Messages From Zimbabwe

Howzit

If there is anybody in the UK who would like a copy of my book “Without Honour“, please be advised that I now have a very limited stock of printed books.

If you would like to purchase the book, they are £10 plus £2 postage each.

You can contact me direct at mandebvhu(at)ntlworld.com and I will work it all out with you.

This is a limited stock and I intend to use the money from sales to replenish the stock.

Take care.

‘debvhu

Howzit

I found it of great interest this morning to read on ZW News that the written report on violence against the opposition party, the MDC, by ruling party bodies, such as the CIO, the police, the war veterans and the youth militia, has been dismissed largely by the Home Affairs Minister, Kembo Mohadi.

So it would appear that ZANU PF are not intending to take the report seriously, and obviously have no intention of standing down their perpetrators of this violence.

That Mohadi felt it necessary to claim that the violence needs to be reported to the police and/or ZANU PF directly is a foolhardy statement as many times the very people that are taking the reports are the very perpetrators.

How can it be that the same body that takes the accusations, is the same body that practises that violence?

I note that Mohadi claimed that the reports of violence were ‘hearsay’.

I looked up ‘hearsay’ and perhaps you will see where I am going with this - so just allow me a little latitude here.

“Hearsay”: information heard from another. Evidence based on the reports of others rather than on a witness’ own knowledge, and knowledge, and therefore generally not admissible as testimony.

Now, what of the videos that we have seen on the internet of the violence? The beatings handed out to women in African Unity Square? What of the pictures of the MDC hierarchy lying in hospital held together with bandages? Are they classed as ‘hearsay’?

What of Mugabe’s praise of the police for perpetrating that violence on the MDC and associated civic groups? What of Mugabe’s threat to repeat the violence?

No one in Mugabe’s government said, “Hang on! Why should we continue with the violence? It’s wrong!”

I then thought to myself, that a simple act of alphabetic lexicon would allow us to arrive at a better word.

Not ‘hearsay’… ‘heresy’!

“Heresy”: a controversial or unorthodox opinion or doctrine in politics, philosophy, science or other fields.

If I am not mistaken, in some countries in the world, a heretic can be executed for their beliefs and actions.

ZANU PF is populated by heretics… The report on violence is not hearsay, but those people who do not wish to come forward are petrified of that same violence being visited upon them again…

The report handed to Mohadi contained the details of 4122 incidents of political violence and human rights abuses were recorded between January and June 2007.

These included seven murders, 18 rapes, 459 cases of torture, 34 cases of discrimination in food aid, 69 abductions, 2323 cases of intimidation, 1141 cases of assault and 152 cases of unlawful detentions.

If Mohadi was sincere in his endeavours to address the problem, there would be alarm bells going off in his head. The figures alone are cause for some concern. There is no way that all of these cases are ‘hearsay’ - it just does not compute.

But Mohadi’s rationale is queered by the ZANU PF thinking.

And therefore, I believe that this tête-à-tête is just a showcase with no intention by the ruling party of mending its ways. The file will be used as a gauge by the ruling party of their success of their oppression of the opposition party and all who stand allied with it.

Take care.

‘debvhu

It is now clear that Zimbabwe’s crisis has reached the tipping point. The current shortage of electricity has affected major institutions including our hospitals, schools and universities, industry is now operating at less than 10 percent capacity and household property has been damaged by thee intermittent power outages.

Preparations for the farming season, especially irrigation, have been severely hampered by the power shortages, further denting the already unlikely prospect of an expedient recovery to our battered economy.

Seventy-five percent of the suburbs have been without electricity for more than three months. Elsewhere, basic commodities are either in short supply or are available at far much higher prices than the ordinary man can afford. Bread is now equivalent to gold in scarcity, if not worse. Schools have collapsed while the health sector has been severely crippled by the brain drain, lack of medicines and the power shortages which have played havoc with our collapsing economy.

Ten percent of those who are still in employment are walking to work because of lack of transport. Fuel stations remain dry and long queues have become a permanent spectacle. Civil servants are still grappling with low salaries as the recent “increments” cannot even last them for five days. An average worker from Chitungwiza needs $12 million in transport alone every month, against an average salary of $5 million. Workers are spending 80 percent of their productive time in queues in search of basic commodities. To compound the plight of ordinary Zimbabweans, the regime continues to murder, to maim, to assault, to intimidate and to arrest members of the opposition, students and civic society. The politics of the sword remains ZANU PF’s catchword.

In the rural areas, our parents, brothers and sisters are starving due to food shortages. Over 4 million Zimbabweans need food assistance. ZANU PF continues to use food as a political weapon and for sloganeering. Our parents are walking for long distances due to lack of transport in scenes reminiscent of the pre-1980 Rhodesian era.

