Zimbabwe's Cry for Justice

test2

2007-11-04T19:14:00.000-08:00

sdafasdfasdadsf

2007-11-03T17:27:00.000-07:00

Another nail in the coffin of Zimbabwean industry.

For those of you unfamiliar with the situation, the black market is effectively the ONLY market for foreign currency (forex) in the country.

The regime is holding the official / bank exchange rate at an artificially low price, yet have passed a law decreeing that all foreign ccy must be exchanged through the banks.

Because of the shortage of forex, the banks have virtually no forex available anyway. So industry (indeed anyone who needs forex) is forced to go to the black market, where they pay a market-driven price for the forex they purchase.

The only people who benefit from this crazy system are those whose political connections enable them to purchase scarce forex at the bank rate (about Z$4500 = 1 Rand); they then make a killing by selling that same forex on the black / parallel market for anything in excess of Z$70 000 for 1 Rand.

The Latest in Zimbabwe

2007-10-17T19:47:00.000-07:00

I have just come back from 10 days in Bulawayo, where the situation is critical.

Water is available on only two days a week, coming on at about 5pm, and going off again at about 10am the next morning.

Electricity cuts are scheduled for 6 out of 7 days – usually for between 3 to 6 hours a time.

The occasions when you have both water and electricity are therefore rare, and are normally during the night-time hours, so those are the times when you are able to put on a washing machine load, or have a hot shower. People have reorganised their lives around these things, getting up at 2 in the morning to put a load into the washing machine, or to fill up their water containers. You do things when you are able to: having a hot shower, even having a 'bucket-shower' if you want hot water, flushing the toilet, cooking your main meal, filling thermos flasks with hot water for tea. For a single person, or a couple where both are working full-time, life must be a nightmare, as you simply don't have the flexibility to do all these basic things when you need to.

The supermarkets are empty – shelves quite simply have nothing at all on them. The few products that are left (mainly cleaning materials, local wines, olive oil, some jams…) are spaced out on the shelves to give a vague illusion of plenty. There is no meat, no milk, no cheese, no mealie meal, no bread, no flour, no rice, no pasta…. The large commercial fridges are empty.

Other shops have less and less for sale; or they have 'diversified' – a baker's shop which used to have iced cakes in the window, now has toiletries and hair dyes in their place!

The informal traders have some of the local seasonal fruit and veg, but only in small quantities. Many things are sourced by word of mouth, by just being in the right place at the right time. One man I know was in Mweb (an ISP), and a customer was telling his friend behind the counter that so-and-so had chickens available; he asked if he could get one too…! Someone comes into work and says that a certain shop has pork… and everyone rushes out to try and get some.

I was offered 6 eggs, and my very generous friend gave me 10 instead. I intended to give the extra 4 to my domestic but then, as I drove into the supermarket, on impulse I asked the car park attendant if he would like an egg! He was chuffed (and my domestic only got 3 instead of 4)! In what normal society does this happen?

In ordinary society, if you are invited to friends for dinner, you might take a bottle of wine, or some flowers, or even some chocolate. There, you take some pasta and a tin of tuna – people have so little food (even if they have money to buy it, there is none available) that just one extra mouth to feed is a problem.

Fuel is pretty much unavailable, unless you have access to foreign currency (forex), and even then, it is very difficult to source. You buy when you can, and if you don't have, you go without. The roads – particularly outside the towns – are noticeably emptier. However the road-worthiness of the cars still going is worse than ever – car parts or new tyres are a luxury which people can't afford or can't obtain, or both.

Some fortunate middle-class people have 'made a plan': buying 5000 litre water containers, and rigging them up in their back yards, either filling them when the water comes out of the mains, or filling them from bowsers which in turn have been filled from properties with boreholes. Some people have bought generators (but you still need the petrol or diesel to run them). A number of people cross the border to Botswana once a month to do all their shopping: this used to be a luxury, now it is a necessity.

Poorer people just don't eat, it seems. The World Health Organisation calculated the average life expectancy for women to be 34 years, and 37 years for men. This is the data for 2004. With the combination of AIDS, poverty and malnutrition, this figure is surely much lower now in 2007.

The level of hardship is unbelievable. Churches, while still preaching the Gospel, are mostly now concerned with meeting humanitarian needs.

My overall impression was that people are putting their heads down and focussing on day-to-day survival, as is to be expected. What continues to surprise me, though, is the amazing resilience of people: the ability to talk and empathise with a complete stranger in a supermarket, the sudden smile which breaks over someone's face as you greet them – friend or stranger, the little (and large) kindnesses among so much hardship.

I know that many people in many countries have to deal with such problems on a daily basis, but the sad thing is that Zim just wasn't like that 10 years ago, and things have gone downhill progressively since then. Please pray for Zimbabwe and for Zimbabweans.

