LETTER FROM ZIMBABWE: FINALLY, TELLING IT LIKE IT IS
By Cathy Buckle

Secretary of State Colin Powell(State Department website photo)

What excitement, almost hysteria, in fact.

Last night the phone was ringing until all hours.

"Have you heard?" the news people kept asking me. "The US Secretary of State, Colin Powell, is on a four-nation African Tour."

Yesterday, he was at Witz University in Johannesburg South Africa. There, Mr Powell announced that the debts of 19 African countries have been cancelled -- countries which have democratic governance.

Zimbabwe was not one of those 19.

Mr Powell said that Zimbabwe's Robert Mugabe had been in power for over 20 years and seemed determined to remain there, by whatever means. Colin Powell said that the people of Zimbabwe must be allowed to make their own choice as to how they are governed in future and must be able to go to a free and fair election.

The crowd went wild, a huge cheer went up and Mr Powell had to actually stop speaking for a moment until the noise died down.

AT LAST, a top politician and the first African American, has seen what is going on, and has told it like it is.

His words were not couched in diplomatic niceties.

They were hard, angry and categorical.

Well done Mr Powell!

May I send you a copy of African Tears so you can see what is happening on the farms as well?

Perhaps almost as exciting as Mr Powell's speech was a live telephone interview by a South African TV news station later last night with Zimbabwe's Minister of Justice, Patrick Chinamasa.

Asked for his reaction to Powell's speech, Chinamasa said: "Powell's words are nonsense. The Americans and British are trying to impose leaders on us."

What can you say?

I just shake my head and laugh at the bombastic arrogance of our leaders.

Back home we've had the usual nonsensical week. Our former Minister of Agriculture, Kumbirai Kangai, is finally in court on charges of corruption.

We all knew that the 63 year old, out on a quarter of a million dollars bail, would not go down alone. His defence is that both President Mugabe and the Cabinet knew about the maize he sold without following tender proceedures - in Zim this is the loudest and most frequently heard cry: I am not the one.

It remains to be seen how courageous the Judge will be.

Bulawayo's state owned newspapers saw an advertisment placed by 'war veterans' this week. All private cattle sales are hereby banned, the ad said. Anyone conducting private cattle sales would have the money taken and the animals impounded.

Trials of 'rogue' war veterans who raided Harare businesses, continued. As the week wore on though, it became crystal clear that this is some sort of window dressing, because none of the big fish were netted, and one lowly organiser who had been arrested was released immediately with 'no case to answer'.

The country has been abuzz all week with rumours about the fate of war vet leader Hunzvi who collapsed in a Bulawayo hotel on Monday. From then till now no one has seen or spoken to the man, no cameras or even phone calls have been allowed but his doctor says his condition is improving. At the moment the story we are being fed is that the man has cerebral malaria, he is not dead, just resting. Anyone remember Monty Python's classic skit about the parrot?

To end on a personal note, I must comment on some of the responses that came in to my letter last week. The reaction was split in two, people in Zimbabwe really defensive and almost angry that I had suggested we should ALL start speaking out.

They told me that I didn't know what was going on behind the scenes, that anyway what difference would one voice make and how on earth can they help when it might lead to arrest or the wrath of the 'war veterans'.

The other half of the reaction came from dozens of people outside of Zim and their response was: yes, how can anyone in the outside world help Zimbabweans if they don't start standing up for themselves, if we don't see them on the streets in their thousands, hundreds of thousands saying we've had enough?

I know what it's like, how hard it is to speak out - and how frightening it is to get threatened but if only we could all start standing together, side by side, hand in hand, imagine, just imagine the power, the unity.

Until next week, my special thoughts, thanks and love to all of you who keep on caring.

Love, Cathy

Cathy Buckle is the author of African Tears, available from the following worldwide distributors: South Africa [email protected] USA [email protected] UK and Europe [email protected] Australia [email protected] New Zealand [email protected],