The MDC calls upon all Zimbabweans to rise beyond their political affiliations and say no to this chaos. Let’s unite across tribe and race, across religious and social standing and demand the immediate return of our lost dignity. It cannot continue to be business as usual in Zimbabwe. We have to take our plight in our own hands.

The regime is looking inwards instead of focusing on the endemic crisis besetting the nation. They are not worried about our suffering. They are busy with their factional fights ahead of the ZANU PF extra-ordinary Congress in December. We cannot expect Mugabe to be committed to a free and fair election when he cannot allow a free and fair election in his own party. He cannot allow a free and fair poll when he is hiring crowds to march in solidarity with his candidature in an apparent attempt to cow and intimidate delegates to his party’s Congress.

As a nation, we cannot allow the regime to give casual attention to the national crisis. We must respond to the clarion call for change and place our destiny firmly in our hands. This madness cannot continue. Zimbabwe needs a people’s campaign for change; a people’s campaign for food, a people’s campaign for jobs; a people’s campaign for good health care and life. Zimbabwe’s destiny is in our hands.

Instead of demonstrating in solidarity with one Robert Mugabe, we urge all Zimbabweans, including war veterans, to march in solidarity with the downtrodden and the oppressed in our society.

Change should be demanded. A New Zimbabwe, a new beginning. Now is the time!!!!

Hon Nelson Chamisa, MP
Secretary for Information and Publicity

A few things are now absolutely clear; the State is determined to destroy what is left of the MDC by the end of the year. They are determined to force what remains of the urban economic infrastructure into servitude to their priorities and give their key supporters even larger stakes in the economy and they are going to try and control the delivery of all essential needs to both urban and rural populations.

The scope and scale of violence against the MDC and those in the economy whose independence and autonomy are viewed as being potentially dangerous, is very concerning. A staggering 25000 business persons have been arrested, detained and charged by the Police since the so called ‘Price Control’ strategy was implemented. The numbers of MDC activists who have likewise been arrested, detained and beaten since March the 11th when Morgan Tsvangirai and 70 other senior MDC leaders were savagely beaten in Policy custody in Harare must also run to many thousands.

When the global reaction to the beatings on the 11th March became clear, the regime turned its attention to our lower structures and they have been working these over in a systematic and brutal way. Just in the past week we have had 4 activists so savagely beaten that they have either died or required hospital treatment. One is paralysed for life and another is on dialysis because of kidney damage. Many are unknown or unrecorded. On Friday I heard of a grandmother who has two children from her sons family living with her after he son was beaten and died at home after his release from prison. We are now helping with the expenses of the grandmother.

In rural areas our structures are in tatters, many are in hiding or have fled to the urban areas or to South Africa. This is exactly what the regime wishes to achieve. Our capacity to fight back is very limited. We have little money available to us, we have even fewer things such as functional vehicles and fuel and our staff is poorly paid and often go hungry. When a driver brought his pick up to my home for safety last week, a battered old vehicle followed him with shaded windows occupied by several young people who slowly drove by when the driver left on foot to catch a bus home.

The attacks on the remnants of the private sector are also relentless. Farmers are being forced off their farms, large segments of the retail trade are nearing bankruptcy, manufacturers are idle and finding it impossible to operate with shortages of electricity, fuel and water, the high cost of transport, and the scarcity of both orders and inputs. Thousands of workers have left their jobs and fled south to try and make a living. Hundreds of the remaining skilled and experienced people in all sectors are making plans to move when the schools close at year-end and exams are over. Despair and helplessness are almost universal.

We have raised this at the SADC sponsored talks but there is no evidence that either the region or South Africa (as facilitator) have taken this situation seriously and raised it with the regime. Our leadership that had been earlier charged with treason for allegations of violence and planned military style attacks on Police Stations has now all been released. All were beaten in custody and are recovering slowly. Many have lost their jobs and their families have suffered while they have been detained. The evidence led against them in Court was laughable.

The question is what do we do about all this? We are expected to negotiate in good faith with ZANU PF at the talks while there is no evidence that they are also negotiating in good faith. In fact quite the contrary. We understand from the press that both the regime and the facilitators are determined to hold the elections as soon as March 2008 as scheduled. This can only be done if the electoral machinery is left very much as it is and simply co-opted into the new legal framework being negotiated.

What our friends need to understand is that ZANU PF has been working on the voters roll for 5 years. They have disenfranchised hundreds of thousands of people who will now be entitled to vote - if they can register. They have left the dead on the roll and thereby created hundreds of thousands of opportunities to vote against the names of dead people using these ID documents. They are denying us any opportunity to campaign or even organise properly, we are given no access to the media and independent media is totally controlled and cowed. Foreign media is tightly restricted.