Hired Guns

2007-08-07T08:27:00.000-07:00

Muse Time paper 9, August 1998, by Derek Carlsen, in Zimbabwe.

‘Hired Guns’

Now that the title has your attention...! The term, ‘hired guns’ refers to those who are paid to do the “dirty work” for people—work others don’t actually have the courage to do themselves. In the traditional sense, ‘hired guns’ exist in the “underworld” and it’s dangerous to associate with people whose value for life is purely financial—they will kill anyone if the price is right.

This term can also be used for activities that have nothing to do with murder, crime and the underworld, but merely refer to a person who has been hired to fulfil certain responsibilities for someone else.

While in principle there is nothing wrong with hiring someone to do something for you, there is always the danger that you will begin to neglect your responsibilities, handing the ‘hired gun’ more and more to do.

God who has created all of life has also ordained how everything functions—there is design and purpose behind every aspect of this world and nothing in God’s ordained workings is meaningless. God alone knows the beginning from the end, thus He knows the destination and what is required to reach it. In an age where ease, comfort, entertainment, pleasure and self-seeking have become the ultimate goals, the ‘hired gun’ philosophy has triumphed.
If you have studied basic biology you will know that the moth’s slow struggle, as it works its way out of its cocoon, is a vital step in the process of making the wings both beautiful and functional. To seek to bypass this “route” will result in an immature (undeveloped) creature that is incapable of functioning as a moth. It is the Creator who designed life to function in the way it does—it’s His training ground to maturity.

God’s discipline, order and instruction, as well as those qualities of character so highly esteemed by Him are not valued today. The result is that many aspects of life which are vital for our proper development are ridiculed, despised and avoided at any cost. When your values, principles and meaning of life are taken from the latest fad, the ‘hired gun’ philosophy offers an attractive “solution” to help you escape from the demands of life. This escape mindset has so infected every part of our society that it has become a religious dogma. As we have said before, true freedom cannot be separated from maturity (Muse Time, paper 7), but maturity cannot be attained without assuming our responsibilities—which serve us like the moth’s cocoon serves it.

A fundamental truth is that power will flow to those who assume responsibility. It is also a fundamental truth that someone will pick up any neglected responsibilities. In an age that defines freedom as having minimal responsibilities, is it surprising that society is in such a terrible condition? When people cast off their own responsibilities, which are then picked up by someone else, it ultimately creates greater problems. If you were breeding moths for some scientific project and in order to speed up the process for the moth to attain maturity you slit all the cocoons to make it easier for them to get out, all you would have is a pile of worthless, immature crawling creatures. With moths you could just redo the experiment, but when you have a host of immature people, you cannot dispose of them and their impact upon society is devastating, with long term consequences—reproducing after their kind.

Immature people gladly hand over their responsibilities to ‘hired guns’. The consequence of this is that they remain immature which causes them to hand over more and more responsibilities. The ‘hired guns’ however, are incapable of carrying out all these responsibilities properly, thus incompetence and immaturity are constantly increasing. Until everyone in society, i.e., individuals, families, churches, etc., once again whole-heartedly assume their respective responsibilities we will continue to live in the chaos of the ‘hired gun’ world.

Many parents try to escape from the intensive and self-denying responsibility of training their children, either consciously or sub-consciously handing them over to some ‘hired gun’ to bring them to “maturity”. These ‘hired guns’ do not know, love or care to train the children in the way that responsible parents can and should. Families are God’s fundamental training ground for bringing everyone within the family to ever increasing levels of maturity. When individuals reject their God given responsibilities within the family, this creates immature families, which effects every other area of life.

Immature churches are very common in our day and many who faithfully attend church limit the Kingdom of God to the institutional church. The ‘hired gun’ in this case becomes the pastor who is expected to fulfil all the work of the ministry—which is often defined by the whims of an immature congregation who refuse to assume their God given responsibilities. Immature churches either end up with a pastor who spends his day drinking tea with different people or with a pastor who is a controlling dictator—either way the church becomes irrelevant and the repercussions of this touch all of life.

What happens in the business world when the dominating philosophy is one of escaping from personal responsibility and despising hard work? Is this the formula for efficiency and success? When God asked Cain where his brother Abel was, Cain’s answer was, “Hey, I have no responsibilities towards him” (Genesis 4:9). But, oh how wrong he was! All life and all property ultimately belongs to God and He gives it to whom He desires, according to His secret will. However, everyone has the basic responsibility before God to protect and preserve the life and property of everyone else—this applies equally to all, whether you have much or little. To despise this responsibility as an individual has repercussions in every area of society (not just in the business world). Those who care little about their neighbour’s property will care little about his life. When people turn a blind eye to the violation of other people’s property, they must not be shocked when they find themselves living in terror of their own lives being violated.

