "side issue".
In 2002, during the Presidential election, there was a blanket ban on
foreign journalists by Mugabe. A courageous BBC reporter risked imprisonment,
remaining in Zimbabwe without Government sanction. It is a well-known
fact that the Fifth Brigade,
trained by the North Koreans, had been sent south to deal with dissenters
in Matabeleland.
Fergus Keane was shown the shallow, mass graves and
the remains of countless people who were murdered and thrown down
old mine shafts. Witnesses told the awful truth of whole families
being burnt alive. For the first time, the horror of the Matabeleland
massacres is in the public domain. We were there, but with State-owned
TV and newspapers, we knew nothing. The reign of terror continues.
The endangered Black Rhino is one of the casualties. In an email dated April 2002, we were told that ten Black Rhino arrived in 1987, in a Zimbabwe Government attempt to halt the extinction of the species. The herd is rated by some as the best in the country. Zoologists from the Center of Endangered Species at the San Diego Zoo repeatedly visit the ranch on which the animals live to study their progress and to donate funds for their protection.
In Feb.2000, "war veterans" invaded the ranch, building huts wherever they pleased. The territorial rhino were forced to live in a smaller area. The reduced habitat caused fighting between territorial bulls. A bull rhino died in April 2002, due to the stressed conditions.
The "war veterans", many in their teens, invaded the ranch, demanding the eviction of the owners, with threats to kill the family and all employees and to burn the buildings. After an altercation between the new settlers, the vet in charge and National Parks, the squatters have now decided that they own the Rhino. This being so, they can claim the trophy. Rhino horn is worth a great deal of money when sold to China. The "war vets" have no idea how to care for the Rhino. The animals had been without water, for more than a month.
So many people ask why? Why is Mugabe being allowed to destroy Zimbabwe? Victims are arrested, whilst perpetrators continue their criminal actions unabated.These criminals have the blessing of the Government and the law enforcement agencies. We do not hear about the suffering of ordinary Zimbabweans. People who are displaced, murdered, tortured, raped and dispossessed of their life's endeavours. In Europe, some do not bother to vote. The opposition supporters have born the brunt of Mugabe's anger, daring to to practice their basic human rights to vote for the candidate of their choice. Does no-one care? If you do, contact as many people as possible. Please lobby your MP, Senator, or the Government representative in whatever country you may be. Let us try to return the rule of law to a once beautiful country.
The email ended simply:
"There is room for everyone in Zimbabwe: black, white and Wildlife"
If you wish to comment,
send an email here
Zimbabwe facing famine
6th July 2002
It has been reported by the International press that one commercial farmer has won the right to continue working his land after a High Court judgment ruled that laws stopping him from farming were unconstitutional. This is seen as a "brief moral victory" after Mugabe criminalised all commercial farmers. Subsequently fifteen farmers were charged who continued to farm the land.
The sugar cane growers are accused of harvesting their crop after the June 24 dealine imposed by the government. They could face up to two years in prison if found guilty. There is presently no sugar in Zimbabwe's shops.New Zealand's newspapers carry more details of the situation in Zimbabwe than the British press. The first article on the famine and starvation has been widely publicised. Imagine having to pay at over 2000-to-one for a US$1.
FAMINE BECOMES MUGABE'S WEAPON: DEATH IS STALKING THE PEOPLE OF MATABELELAND AGAIN .........IN A SHOCKINGLY SINISTER ACT OF VENGEANCE, ZIMBABWE'S DICTATOR IS ORCHESTRATING A SLOW DEATH BY STARVATION FOR MILLIONS OF HIS OPPONENTS.
THE PRESS, Christchurch, New Zealand, 13th November 2002
Restaurant customers pay with thick wads of local currency bulging in their bags and pockets. Real estate buyers hand over deposits of millions of Zimbabwean dollars stuffed into suitcases and car trunks.
Newspaper advertisements have begun offering currency counting machines for sale.
With inflation out of control and a massive shortage of hard currency, the value of the Zimbabwe dollar has imploded in the latest sign of the nation's economic collapse.
"We are looking at total meltdown. It could in the next few months push the country into absolute collapse," said a political analyst in Harare, adding the country's economic misery is approaching the levels of Germany's 1920s Weimar Republic.
Official annual inflation is at a record 140 per cent and forecast to rise to at least 500 per cent early next year. Unemployment is estimated at 60%.
Zimbabwe is running out of cash fast because the political turmoil, blamed largely on President Robert Mugabe's authoritarian regime, scared away foreign investors and disrupted the main hard currency earning industries: tobacco, tourism and gold mining. The biggest Zimbabwe note, the red Z$500 is going so fast that it has become known as a Ferrari.
Entrepreneurs still need hard currency to pay foreign debts for oil, imported electricity and external fees, feeding a booming black market for money. The Zimbabwean dollar's value fluctuates wilding on the black market, dropping to as little as 2100 Zimbabwe dollars to purchase US$1 this week. "The rate is changing by the hour," said one black market dealer on condition of anonymity. Exasperated officials said they would monitor large cash withdrawals from banks of more than Z$500,000 in a bid to trap them. And without hard currency for gasoline, the country's transportation system is also severely crippled. Travellers have reported no gas at stations along the 250km main route from the eastern border town of Mutare to Harare.
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Remembering happier times.
World events overshadow Zimbabwe's plight.
We pray that reason will
prevail.
On a lighter note,
Gertie and the Ginger Cat
- a story for children.
Aerial photograph, © Murray Alexander.
NB Thumbnail photographs: double click to see full size; press BACK
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