Almost all basic foodstuffs come under political control. If you are a known MDC supporter you find it difficult to buy food, secure land for housing in urban areas, access to fuel, imports of any kind. If you swear allegiance to ZANU PF you are given all these things and at prices that would stun an outsider. A new pick up will cost in real terms US$6 to US$ 7 dollars ( I am not exaggerating) fuel costs half a US cent a litre. Just on Saturday a ZANU PF office in Harare was handing out maize meal at 23 US cents for 10 kilograms.

It goes beyond that - support MDC and your license is cancelled, your leases abrogated and your right to a plot on an irrigation scheme withdrawn. Your right to live in your rural village can be withdrawn at the whim of your local traditional leaders. Become known as an MDC activist and you will have to live with the dread of a knock on the door at 3 am in the morning. Your family may not be safe, your children victimized. Get arrested and if we cannot find you, you will disappear into the labyrinth of State prisons and police holding cells. Once there you will not get food unless your relatives bring you meals. Water to wash is unavailable and even drinking water is scarce. Tuberculosis and malaria are endemic.

So we are being told that this election is already decided - in ZANU PF’s favor. I do not agree. If the SADC talks give us half decent conditions and allow people a secret vote that is counted and reported independently then the only vote these guys can rely upon is one filled in by a soldier under supervision or one cast by a robot. If the body filling in the ballot can breathe, it will vote MDC. This time I think that no matter what ZANU does, their ship is sunk. It’s only a matter of time.

Eddie Cross
Bulawayo, 16th October 2007

It is with some reluctance that I take issue with my friend and fellow journalist Trevor Ncube on a matter concerning Zimbabwe, of which he is a deeply concerned citizen. But I cannot let his argument, set out in an article in his own newspaper, the Mail & Guardian, go unchallenged that personal economic sanctions Western countries have imposed on key members of the Mugabe administration have contributed to the mess in Zimbabwe.

The essence of Ncube’s argument is that these sanctions have not only achieved nothing but have been counter-productive. Firstly, because they have estranged those countries diplomatically from the Zimbabwean government and so diminished their ability to influence it; and secondly, because they have enabled President Robert Mugabe to blame the sanctions, rather than his own policies, for Zimbabwe’s catastrophic decline.

Ncube says opposition and civic society groups in Zimbabwe have found it difficult to rebut that line of argument by Mugabe.

Moreover, “Many on the African continent regard the sanctions as a white racist response to land reform in Zimbabwe.”

Ncube suggests this is why bodies such as the Southern African Development Community (SADC) and the African Union (AU) have found it difficult to criticise Mugabe and his policies publicly, “because they fear being seen as supporting the Western sanctions, that are undeniably affecting ordinary people, or as puppets of the West.”

I find this line of argument, to blame Western sanctions for the African countries’ complicit silence in the face of Mugabe’s multiple crimes against humanity, disingenuous.

It may well be, as Ncube suggests, that these African leaders are afraid to be seen criticising one of their own who has become a tyrant. But who is at fault here? The Western leaders who are denouncing the tyrant, or the African leaders who are too scared to raise their voices?

Does ethnic solidarity require tolerance of tyranny because they are your people doing the bad things? Ask that of Beyers Naude or Braam Fischer or the thousands of other white South Africans who stood up against apartheid.

There is a deep and ongoing problem here that has been damaging Africa since the earliest days of independence, and finding pathetic excuses and scapegoats will not rectify it. African leaders must summon the courage to challenge the delinquent leaders among them. Until they do, Africa as a whole will not acquire the respect it deserves in the international
community.

Mugabe is not the only African leader to benefit from this kind of racial protectionism. The most notorious was of course Idi Amin, the “Butcher of Uganda,” who ruled over that hapless land for eight years in the 1970s, during which he ran a regime characterised by monstrous human rights abuses, political repression, ethnic persecution which included the expulsion of all Asians from the country, and was estimated to have killed 30,000 of his citizens.

Never once was he criticised by his fellow African leaders, who not only tolerated his atrocities but allowed him to host a summit meeting of the Organisation of African Unity in 1975 and become head of the OAU - resulting in the travesty of Amin’s Uganda being appointed to the United Nations Commission on Human Rights.

Amin was eventually toppled only because he tried to annex a piece of neighbouring Tanzania, causing President Julius Nyerere to send in his army and overthrow him. Referring to the Amin phenomenon after his retirement, Nyerere made the observation that Africa’s greatest single weakness was its failure to confront such tyrants among its own ranks.

Sadly his reprimand has gone unheeded.

There was the thuggish Sani Abacha, who ruled over Nigeria for 13 years from 1985. Not only did Abacha loot his country of some $4-billion, he had hundreds of political opponents executed and imprisoned. His atrocities reached a climax with the execution of the Ogoni activist and poet, Ken Saro-Wiwa, which resulted in Nigeria being suspended from the Commonwealth.