When immature people abound so too does the ‘hired gun’ philosophy. In such a society people are most comfortable when fleeing from responsibilities. If something needs to be done, it is left for someone else to do. Immature people want instant rewards for hardly any effort. Is it any wonder that most people are incapable of imagining life without the all controlling modern government? They are incapable of thinking about education, hospitals, banking, helping the poor, etc., without the government’s involvement. This is a sad sign of just how immature our age is. As individuals cast off more and more of their responsibilities, the government picked them up and in so doing, attained more and more power, until these ‘hired guns’ controlled all things. The result of this has been the systematic destruction of a functioning society, yet all the immature do is wish someone else would alleviate their ever increasing hardships. They do not have the courage or character to take up their own responsibilities and push back the usurper.

We need to ruthlessly deal with the idea that the ultimate goal in life is to reach a state of no responsibility, no work and perpetual leisure. This is a denial of God’s Kingdom and purposes. Life has been designed as God’s instrument to bring His children to maturity and maturity in the Kingdom is manifested by hard, patient work. God expects nations, made up of individuals, families, churches, businesses, etc., to assume their respective God given responsibilities. The neglect of responsibilities in all these areas leads to immaturity and ultimately the destruction of nations.

For Christians to look at the chaos in their nation and say it is proof that God’s Kingdom has nothing to do with nations and therefore, they have no responsibilities in this area, is a total contradiction of Christ’s command (Matt.28:18-20)—the uncomfortableness the modern church feels towards these words arises from her deep immaturity. We are not to be governed by our traditions or feelings, but by the revelation of our King who is Lord of Heaven and the whole earth. It is time for us to arise and walk by faith, obeying everything Christ has said. We need to draw our strength from Him and assume our responsibilities, willingly picking up His yoke (Matt.11:30). What we fail to realise is that in trying to escape from His yoke, which is light and easy to carry, we place ourselves under the yoke of the oppressive modern state. We then spend most of our lives in the harsh, meaningless treadmill of serving their goals and ambitions. Rejecting our responsibilities places us in a situation comparable to the drug addict: handing our responsibilities over to a ‘hired gun’ is only a short term fix that ultimately leaves us in a worse position both economically and physically. Choose you this day whom you will serve!

Think about these things!

Romans 13--unlimited governmental power?

2007-08-07T08:18:00.000-07:00

Muse Time paper 3, December 1997, by Derek Carlsen, in Zimbabwe.

Romans 13

Does Romans 13 give the government unlimited power to do whatever they want to do? Many assume that Christians must obey everything the government says. Even when the government’s actions are unjust and evil, people argue that it would be a greater evil to disobey their unlawful commands or try to reveal their unrighteousness by the light of God’s Word. Such thinking believes Christians are bound by God to obey the government no matter what—being responsible only to pray. A careful reading of Romans 13 and the rest of Scripture will show that God’s Word is light and salt for every area of life and it is through the actions and words of Christians that God’s truth touches all these areas. To withdraw God’s light from any area of life is immoral (Matt.5:14,15, c.f., vs.11,12).

When Paul wrote Romans 13, Nero was ruler of Rome (a wicked, cruel and ruthless tyrant). Therefore, it is argued, that since Paul said obey him, Christians ought to obey every government today. What this argument fails to realise is that Paul wrote Romans during the first 5 years of Nero’s reign which was, according to the historians, a period of enlightened and good government, making Nero famous throughout all the provinces. During these early years Nero was influenced by such men as the Roman Stoic philosopher, Seneca. Thus, when Paul wrote Romans 13, Nero’s immorality and wickedness had not yet been unleashed. We will see that Romans 13 does not give Christians the liberty of ignoring political immorality.

In Romans 13 Paul is not setting out a detailed account of government, but merely raising a side-issue within the whole of his letter. Nevertheless, Paul tells us that God has requirements for both the common person and for those in authority. He does not teach that the common people are under God’s authority, but governments can do whatever they want and make whatever laws they want.

Paul says in vs.1 that government is a divine institution—it has been ordained by God. This does not mean governments have been given supreme authority, for God alone has this. Rather what’s meant is that governments are accountable to God—since they derive their authority from Him they are accountable to His absolute authority. The state has not been given the right to act independently of God. For example, an ambassador derives his authority from the government that appoints him to that position. For an ambassador to then act independently of the source of his authority is to disqualify himself—he cannot disregard the commands and wishes of those who gave him his authority. An ambassador is given authority in order to further the wishes of those who gave him authority. Just as an ambassador’s authority is derived, so too, is all government authority. Only God has absolute, independent authority—all other authority is appointed by God and is therefore, accountable to Him.
It is strange indeed that some people think Paul is saying in order for Christians to be righteous, God expects them to obey commands that violate His Law. Rather, Paul’s point is that since God appoints leaders they are morally responsible to serve and obey Him in everything they do. In vs.4 Paul calls government officials by religious titles. He says they are “ministers of God”, or “servants of God”. A servant carries out the wishes of the master. Paul goes on to explain what God specifically wants His “ministers” to do. He wants them, in the name of God, to reward the good and punish the evil. Does God give authority to these servants to punish evil and reward good without defining either evil or good? Is it not great ignorance to think that God allows the government to determine good and evil on their own? Man’s desire to define good and evil independently of God is the root of all sin (Genesis 3). Humans were incapable of doing this even before sin infected our hearts, how much less able are we now after sin has seriously damaged our total being?

