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Oppression in Zimbabwe

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 From: Matthew Browne

To:

Sent: Thursday, December 04, 2008 1:25 PM

Subject: This was written by Cathy Buckle, author of "African tears" and "Beyond tears", she lives in Zim........

This was written by Cathy Buckle, author of "African tears" and

"Beyond tears", she lives in Zimbabwe

Dear Family and Friends,

A few days ago I had no choice but to travel past the farm my husband and I legally bought in 1990 but which was grabbed from us by a mob of government supporters 10 years later in 2000. In the eight years since then I've never had any official written communication from the government of Zimbabwe about the farm - not even a letter informing me of the state acquisition of the property. I've never been offered or received any compensation for the assets seized. I am not talking about the land itself but about the improvements on it including workers' houses, farm buildings, a dairy, spray race, tobacco barns, trading store, dams, borehole, water pumps and pipes, an electricity transformer and scores of kilometres of fencing. Nor has the government of Zimbabwe given any compensation for our home on the farm or for all the fixtures and fittings that were in place in our fully functional house. Nothing has been given to any of the men and women who worked for us on the farm either - not land, money, homes, jobs or pensions.

Believe it or not, this lack of official paperwork concerning the seizure of the farm and then the non payment of any compensation at all, is something that the vast majority of Zimbabweans are not aware of. Mostly we just don't talk about the farms anymore, its become a topic of shame, embarrassment, disgust, contempt.

What I saw this week as I drove past the farm to which I hold the Title Deeds, filled me with deep sadness at the widespread

destruction. All the fencing has gone - many kilometres of it. Thousands of trees planted for poles and timber have been chopped down. All the contours which protected the land from erosion have gone. The roofing on the dairy has gone. The workers houses - made of brick and cement - have all been smashed down into piles of rubble. The tin roof sheets have gone. The metal door and window frames have gone. The borehole pump, motor and pipes have gone. The roofing on the tobacco barns has gone. The farm store which used to sell groceries, fresh produce and milk has been turned into a beer hall. The state of the farm dams and the main farmhouse is unknown, this is a no-go area. The local people call it "The Jambanja Place" and they speak scornfully of the people on the farm as the "Jambanja People". (The word "Jambanja" has many connotations but mostly it means "a violent struggle")

It's been eight years since Zanu PF put us into a perpetual state of "jambanja" and now Zimbabwe is completely stricken. A lethal cocktail of hunger, disease, super hyper inflation, infrastructural collapse, brain drain and emigration is decimating our population and crippling our country.

This week a ruling was made by SADC in the test case of 78 white Zimbabwean farmers trying to keep their land. Judge Louis Mondlane, President of the SADC Tribunal said that the Zimbabwe government "is in breach of the SADC treaty with regards to discrimination. " We wait to see if these are just words and if SADC hold any sway when it comes to dealing with one of their own breaking 15 nation treaties. While we wait ever more Zimbabweans have no choice this Christmas but to flood into neighbouring countries in search of food, medicines, and work.

I will be taking a break for a while but wish all Zimbabweans, wherever you are in the world, a blessed, peaceful, healthy Christmas. 2009 will be better!

Until next year, thanks for reading, love Cathy.

©Copyright cathy buckle 29 November 2008.

www.cathybuckle. com . To subscribe/unsubscri be to this newsletter or for information on my books, please write to:

cbuckle@mango. zw

Her communications are becoming sporadic as her Internet connection is no longer reliable. EFTs were banned in Zimbabwe in September, so she can't pay for her bandwidth in any way and depends on the charity of others.

This was written by Cathy Buckle, author of "African tears" and

"Beyond tears", she lives in Zim........

Green snake

Saturday 8th November 2008

Dear Family and Friends,

Going to visit a friend in trouble this week I saw a very large green snake trying to cross a main road. I was on a service road which ran parallel to the highway and watched in horror at the events that followed. The snake must have already been hit by a car because as hard as it tried, it couldn't get off the road. It raised its head and neck and tried to lunge forward but barely moved at all. Thrashing from side to side, tongue flicking, the snake managed to creep forward a little towards the bush on the roadside but it wasn't enough and freedom and safety was so near and yet so far. Suddenly a stream of cars came by and one hit the snake full on. A gruesome end was inevitable and intervention was impossible. Later, when I passed the same place again, the snake had gone but a handful of people were standing around looking at something on the roadside and the assumption was obvious.

This is exactly how it feels to be in Zimbabwe this November 2008. No matter how hard we try, we just can't move forward. Change and democracy is so near and yet so far away.

People have almost given up hope of ever getting to the other side of the road to freedom and safety in Zimbabwe's journey. It's been eight years since farms were seized, Title Deeds rendered worthless and commercial agriculture destroyed. It's been five years since independent newspapers, radio stations and television channels were closed down. Its been four years since we've been able to buy fuel from filling stations and nearly two years since we've been able to buy food in supermarkets. It's been seven and a half months since we voted to change the government of Zimbabwe. Throughout all these years the assault on opposition politics, private businesses, charities, professionals and all sectors of civil society has been unrelenting as time and time again we've been hit head on but still we struggle desperately to reach the end.

Its a shocking thing to admit but most of us don't know how many Zimbabweans have died in the struggle to change the governance of the country. A conservative estimate must be of at least seven hundred people who have been killed in political violence in the last eight years. Multiple thousands have been arrested and incarcerated for their political associations or for daring to protest. Included amongst these are the outstandingly brave women of WOZA whose leaders Jenni and Magodonga were finally granted bail this week having spent 3 weeks in prison after being arrested during a peaceful demonstration in Bulawayo. We also don't know how many Zimbabweans have had no choice but to leave the country since the year 2000. A conservative estimate must be of at least four million people living in self imposed exile in the region and abroad.

As I write this letter the leaders of the Southern African Development Community are about to meet, again, to discuss Zimbabwe. We wonder if they know that ordinary people here have no food - no maize meal, flour or rice. If they know that it is our main growing season but ordinary people have no seed to plant and no fertilizer for the soil. If they know we are forbidden from drawing enough of our own money out of the bank to buy more than 2 loaves of bread and are having to buy imported food in US dollars and South African Rand. Do they know that hospitals have no medicines and that nurses earn enough to buy only two loaves of bread a month. Do they know that children at most rural government schools have had no lessons for many months and have not written public examinations.

Perhaps the SADC leaders do know all these things and will find the courage to insist at last that the voices of the ordinary people must be heard and respected. We voted in March, chose new leaders and have been writhing on the road for too long.

Until next time, thanks for reading, love Cathy