President Nelson Mandela, to his credit, played a role in bringing about that suspension with a powerful denunciation of Abacha at the Commonwealth Heads of Government summit in Granada - but later I was to hear Deputy President Thabo Mbeki offer a veiled defence of the tyrant in an address in Johannesburg.

There were others, too - Mobutu Sese Seko, the kleptocratic ruler of the Democratic Republic of Congo (which he called Zaire) for 32 years, Jean-Bedel Bokassa, who ruled and plundered the Central African Republic from 1966 to 1974, then proclaimed himself Emperor of the Central African Empire at a $20-million coronation ceremony before being overthrown in a coup.

None was ever criticised by his fellow African leaders. As Vaclav Havel once said, he had encountered two types of people during his long years as a fighter for human rights, a prisoner and eventually Czech president. There were “those with the soul of a collaborationist and those who were comfortable denying authority.”

By their silence, Africa’s leaders have made themselves collaborators with their continent’s tyrants. To blame that silence, that timidity, on Western sanctions is a shameful cop-out.

Ncube contends that Western policies of sanctions, criticism and isolation have not achieved anything, and that may be so. But I refuse to accept that a political leader who has been responsible for the murder of at least 20,000 political opponents in the 1980s, who continues to beat up, imprison and even kill anyone who dares oppose him, who has brought his country down from glowing promise to dire poverty in a handful of years, destroyed the principle of property rights so as to shatter its economy and plunge it into the world’s worst inflation rate, who has driven a quarter of his population into economic exile and bulldozed hundreds of thousands of its poorest urban dwellers into oblivion with his Operation Murambatsvina, should get away without a word or gesture of criticism from any quarter.

Tyranny cannot be allowed to go unchallenged. And if the African leaders won’t challenge it, someone else must.

Nor do I accept that there was nothing more effective African leaders could have done about Mugabe other than “quiet diplomacy.” Ncube says he doesn’t think there is any discerning observer who believes South Africa supports Mugabe’s policies. Maybe not. But Mugabe has used Africa’s silence, and especially Mbeki’s, in a massive propaganda campaign to tell his own people that the whole of Africa is on his side in his heroic struggle against the imperialist West - and that is what has saved him so far.

Had Africa, and especially the frontline states of SADC, raised their voices in unison to tell him publicly that what he was doing was unacceptable, I doubt he would have survived it.

At the very least, they could have warned Mugabe last April, when he began his latest campaign of beating up opposition supporters and throwing them in jail, that if he didn’t stop such an obvious attempt to cripple the opposition, they would not validate his coming election or recognise his new government. That he would then be heading an illegitimate regime in their eyes.

Don’t tell me that wouldn’t have had a salutary effect on him.

But they lacked the courage even for that.

Howzit

This statement was sent to me by email this morning. I include it here on this page as a first hand narration of the violence that Mugabe insists his security forces perpetrate against the opposition.

Two things come through to me when I read this document. Firstly, is the brave stance that this man takes, knowing that by making this statement, he becomes a marked man. Let’s remember that he was one of three people picked up, and one of them died…

Secondly, is the fact that the Air Force officer behind the torture committed suicide, and one of his underlings attempted to kill himself.

Perhaps Mugabe’s minions are not as eager to obey his orders as he would have us believe.

Another thought I have is that Mumbengegwi has been virtually ‘pardonned’ by Vice President Joeseph Msika - so she is free to commit repeat offences. 

“Maxwell Mazambani 32 years.

Reside in Serima communal land, Gutu, Masvingo Province.

Last year I stood as Councillor for the MDC for Ward 5 Gutu North.

On Tuesday 25^th September, 2007 at about midday a white Nissan pick-up truck (that I know to belong to Mrs Mbengegwe, Minister Mbengegwe’s wife) arrived at my home. There were 6 men in camouflage uniform. Five were wearing camouflage caps and the other, the Commander, was wearing a blue cap with a badge. They had crates of beer in the truck. When they arrived I was wearing my MDC T-shirt. Last year during the council elections my MDC t-shirt was taken from me and burned in Matizha township. 

I was taken, together with three others to Eastdale Farm, an Air Force base, which is between Gutu and Chivu. I know one of them was Mafukidze and another was Stanley Mashoko. The assailants said to me “you are still wearing an MDC t-shirt”.

At the base I was told to shout MDC slogans like I would at a meeting. They told me I was mobilizing the MDC for the elections and proceeded to beat me viciously with thick sticks on my buttocks, legs and back, kick me with booted feet, then poured water on me and made me spin around and around. This continued for six hours. I was being beaten on my own in a room. I know the others were nearby. I also saw 8 other young men there who were being beaten when we arrived.

At around 6 pm the four of us were put in the truck again. Before leaving the base we were forced to eat sadza and beans. Mafukidze was unconscious.