Are we to think that the government is being a faithful minister for God just as long as they are punishing some people and rewarding others? Is God indifferent to the “small” details as to who they are rewarding and who they are punishing? No, never! For someone to be rewarded in the name of God or to be punished in the name of God, it must be done according to the will of God. Anything less than this is an abusive use of delegated authority.

Since the government or magistrate receives authority from God, Paul tells us in vs.2 that this is the moral reason for obeying them. This is a general principle: authority and order are ordained by God, but to argue that this means godless principles and laws coming from these authorities are binding, is to do violence to Paul’s meaning. He clearly shows that everyone in society is responsible to obey God. When governments act independently of God (i.e., lawlessly), they are not representing God with respect to those lawless commands, therefore, to resist them at those points is not resisting God. Paul’s principle is that governments are appointed by God, therefore we must obey them, but to draw from this that God expects us to give absolute obedience to them and remain silent in the face of flagrant wickedness is faulty reasoning and certainly cannot be found in Romans 13. Especially since Paul shows that governments are God’s servants who are to fulfil His wishes and are accountable to Him.

The government has been given the “sword”, which means they have the right and responsibility to execute those whom God’s Word says are worthy of death (murderers, kidnappers, rapists, etc). Governments do not have the right to use the sword in any way they want—boundaries have been set for them and they cannot exceed nor reduce these bounds. The modern trend to oppose the death penalty is rebellion against God’s requirements. Those who think they are wiser and more merciful than God and thus do away with capital punishment will receive His judgement in their communities.

Paul is showing in Romans 13 what governments ought to be and how they ought to act. He is not promoting the office of government to some “divine” position and saying that whatever this “god” says, has to be obeyed. To separate the government’s authority from their moral responsibility to God is to unleash a destructive monster in our midst. This happens when people refuse to submit every area of life to the Word of God. God’s judgement upon such blind rebellion is usually to hand the nation over to a government that thinks of itself as god on earth. If a government refuses to be accountable to God, then there is no one they will be accountable to.

In Acts 5 the apostles were commanded by the Sanhedrin (the highest authority in the Jewish nation) to act contrary to the Word of God. Now, since all authority is ordained by God (Rom.13), these leaders had their authority from God, however, the apostles disobeyed their command. The apostles were not contradicting Romans 13. Those in authority are ministers of God and are to do everything in line with His Word and for His name. The Christian is not to think of revolution each time the government acts contrary to the Word of God, however, neither is he allowed to remain silent in the face of lawless rulers. Christians are to be the salt and the light at all times and in all areas of life. We are not to compromise the truth and we are not allowed to let injustice and wickedness go unchallenged. (The whole subject of Christian resistance needs more than a brief paper like this. What I want to expose here is merely the misunderstanding of Romans 13 that says the Christian has to obey any law made by the government and that we are not allowed to shine the light of God’s Word into the government’s sphere of activities).

John the Baptist was arrested and then lost his head because he rebuked the immoral “private” life of a political leader (Matt.14:4,5). Jesus called this same political leader a “fox” (Luke 13:32), drawing attention to his ungodly slyness. Elijah was hounded by king Ahab because he pointed out the king’s wickedness and rebellion against God (1 Kings 17:1; 18:18). The prophets were hated, persecuted and killed for exposing the very real day to day wickedness around them, both in the nation and in the lives of their rulers.

The government’s primary responsibility is to serve God and implement His justice. When they do this then they are servants of the people too. Modern governments don’t want to serve God or the people. They want to serve themselves—their own ambitions and goals. If God’s justice (i.e., His Word) is not the foundation for a nation, then what can bring stability and prosperity to that nation? As St. Augustine (a.d. 354 - 430) said in his day, “If justice be taken away, what are governments but great bands of robbers?” (The City of God, 11:4). Justice is not determined by parliament, but by the Word of God, for He is above presidents and parliaments. When God’s justice is ignored, it is because those in authority want to promote injustice and when a nation allows injustice to be called “justice” they are on a path of self destruction. All those who hate God, love death (Prov.8:36).

