LETTER FROM ZIMBABWE
By Cathy Buckle

So many people have asked me to start sending my weekly letter out again so here it is. The only problem is that the situation in Zimbabwe is now so bad that relating the events of one week would fill a hundred or more pages (I'll try and keep it to 2 or 3!).

There are only two words that dominate our lives in Zimbabwe now, two words that are in almost every article in every newspaper, two words to explain our descent into anarchy, fear, chaos and poverty: "war veterans".

A year ago a 'war veteran' put on a grass hat, invaded farms, evicted owners, terrorized workers, abducted reporters and shot a woman. This man is employed as a security guard by the Harare municipality.

A fortnight ago this man proclaimed himself the head of the massive Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions and appears now to be in charge of the entire country.

Mr Grass Hat launched a major campaign of terror in Harare this week. Mr Grass Hat and His Merry Men have raided one of the top hospitals in Harare, the Avenues Clinic, the Dental Centre, Macsteel and the Meikles Department Store Group.

Under the guise of championing the cause of aggrieved ex-employees of these (and dozens of other) companies, Mr Grass Hat and His Merry Men then raided a German non-governmental organisation in Harare.

For this, Mr Grass Hat Man, Zimbabwe thanks you because at last, after months and months and months, the world has finally put Zimbabwe back on the news.

Perhaps Mr Grass Hat Man was getting too much front page coverage as he has now been joined by our other self proclaimed ruler -- war vet leader Hunzvi.

In a front page banner headline in one of our weekly papers, Hunzvi said 'war vets' would start raiding foreign missions and embassies, "...to deal once and for all with foreign embassies ... who are funding the MDC.

We will be visiting them soon to express our displeasure and to warn them to stop interfering with our internal matters. No one can stop us in our second phase..."

So, Mr Grass Hat says he is "championing aggrieved workers" and Hunzvi is being far less diplomatic and telling it like it is -- political -- again.

Yesterday the world finally sat forward again. Zimbabwean ambassadors in foreign countries were hauled in and told -- this has got to stop.

Foreign nationals and local businessmen in Harare are now getting a small, one day taste, of what hundreds and hundreds of farmers endured for 14 months.

On the farms, the situation is dire.

Day after day it goes on: extortion, demands, threats, intimidation, livestock slaughter, beatings.

Abductions, albeit temporary, of both farm owners and their workers continue and , as has been the case for 14 months, the police do nothing.

News on a personal level is that I continue to try and make Zimbabwe's crisis known. My book, African Tears is now on sale in Zimbabwe and South Africka and is apparently a couple of weeks away from being available in UK, USA, NZ, Australia and Canada.

This week I at last met Trevor Ncube who wrote the foreword to African Tears. Trevor is now my hero more than ever before. Like me, he works, speaks and writes from his heart. He filled me with hope and inspiration and we swopped autographs as we cemented our 'mutual admiration club'. Trevor is determined to keep telling it like it is and as long as he, and others, do, we have hope.

African Tears has consumed my every waking moment these last few months. I continue to keep a very low profile, refuse photographs, radio interviews, public launches or any other visual spotlight. I have worked tirelessly though to try and publicize Zimbabwe's story.

Sections of African Tears were serialised in the UK Sunday Times and South Africa's Rapport newspaper. I have done numerous pieces for a number of newspapers and my publishers have continued to try and market my book against all these very difficult and unusual conditions I have insisted upon.

To make matters more difficult than normal this week, my telephone was disconnected. On visiting the phone company I found myself one of dozens who had been disconnected including our local bank manager, the general hospital, supermarket, florist, gvt school head and dozens of town dwellers.

We had been disconnected, they said, for late payment of our latest account. An account none of us had- or still have - received.

To get our phones re-connected we had to pay in advance, and pay without an account as their 'computers were down.' We paid - what else could we do.

In the queue I chatted to a friendly technician. 'What's going on' I asked.

He told me the gvt owned telephone company did not have the money to pay their month end wages and this was yet another example of crisis management.

What will they do next month? On Thursday, for the first time in 7 months, I became a farmer again for one day. I put on my shorts and T shirt and went back onto our farm.

I am still devastated by what I saw; by the neglect, the unkempt surroundings and obvious lack of care for this piece of land I loved so very much.

Perhaps it was this state of near dereliction that has prompted me to start the weekly letters again. Perhaps it was the heart breaking meetings I've had this week with the farmers who survived abduction and torture in Murehwa at the hands of 'war veterans' a year ago. Perhaps it was the new disc I have loaded into my computer as I start working on another book.

Perhaps it was my meeting with Trevor or with the widow of a murdered Zimbabwean farmer. I am determined that this story will be told, that these injustices will be exposed and that the world will be forced to look into their hearts.

With my love and so much thanks for all your hundreds and hundreds of letters over these past months,

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],