I was dropped in the bush on a side road near my home. The others were driven off – I don’t know where. I crawled home. The next morning I got someone to go and get a friend with a car and was taken to Gutu Police Station where I reported my case. My friend who took me there said he had heard that Mafukidze had died in the night.

While at the Gutu Police Station, the Police told me that the Air force commander involved in our torture had hanged himself the previous night. They also said that one of the young assailants had tried to shoot himself but did not die.

I was then taken to Chivu Hospital where I was admitted and stayed there with no medication. Relatives drove for miles to a mission to try and find medication for me.

I was transferred to a hospital in Harare on the night of Thursday 11^th October, 2007.”

Medical observations.

Maxwell has deep tissue injury on the buttocks and it is reported that his kidneys may be damaged and he has clots on the lungs. The full Doctors report will be forthcoming when X-rays etc have been done.

Much food for thought. When dates for next year’s election are not even known and the violence is already at such a high level, one wonders just how much more of this the Zimbabwean people can take?

Take care.

‘debvhu

Howzit

This fact sheet appeared on the internet. I am not at all too sure who wrote it, but feel it may have been someone at SWRadioAfrica. Whoever it was, they are to be congratulated as it puts so much information at our fingertips and exposes much of what the Mugabe government claims to be totally and utterly incorrect.

Population

1. Estimated population in 2000: between 12.5 and 13 million.

2. Current estimates indicate the population could be as low as 8 million.

Economic Collapse

1. The world’s fastest shrinking economy.

2. 1996 GDP growth of 10%; 200 GDP expected to decline by 12 per cent.

3. GDP shrank by 42% between 1998 and 2006.

4. Exports: R 50 billion in 1997, R 9 billion in 2007.

5. World’s highest rate of inflation: 20% in 1997 now in excess of 5000%, (The Consumer Council of Zimbabwe calculates the rate of inflation for June 2007 as more than 13000% for an urban family of six). Private sector estimates put inflation at 22000 per cent in October 2007.

6. World Bank: “The Zimbabwean economic meltdown is the worst outside a war zone”.

7. Fifth on the World Failed States Index after Somalia, North Korea etc.

8. Zimbabwe ranks last of 130 countries on the Fraser Institute’s Annual Economic Freedom of the World Report.

9. Zimbabwe is ranked 151 out of 177 countries on the United Nations Development Programme’s Human Development Index.

10. The Zimbabwe dollar was devalued in August 2006 by 60%, three zeros were removed from the currency and the new official exchange rate to the US$ was set at 250:1. The parallel market exchange rate has gone up from Z$1500 in August 2006 to its current (mid-October 2007) rate of about Z$500000.

11. During October 2007, the parallel market exchange rate for one US$ reached Z$500000.

Industrial Sector

Industrial productivity is now below 30% of capacity.

More than 5 000 executives, businessmen and managers have been arrested and fined for defying a government edict in June to slash all prices by around 50%.

In 1980 there were 102 diesel locomotive in operation on the National Railways; today there are just 11.

Agricultural Sector

1. Up to 70% of commercial agriculture has been destroyed.

2. Large-scale commercial maize (corn) production now accounts for less than 5% of the country’s total maize production.

3. Only an estimated 10% of the country’s winter wheat crop had been planted due to shortages of fuel and fertilizer.

4. National cereal production is down 44% on 2006.

5. The maize harvest estimate is 799000 tonnes (46% down on 2006).

6. 2.1 million people (urban and rural) will require food aid from July 2007.

7. 4.1 million people (urban and rural) will require food aid from January 2008.

An estimated 15 000 former farm labourers are in need of food aid because they lost their livelihoods following the chaotic and violent take-over of the commercial farms.

Zimbabwe has been named as one of the Global Hunger Hotspots by the World Food Programme.

Tourism Sector

1. Zimbabwe’s tourism industry was one of the fastest-growing economic sectors in the country with an annual average growth rate of 18.5% (tourist arrivals) from 1989 to 1998.

2. Tourism receipts increased by an average annual growth rate of 25% over the same period. In 1998, the industry was estimated to be employing 180000 people, both directly and indirectly.

3. Zimbabwe’s revenues from tourism fell from US$700m (£375m) in 1999, to just US$60m in 2004.

Unemployment

Over 85% unemployment. The disruption of the business sector through chaotic price controls will further escalate unemployment levels.

Emigration / Brain Drain / Refugee Crisis

1. 75% of Zimbabweans with a job are employed outside their country.

2. 25% of all Zimbabweans are in political or economic exile - the biggest proportional mass movement of a population in peacetime ever in
modern history.