A government that persistently rejects God’s Word as the only standard for truth and error and as the only guide for all things, is heading for disaster. All authority is delegated from God and is to be used to minister to those who come under this authority. Rulers are to be the servants of those people they have authority over and they are to serve them according to God’s revelation found in the Bible. For rulers to act in any other way is lawlessness. For the citizens within a nation to ignore the lawless activities of their rulers is to share in their guilt. The modern church, in fleeing from its God given responsibility, has invented a doctrine of pietism that is not found in the Bible. They have reduced Christianity and the Kingdom of God to some small area within the hearts of individuals and have ignored their calling to be salt and light in all of life. They have reduced Christ’s commission from discipling the nations (Matthew 28:19), to discipling individuals—reducing Christianity to an internal heart religion, rather than a dynamic faith that touches and influences every part of God’s world. Christians have withdrawn the light of God’s Word more and more from every area of life (especially with respect to the state). As a result, darkness has increased in every part of society. This increase of darkness is then held up by these Christians as “proof” that God’s light and truth have no rightful place in these areas, resulting in greater withdrawals of light, leading to ever increasing darkness.

If we will not consistently submit to every Word of God and allow His Word to be our only light for every area of life then we will not fulfil our callings and responsibilities under God. Our nation is in desperate need of light, truth and courage, so in understanding, be mature (1 Corinthians 14:20).

Think about these things!

Drifting onto the Rocks and Burning the Boat

2007-07-14T13:32:00.000-07:00

July 12th, 2007

“Drifting onto the Rocks and Burning the Boat”

Yesterday the regime published in the state press the list of those products
that are to be controlled at a fixed price. It covers all the basics from
milk to cement. The prices shown are between 20 per cent and 50 per cent of
the actual cost of producing and marketing those products. All other
products produced by manufacturers are now price controlled in that the
producer must fix their current prices at the level they were 3 week ago
(18th June) and must from now on get the written approval of the Minister
for any new prices.

June the 18th marks the start of this campaign. On that date they entered
the parallel market for foreign exchange using billions of dollars in local
currency just printed, driving the price of foreign exchange from about 100
000 to 1 for the US dollar and 7500 for the Rand (the two most frequently
traded currencies) to 300 000 to 1 or more; some trades were done as high as
400 000 to 1 for the US dollar and similar sorts of rates for the Rand.

As a consequence, since all imported items are priced at the replacement
cost in foreign exchange at the parallel market rate, prices rose across the
board. This pushed inflation well over the 15 000 per cent per annum level
and created all sorts of pressures in the local economy.

When the exercise stopped after 10 days or so (I assume they ran out of
cash), the foreign currency rates fell back to about 200 000 to 1 for the US
dollar and 15 000 to 1 for the Rand. Many prices were adjusted downwards
(fuel from 180 000 for a litre to 120 000) and business went back to
"normal". They then unleashed the next phase.

This second phase is now well under way and is expressed in the wholesale
arrest of business managers and Directors (nearly 2000 as of last night),
the physical control of prices by thousands of Police and Militia -
operating for the first 10 days without any legal backing at all and now the
promulgation of new regulations that are just plainly unworkable.

Just take what they did yesterday to the beef industry. They had fixed the
retail price of beef (for all cuts) at an arbitrary 90 000 or 120 000
dollars a kilogram (why the difference no one can tell me). In Beitbridge we
were forced to sell our stocks at 90 000, in Masvingo, just up the road,
they were forced to sell at 120 000. It did not matter really, just changed
the degree of your losses. When the final rush of customers was over we had
run out of stocks, lost many millions of dollars and could not find any
farmers who would sell us cattle at a price that would allow us to operate
at the new prices.

So what do they do? Yesterday they cancelled the licenses of ALL private
abattoirs across the country, hundreds of them. In their place, they
"instructed" farmers to approach their nearest Cold Storage Commission
abattoir to make arrangements for them to buy their cattle, slaughter them
and deliver meat at the "controlled" price to butchers.

Now I was the Chief Executive of the CSC when it was the largest meat
processor in Africa. It has a superb network of 5 internationally registered
Abattoirs capable of slaughtering up to 650 000 head of cattle a year. We
actually handled over 700 000 head in one year during a drought.

We no longer have that sort of industry, but still kill between 350 000 and
400 000 head a year. The CSC however is hardly a player. Two of the
abattoirs have not killed an animal for 15 years, the others are on a care
and maintenance basis with a tiny throughput. You seldom see a CSC truck on
the roads and they are almost moribund.

Now, at the stroke of a pen, the Minister thinks he can order the closure of
hundreds of small abattoirs that have taken the place of the CSC, open up
the CSC works and supply the country overnight with its needs. If ever you
needed to understand the extent of the stupidity of these so-called
Ministers, this is it, and Mad Made is not even the Minister of Agriculture
any more! When I was at the CSC we handled up to 140 000 tonnes of beef a
year, exported to many countries including the EU and employed 5000 people
with dozens of excellent engineers, accountants and managers - most with
more than 20 years experience. That is all long gone, they do not have the
physical, financial or management capability to undertake this exercise
thrust on them at a days notice.

