LETTER FROM ZIMBABWE:"GOD HELP US"
By Cathy Buckle

Apologies for many letters unanswered this last week. Moments after my computer was fixed,a spider bite totally wiped me out for four days so I have battled to keep up. Thank you though for writing and for the continued support and encouragement.

In the foreword to my book African Tears, Trevor Ncube says: " ...across the country there is a palpable mood of resistance and a confident anticipation of liberation..." It is 6 months since Trevor wrote those words and the mood is waning, confidence is shaken, terror has overtaken us.

There is a vast humanitarian crisis unfolding in Zimbabwe, a crisis we can do nothing about because our government does not acknowledge it.

The situation in Zimbabwe this week has become increasingly tense all around the country, not just on farms but in villages and small centres too. This will be a long letter today but I urge you to read it. If you care for people, for animals, for the environment - whatever your passion I hope that you will read of this mindless destruction.

Our government has declared war on her own people, whites, blacks, men and women - everyone has become a victim, everyone is suffering and it defies both belief and understanding. Foot and Mouth has spread to Beitbridge and there are now a total of 10 infected properties. Despite repeated appeals by veterinary officials and attempts to control the movement of livestock, this explosive and highly contagious disease means nothing to the people calling themselves "war veterans".

I report now on an incident from an eye witness on a farm outside Bulawayo. "War veterans" moved cattle from a village onto a cattle ranch and instructed the farmer to remove his 1000 head as this was now their farm. When the owner refused, the "war veterans" herded the farmers cattle out onto the road, demanding the animals be taken away. Aside from the logistics of moving 1000 cattle, the owner said there were veterinary controls preventing livestock movement. He was told by "war veterans" that none of those "stupid factors" concerned them, they were only interested in what was "happening on the ground" and this was now their farm.

This is one incident of dozens around the country and with this mentality the disease will spread and ravage our country which teeters on starvation already. It will not only destroy the beef industry, it will wipe out beasts which rural subsistence peasants depend on for milk, to till their fields and to feed their families.

Meanwhile various ridiculous statements have been made by government officials blaming whites for deliberating starting the disease by forcibly herding buffalo into cattle farms in order to destroy the country. God help us.

On another farm near Bulawayo a "war veteran" arrived in red Jaguar and informed the owner that he was taking over the farm and that all workers and equipment should be removed by the weekend or he would burn them out.

On a safari property, "war veterans" arrive at the weekends in luxury 4 wheel drive vehicles and shoot sable.

On a huge ostrich farm the owner and his workers have been evicted, the birds are dying of neglect and there is absolutely nothing that can be done, the police will not attend because "it is political".

On another property 22 giraffe have died in snares.

On a farm in Norton a military truck arrived with armed, uniformed men. They openly assaulted workers with whips and sticks and when they got tired, forced the foremen of the farm to continue the beatings.

Last year's Tobacco Grower of the year has had his tobacco seed bed pipes destroyed, hydrants sabotaged and been ordered to stop his tractors. This man, Zimbabwe's best grower, has been forced to stop production and had to lay off his workers.

On a farm in Selous last year's Cattleman of the Year has been ordered to remove all his cattle from his farm. "War veterans" have moved rural cattle and goats into his fields.

On farms in Marondera, Wedza and Raffingora farm workers are being rounded up after dark and being forced to attend political re-education meetings. Meetings where they have to sing, chant, march, shout slogans and denounce opposition political parties. Sometimes these events go on until 3 am and these men and women then have to attempt to undertake their farm duties in order to survive.

Farm workers evicted from their homes in Hwedza remain in hiding in the bush. They are absolutely destitute, some report having had nothing to eat for 3 days. Desperate attempts to get these people moved to central "refugee camps" are continuing but are wrapped in red tape.

The policy of fear and intimidation has worked. Displaced people have been warned by "war veterans" to "stay out of sight" or else... .

Official estimates are that as many as 70 000 farmers, workers and their dependants have been evicted from their homes in the past fortnight.

Villagers and families in Epworth, Mount Darwin and Muzarabanhi have been evicted from their rural homes, accused of being supporters of opposition political parties. They have lost their grain, their goats and chickens, their clothes and belongings, they have had their homes burned to the ground. They have been beaten, kicked and whipped and warned not to speak out or else... .

Earlier this week two young men sat in a Zimbabwean prison accused of political violence. One was an epileptic but his jailers refused to allow him access to his medication. His friend in the same cell begged the guards for help, his friend was having fits every five minutes. The guards said "monitor him, we will see in the morning." The fits came closer and closer together until they were happening every two minutes and then the man died, watched by his friend. Still the guards did not come and the man lay next to the corpse of his friend until the next morning.

While these most gross human rights abuses are occuring all over Zimbabwe to every person, of every colour, there is nothing we can do.

There are no feeding centres where we can deliver bread or milk or vegetables; there are not vast tented cities where people can go to for help, there is nothing we can do to help men, women and children who have lost everything, who have not eaten for days, or who are hiding in the bush.

Our government has not appealed for humanitarian aid, they have not acknowledged this vast human catastrophe.

Instead, they have declared war on us.

This week details have been exposed of a deal recently brokered between the governments of Zimbabwe and the Congo. A deal in which 33 million hectares of indigenous trees will be felled in one of Africa's biggest rain forests in the Congo. In an area one and a half times the size of the UK, trees will be felled –to be sold in Asia and France. Zimbabwe will share the profits as compensation for participation in the war in the DRC. The environment will be destroyed to compensate our dead Zimbabwean soldiers. The relatives of these dead youngsters will not see a single dollar of this blood money. God help us.

This coming week a meeting will be held in Nigeria where top leaders will gather to discuss the crisis in Zimbabwe.

If you have a way of getting the information in this letter to the men attending that meeting, I urge you to do so.

If you have a way of making a VIP in your country understand that the Zimbabwe crisis is not about race or land but about politics, I urge you to do so.

Every week I look for words of hope to end with.

When Govan Mbeki died on Thursday this week, his life was highlighted, his past revisited. At one time an interviewer had asked this man who spent most of his adult life in jail what gave him the courage to continue with the struggle for an end to apartheid. "We never gave up hope" he said, "tyrants have come and tyrants have gone. That is the rule of history."

Until next week, still wearing my yellow ribbon in solidarity with all who are suffering,

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],