3. Brain drain: In 2005, a study by the Scientific and Industrial Research and Development Centre (SIRDC) reported that close to 500000 of Zimbabwe’s “professional cream” had left in recent years to work abroad. However, the study noted that the figure could be a “gross under-estimation” of the real number of Zimbabwean workers in the diaspora.

4. Between 3,5 and 4,5 million Zimbabweans exiles are estimated to be in South Africa where the majority struggle to survive and send money and food home.

5. In July it was estimated that between 3000 and 4000 Zimbabweans are crossing into South Africa every day. This represents at least 100000 people a month, far more than official South African estimates of 20000 per month. Forced migration is accelerating at present (October 2007).

6. The International Organisation for Migration, which opened an office to assist deported Zimbabwean refugees on the northern side of the border, says the organisation is handling on average 17000 deportees every month. It is estimates that more than 86000 illegal immigrants were forcibly repatriated between January and May this year alone. (It is important to note that the figure of 17000 per month excludes those refugees who have managed to evade the South African authorities).

7. The Registrar-General’s Office announced recently that the cost of an ordinary Zimbabwean passport has been hiked 29990% to Z$150000 from Z$500. A passport processed within 24 hours costs Z$1 million.

Living Standards

1. 45% of the population is malnourished, one of the highest rates in the world.

2. At the end of 2006, the average minimum wage of Zimbabwean workers was only 16.6% of the Poverty Datum Line calculated at December 2006 levels.

3. Four out of five Zimbabweans now live below the breadline.

Health

1. Official statistics estimate that HIV/AIDS is present in 24.6% of the adult population (2001), putting the country in the top tier of all countries. That’s close to 1 in 4 people in Zimbabwe living with AIDS.

2. However, HIV infection rates may be as high as 40% given that the population was an estimated 12.5 million in 2000, but more than 5 million Zimbabweans have fled the country.

3. Tuberculosis is common in all developing countries. However, Zimbabwe has a prevalence of over 100 cases per 100000 population, the highest WHO risk category. In 1980 TB had virtually been eradicated in Zimbabwe.

4. Life expectancy for women is just 34 years.

5. Life expectancy for men is just 37 years.

6. Zimbabwe now has the highest number of orphans per capita in the world - in excess of 1.6 million.

7. AIDS-related deaths orphan another 350 children every single day.

8. Two thirds of female-headed households care for orphans and vulnerable children.

9. The healthcare sector is in virtual collapse. It is estimated that over 40000 Zimbabwean nurses are working outside the country.

10. Number of doctors per 10000 people: 1 (World Health Organisation statistic 2006).

11. According to health ministry statistics in Zimbabwe, fewer than one in four posts for doctors is occupied.

12. Four out of five of the district hospitals that serve rural areas have no doctors.

13. Average deaths per week: 3500. (This statistic may be much higher as deaths in rural areas are increasingly not reported and people either cannot afford the bus fare to take family members to hospital or see no point in doing so since hospitals and clinics have largely run out of drugs.)

14. British Medical Journal ranks Zimbabwe as worst in the world in terms of Health and placing Zimbabwe at bottom of WHO list of 191 nations.

Human Rights

Over 20000 documented murders by the Zimbabwe government during the Gukurahundi massacres in Matabeleland of the mid 1980s.

1 in 10 people in Matabeleland over the age of 30 are survivors of torture.

1 in 10 Zimbabweans now need psychological help.

Tens of thousands of people of Malawian extraction, mainly farm workers have been forced out of the country.

Internationally recorded human rights abuses (15 000 in eight years) up by 50% over last year.

The victimisation of MDC leaders and activists has been ongoing and has intensified since 11 March 2007, with provincial and local activists affiliated to the MDC being specifically targeted. Victims of torture are being detained, denied access to medical attention and access to their lawyers because of their political affiliation and are afraid to seek medical attention for fear of further beatings.

By the end of September, as many as 500 MDC members had been seriously beaten up and tortured or, with the number of total individuals exceeding 900, since 11 March 2007.

Operation Murambatsvina

1. Operation Murambatsvina (2005), the government’s ruthless programme to destroy largely informal urban homes and force people into the rural areas rendered more than 700 000 people left homeless or jobless.

2. 4 million poor people were affected. (Statistics from UN report.)

Operation Murambatsvina also resulted in the destruction of at least 32500 small and micro-businesses across the country, creating a loss of livelihood for more than 96600 people (mostly women).

Mugabe’s Mansions

1. Located 16 km north of Harare, Mugabe’s 25 en suite bedroom mansion is the size of a medium-sized hotel.

2. Building the mansion has cost in excess of US$ 26 million in a country where most people earn less than the equivalent of eleven dollars a month.

3. More than 2000 bags of cement meant for the victims of Operation Murambatsvina were diverted to ongoing building operations at the Mugabe mansion.