Yesterday we closed down our clothing factory in Bulawayo and told the staff
to go home and come back next week when we might know what to do. The
reason, all our orders from local retailers have been frozen - they simply
cannot function under the new regulations. If there is no movement in a week
or so, they will halt all buying and run down their stocks and then, like
us, close down. We are affected immediately as we hold no stocks of finished
goods - we manufacture to order.

When existing stocks of controlled items run out there will be nothing left.
That includes all the basic essentials - salt, maize meal, flour, matches
and meat. When I wrote over the weekend about refugees flooding into South
Africa I do not think I overstated the probabilities. I now have no doubt at
all and all of us may be the new victims. What kind of reception will we
get?

I heard talk in Beitbridge yesterday that the South African Army has just
shot 100 head of cattle straying into South Africa across the River. I also
heard disturbing reports that they had shot 7 "border jumpers". It may or
may not be true, but it does describe in graphic terms the sort of reception
poor, homeless, impoverished and desperate Zimbabweans get when they try to
escape to anywhere where sanity prevails.

As for the crazy guys at the helm here, they know their Zanu PF ship is
headed for the rocks of destruction in the SADC talks and their aftermath,
they have opted to burn the boat rather than face the music. The problem is,
we are all in this particular boat - not out of choice but simply historical
reality. If they are allowed to burn the ship around us like this, we have
no option but to take our chances in the water and swim to shore.

Do not think these Zanu PF guys are irrational or dumb. This is carefully
planned and is being ruthlessly implemented. Just the same as Murambatsvina
and at the same time we must recognise that they think they have a chance of
success, even if it is small and their commitment to the SADC process is
nil. Theirs is a plan to fight to survive and if they fail to leave nothing
behind.

Eddie Cross
Bulawayo

A Warning

2007-07-14T13:29:00.000-07:00

7th July 2007

A Warning

I hope nobody thinks that next week will be business as usual. This week the
private sector has gradually wound down its operations. The retail sector -
most retailers carry stock for a month approximately, are the last to shut
down but already you can see empty shelves and shortages of all the fast
moving basic items are now widespread.

Butcheries and bakeries that work on stock levels of about a week are
already closed as their stocks ran out. The same with filling stations.
Manufacturers must work with quite significant stock levels - especially of
imported items and they will run these down and then close unless there is a
U-turn on the part of the government and new directives which are half
reasonable.

There are no signs as yet as to what the State will do when this shutdown
occurs. But all that we are seeing and hearing right now are threats and an
insistence that this situation is going to be maintained for some time.

The most immediate problem is the very basics - fuel for transport and the
essential foods, maize meal, rice, bread, meat and milk. By Monday all of
these will be virtually unobtainable. Farmers with pigs and poultry are
pondering what to do with their animals as they run out of stock feed, dairy
farmers also face huge problems as they cannot pay their feed bills and must
start winding down - how do you tell a cow in milk, used to being milked
three times a day, that she must stop producing?

Hundreds of thousands of workers and non-formal sector businesspersons are
being faced with no work and are being forced to stay home - at present on
full pay, but in a few weeks what then? There is no law to turn to; there
are no political leaders to go to with any sort of sense and authority. We
are in the hands of a madman who has nothing to loose but his life and has
his back to the wall and is using the only tools that he knows to try and
stay afloat while the country drowns.

How will the average Zimbabwean respond? Friends of mine are doing a day
trip to Francistown in Botswana - just 200 kilometers away, today. They will
buy what they need for next week and return. A few will do the same. Others
are going on holiday, unable to stand the specter of seeing all that they
have built up over the past decades swept away. They are the lucky ones -
what about the rest?

There is only one way out and that is across the Limpopo. I must warn South
Africa that they will now face a huge upsurge in economic refugees and they
had better brace themselves for that if nothing effective is done to halt
this madness. I mean hundreds of thousands of new, desperate, hungry
Zimbabweans flooding in and disappearing into the vast urban slums that
surround all South African cities.

The alternative is a military coup led by the junior officers with the
compliance of some in the ruling Party who see that this situation is not
sustainable and that it is creating a regional crisis of substantial
proportions. Such an event would close the door to the SADC process under
way today in South Africa and plunge the country and the region into a huge
political crisis that would require military intervention. Am I being
alarmist? I do not think so. The actions of this rogue regime in the past
week have been enough to tip us over and into a state of crisis we have
never faced before.

Irreparable damage is being done to the country and if this is not stopped
in its tracks by immediate and radical measures taken by regional
governments very serious consequences are going to follow.

The humanitarian and economic crisis that is about to break out in Zimbabwe
is simply staggering and certainly way beyond the capacity of the country to
handle on its own.

Eddie Cross
Bulawayo

It is Tyranny!

2007-05-08T19:20:00.000-07:00

Muse Time, paper 14, February 1999, by Derek Carlsen, in Zimbabwe.

It Is Tyranny!

Any individual or nation in the world that understands the concept of freedom will agree that Zimbabwe is under tyrannical rule! This tyranny is not some unfortunate mistake that our leaders have stumbled into and for which they are sorry. Rather, it is by a self-conscious, calculated and determined effort that they have decided to adopt and maintain this kind of rule—holding onto power at all costs and silencing anyone whose differing tune threatens their plans in any way. Our leaders call for unity, but need to be reminded that unity cannot be built upon lies, deception and iron fisted terror. True unity can only be founded upon God’s truth and justice. To use any other basis for unity is like exerting yourself to find the pot of gold at the base of the rainbow—utterly foolish.

What is our responsibility at a time like this? The answer lies, partly, in knowing what our authority is. Remember, our leaders were given authority by the people. This means that national leaders are the servants of the people and true leaders will acknowledge that after God, their authority resides in the people. It should be obvious that those who give the authority to the leaders are above these leaders and the leaders are accountable to them for the way they use their authority. You don’t give authority to someone so they can tyrannise you with it, thus, people grant authority to leaders to be used for their safety and wellbeing, not their destruction. The authority they give is always conditional—upon the grounds that the leaders fulfil their promises to protect and advance the lives and interests of their subjects.

Whatever those in authority do, they do with a power that is borrowed from the ones who put them in power. Thus, they should be sincere servants of the people, always mindful of labouring for their benefit. Leaders have not been given absolute power to do whatever they want and they most certainly haven’t been given power for tyrannical use. The inescapable truth is that those who have power to make rulers, have the power to unmake rulers. The moment the people in a nation withdraw their consent to rule from those in authority, these rulers have no more authority. The authority that national leaders have, remains, at all times, a derived authority and they are therefore accountable at every moment to those whom they serve. The leaders’ commission to use force (Romans 13:3,4) is from the people, but, if they use it to tyrannise the people, the people have not only a right but an obligation to remove it. Very simply: leaders turning tyrant lose their authority; by violating their trust, they destroy their commission.

It is subversive behaviour if leaders refuse to acknowledge that they are under God, or the people who commissioned them and therefore refuse to be accountable to either—this kind of subversion is one of the greatest threats to the wellbeing of any free society.

Our leaders deny that their great office is (after God), from the people and that their commission forever remains in the hands of the people and can be withdrawn at any moment. If this commission is withdrawn, the leaders no longer have lawful authority and their refusal to step aside, should this happen, would be clear proof of their self-seeking, tyrannical desire for power. It should now be clear who has the authority and responsibility to act in our present dilemma—we do! Tyranny is satanic and if we don’t resist it then we are resisting God—there can be no neutrality in such matters. To fear and do nothing in the face of tyranny is to add fuel to the tyrants’ fire and makes us accomplices to their crimes. To ignore tyranny and hope to escape its attention is a most dangerous position to adopt because unopposed tyranny will increase in momentum and force—swallowing up larger and larger amounts of freedom. There can be no standing still once tyranny has unashamedly manifested its characteristics. It is to demonstrate a great ignorance of history to think that when tyrants single out one group of people, other groups are safe. The natural, though foolish, tendency when this happens, is to hope that the tyrant’s spotlight won’t fall upon you, thinking that if you just remain as quiet and still as possible everything will eventually return to normal. Tyranny, however, is a cancerous growth, ever needing new victims to feed upon.

Our leaders have refused to submit to the consensus of the nation that involvement in the DRC is without justification and only destructive of our people and economy. This stubbornness has led directly to threatening and tyrannising Zimbabweans and assaulting the freedom of the press. Where will such deterioration end if we don’t stop it now? To contemporize the words of a Lutheran pastor who confessed the woeful consequences of his silence in the face of Nazi tyranny: “They came for the Matabele, but I wasn’t a Matabele, so I did nothing. They came for the trade unionists, but I wasn’t a trade unionist, so I did nothing. They came for the news paper reporters, but I wasn’t a news paper reporter, so I did nothing. They came for the whites, but I wasn’t a white, so I did nothing. Finally, when they came for me there was no one left to hear my cries”.

We do not honour the office of government by remaining silent in the face of abuse and corruption. We are called to honour the office and we do this by making sure that the people who sit in that office honour God’s purpose for instituting the office. This is a responsibility God has given to every person in the nation and we dare not treat it lightly. When the trust and covenant between the rulers and the ruled is repeatedly violated, those rulers must be deposed and replaced with others who will honour the conditions of the covenant.

A simple illustration will help us see our situation and responsibility: the owner of a company gives authority to a manager to run his business. This authority makes the manager responsible to act in the best interests of the owner at all times. Now, if the owner discovered that the manager was stealing, destroying the business and tyrannising the owner’s children, he would be immediately replaced with someone else. Surely everyone would call the owner foolish if he left that worthless manager in his position to continue on his destructive path. In the same way, it is foolish to complain about the economy, how hard it is to survive and how sad it is that our friends and family members are dying in the DRC, yet refuse to exercise our authority and do something about it.