4. This is the third luxury residence that Mugabe has built and the fifth he has owned since he came to power.

5. In 2003, Mugabe and his wife Grace also took over the magnificent Iron Mask farm in the Mazowe area from elderly white commercial farmers. The owners were given 48 hours to leave the property after a visit by Grace Mugabe, accompanied by police, soldiers and youth militia.

Environment/wildlife

1. Over 80% of the wildlife on commercial farms and conservancies has been destroyed.

2. The total losses of wildlife on private game ranches is estimated to be over 90%, a total of about 560000 animals.

3. Prior to the so-called land reform programme, there were 15 conservancies. Today there are only two left of any consequence.

4. Poaching is endemic in the national parks.

5. The decimation of the gene pools of wildlife and domestic animals will impact on the country for generations.

I am sure that you will all agree with me that this document is as good as a charge sheet against the tyranny of Mugabe and his death-like grip on power in Zimbabwe - a damning indictment.

Take care.

‘debvhu

Howzit

A couple of weeks ago I emailed the local newspaper, The Derby Evening Telegraph, to see if they did a book review service.

Better ‘n that, they put a reporter onto it, and despatched a photographer to see me.

The result was published yesterday:

“A former policeman who spent more than 30 years living and working in Zimbabwe has written a book about his experiences.

Robb Ellis has lived in Derby for the past seven years but grew up in the African country after his family emigrated from Britain when he was a baby.

But he and his family left for England in 1998 when they decided the political situation had become too dangerous under the rule of President Robert Mugabe.

Now he has documented his time spent working under the Mugabe regime - during which thousands of people have been killed - in his book, Without Honour.

Mr Ellis, 44, said he had always wanted to become a policeman and joined the Zimbabwe Republic Police in 1981 when he was 18.

He was posted to a station in Essexvale, now known as Esigodini, and took up the position of public prosecutor.

Mr Ellis, of Devon Close, Chaddesden, said he had to deal with ambushes, murders, rapes, robberies and political violence as part of his work during this time.

He said he saw a marked increase in the number of crimes in the area as people rebelled against Robert Mugabe’s rule.

“Being a prosecutor, I only became involved in the investigation of cases which would be heard in a higher court and so had my pick of volatile, vicious cases to investigate,” he said.

“One of the first instances of political malcontent I attended was the killing in an ambush of two friends of mine who were driving to Bulawayo one evening early in 1982.”

Later that year, Mr Ellis was transferred to Plumtree, on the Zimbabwe’s western border with Botswana.

He said: “By the time I arrived there, Mugabe’s Korean-trained Fifth Brigade had been ordered into the province, where they robbed, murdered, pillaged and raped the local tribe.”

It is estimated that 20,000 to 30,000 people were killed during this period.

In 1985, Mr Ellis left the police force after becoming disillusioned with the justice system in the country and worked for several large companies until leaving Zimbabwe in 1998.

He came to Britain with wife Bernie but, in August 2000, fell 13 feet while working in a warehouse in Swindon and shattered his left arm.

The couple then moved to Derby so that Mr Ellis could receive treatment at the Pulvertaft Hand Unit at Derbyshire Royal Infirmary.

He was encouraged to write about his experiences by a friend from South Africa and began penning the book last year with the support of his wife and his mother, who also lives in Derby.

He said: “It was an amazing emotional release to write of the events of almost a quarter of a century ago but events, nonetheless, which are still relevant today as Mugabe is still in power, albeit undemocratically, and the people of Zimbabwe still suffer for his leadership.”

Without Honour is available as a print-on-demand book at www.lulu.com/content/779062 and costs £12.99 plus postage.”

Take care.

‘debvhu

Howzit

Don’t ask about the differing fonts through this article - I don’t know, but it is a continuation of problems I have had… all day…

“I do not like crystal balls - they are notoriously unreliable and can be misleading. But I felt that we must do some thinking about what lies ahead of us and what we all have to do to get through the next 9 months. First of all a time table.

I think that the deal being negotiated with ZANU PF under SADC tutelage will be complete by the end of October. It then has to go the SADC leadership for endorsement and confirmation from Mr Mugabe that the deal is acceptable. Once that is done it will have to go through an acceptance and implementation phase in Zimbabwe including a Parliamentary process. This cannot take less than 6 weeks and that takes us into December. Nothing much will happen until we get the silly season behind us and that takes us into January 2008.

The deal will try to create reasonable conditions for two things - a political campaign between political parties in Zimbabwe and the subsequent conduct of a poll of all registered voters. The critical thing is how do you do this and in my view the conditions required simply cannot be created in three months. I therefore think that June 2008 will be the earliest that the
actual poll can take place.

What everyone has to understand is that this is the only show in town. There is no other route back to sanity and we are stuck with this process even if we do not think it will work or we think it is a set up and we are the fall guys.

I think about the present situation and wonder if we will ever get to December, let alone March or June! Just today I had to buy 40 litres of fuel for my vehicle so that I can go up to Harare on Wednesday for a policy workshop. 40 litres cost me Z$28 million. While I was there - buying diesel from a young couple who were pastors at a Community Church in Chipinge and are now trying to make a living trading fuel from their home in Bulawayo, I bought some beef from another young man - also from Chipinge who had slaughtered three cattle and was selling the product in one kilo lots out of their kitchen. He was going to then buy fuel and head back to Chipinge.

Just look at these exchange rates - April 21950 to US$1; May 29167 to US$1; June 175000 to US$1; July - no trade (price controls); August 192300 to US$1; September 350000 to US$1; October the 8th 585000 to US$1. That is the devaluation of the local currency on the open market in 6 months. The dollar has devalued to 27 times its value in April 2007. Prices are again moving by the day and there is no end in sight. If my estimate of present inflation is right - about 20000 percent per annum, we can see how rapidly the local currency is depreciating and there is no hope of the State every keeping up with the pace of change.

The DMB - operating under price control is paying its suppliers 38000 dollars a litre for fresh whole milk delivered to its dairies. That is 45 Rand cents a litre or 6 US cents a litre. Quick way to go bust! So we have a critical shortage of milk and all milk based products. The official price of maize meal - and we consume 3000 tonnes a day, is Z$13800 a kilogram or Z$14 million dollars a tonne. The free market price is R3500 a tonne or Z$300 million a tonne - a direct subsidy by the State of Z$340 trillion dollars a year.

That is one parastatal on its own. Add to that the railways, ZESA and a myriad of other State controlled institutions and you know why the Reserve Bank must print money - trillions of dollars of new money every day. Money supply according to outdated statistics provided by the Reserve Bank is now over 18 000 percent up year on year - close to the estimated inflation numbers.

Bus fares are now Z$300000 a day for most workers - they earn much less than this, on top of this they must search for food and other basics every day and pay through the nose for everything when they find it. Add to this miserable scenario the shortages of water and electricity black outs for half the day every day and you can easily understand why 4 million people have fled the country to South Africa and thousands more decamp every day. I have seen estimates of our population that put it as low as 8 million people left in the country. I think that is low, but it is certainly not the 12 million estimate I see used by the media every day.

We entered the hyperinflation League of Nations in March 2007. Only 21 countries have been through such conditions in the past 100 years. The duration of such conditions ranged from 2 months to 48 months. They all recovered from this nightmare in a comparatively short time by adopting a fairly standard series of reforms and these were either adopted by the party in power and implemented (Mozambique) or they were implemented by a new government once the old regime had been overthrown or voted out of office (Zambia).

My own guess is that ZANU PF is now incapable of making the painful changes that are required to get things right again. The man in charge is beyond it all and the succession struggle is tearing ZANU PF apart. ZANU PF is committed to the course they have set and they have no alternative strategy.

Their most recent grand recovery plan is simply not worth the paper it was written on. Therefore I think we are stuck with hyperinflation until the elections. That will mean that Zimbabwe will have to cope with these horrendous conditions for another 9 months, at the very least.

How do we cope? Individually we will simply have to go on making a plan and getting by on a daily basis. In our business lives those of us who want to be here and ready to take advantage of the turn around must also strategize and ensure that our business survives. Operate on a cash basis and watch the fundamentals every day. Do not give in to the intimidation or price controls and resist the so-called “indigenisation”.

If the SADC process is the only game in town, then the MDC remains the only organisation that can unseat ZANU PF in the coming election. I think we are going to get a shot at that for the first time under reasonable conditions.

You should play your part in that process - we need your help and cooperation. We must restore the political structures destroyed by the State across the country, campaign for the hearts and minds of the voters and prepare to effect the turn around that we are all looking for after the election has done its thing.

I can tell you that the leadership of the MDC is doing their bit - we are working around the clock and making sacrifices to get things moving on the ground. We are taking risks on a daily basis and in some instances putting our lives and freedom on the line. What are you doing? No point in moaning and complaining - our future has always been in our own hands, this time we at least have some external assistance and support - even if it is conditional and half hearted.

Eddie Cross
Bulawayo, 8th October 2007″

Howzit

I have spent some time today analysing the statistics of this page. My huge thanks to CG who hosts this page for his dogged attention to detail - I am not sure how he has done it, but this page clocked through the 50000 mark after just 182 days online - “The Bearded Man” took 778 days online to get that far.

And on TBM I post every day, as opposed to twice or three times a week on here…

Needless to say therefore, that I am very, very happy - and all thanks to my readers out there… I do appreciate it. It makes all the work worth while!

With readership numbers like this, I think it is safe to say that MFZ will be around for a while.

Take care.

‘debvhu