Those who think the solution to our problems lies in violent outbursts and property destruction, are woefully misled, for these kinds of activities arise from lawlessness, helplessness and ignorance. When people realise that the authority to make leaders and the authority to unmake leaders is in their hands, under God, then they don’t have to sit in frustration and self-pity saying, “But what can I do?” We can face up to our responsibilities and with a united voice withdraw our consent to rule from those who are presently causing much distress. If we understand this then we don’t have to rely upon mindless violence and destruction as the way to get things sorted out. Rather, we can act in a disciplined way, worthy of the authority we have from God. If, however, we don’t assume our responsibility and act righteously, then the Lord Himself will judge us, together with our leaders, since our hands will be stained with their corruption and our own refusal to oppose unrighteousness and tyranny.

There are legitimate “lesser” leaders in our nation who have shown their genuine concern for the people, e.g., the Supreme Court judges’ questions to the president were out of concern, not for themselves, but for the average person on the street. To have been so shamefully dealt with is evidence of how tyranny responds to the light. Tyrants, throughout history (Nero and Hitler being two examples), have always used the supposed “evil intentions” of minorities in their midst to justify their own tyrannical behaviour and used these minorities as “scapegoats” to explain away their own corruption and blunders.

The “lesser” leaders, such as our judges, union leaders, independent politicians, etc, have a responsibility under God to preserve the safety of our people and nation. It is through these leaders that the people in the nation can exercise their authority and change the existing leadership. We are in a crisis situation which requires desperate and unusual measures, however, they are still legitimate and lawful measures: those with the God given authority to make leaders, working through the “lesser” leaders, are to put into office new rulers who will be true servants of the people. These are God given rights and responsibilities and all those who truly love and understand freedom should be prepared, if necessary, to die for them.

Our hope must never merely reside in political means to find peace, prosperity and freedom. These things are found only in God’s righteousness which comes through Jesus Christ. While we have in the past and continue even now to call on everyone in our nation to turn from their own personal sin and embrace the truth, we at the same time need to show solid, practical, God-honouring principles whereby we can address the critical needs of our day. For example, we need to be seeking to help the oppressed in real practical ways while calling for repentance (Isaiah 1:17; 59:4; Jeremiah 22:15-17). Mere handouts can’t alleviate the present suffering if we don’t address the major causes of our economic woes. The policies, corruption and personal examples of our leaders have played a significant part in bringing us to where we now are. Their refusal to bow to God, or be servants of the people, or listen to the people, or admit any wrong on their part, together with their destruction of the economy and their aggressive responses to those who would question or strongly disagree with them, are grounds enough for their removal.

The government is not facing a conspiracy, but a population whose fear of them is now far smaller than their revulsion of the government’s lies, threats and abuses of power.

There is no moral obligation upon Zimbabweans to keep the present leadership in power. The moral obligation facing us all, however, is to act within the law, stay away from violence and exercise our authority to remove from power those who abuse that power. The moral responsibility upon the “lesser” leaders in our nation is for them to make it possible for everyone else to use their authority responsibly and so bring about change in a calm, lawful and democratic manner.

The only way to restore international confidence in Zimbabwe and thus investor confidence is if the present leadership is replaced. The only way for Zimbabweans to be assured that our nation will be run by the rule of law and not tyranny, is if we replace the present leadership (and watch the next leaders very closely). The only way to avoid total economic collapse and possible revolution and mayhem is if we act now without fear, being guided by godly principle and not empty rhetoric, lawless foolishness or prejudice. Mere complaining and self-pity will get us nowhere. I have suggested a strategy for action.

Think about these things, but not for too long!

Wilful Ignorance

2007-05-08T19:11:00.000-07:00

Muse Time paper 2, November 1997, by Derek Carlsen, in Zimbabwe

Wilful Ignorance

We laugh at the idea that an ostrich would hide its head under the sand in order to escape from the danger of a predator. However, this is a very common practice among humans—figuratively speaking. We hope that if we just close our eyes and keep very quiet, “it” won’t get us and then eventually things will settle down again and life can continue just as before. To be silent in the face of injustice is to invite greater manifestations of injustice and eventual annihilation. The wicked are never satisfied unless they are committing wickedness (Proverbs 1:16; 4:16; Psalm 36:4; Micah 2:1-3)—silence only spurs them on to greater heights of corruption.

There is only One God and He has only one law-Word. When the people of God refuse to submit to Him in wilful obedience, then they will be forced to submit to another “god”. When people reject God’s revealed will as their only guide for all of life then someone else’s will for all of life will be forced upon them. Either we will serve God in loving obedience or we will serve someone else in terror and confusion—these are the only two options available in God’s universe.

The people of God are to be the salt and the light in these dark times (Matthew 5:13,14). If they fail to be these things then they become worthless and are treated as such by society, i.e., trampled under their feet. There is a great difference between being persecuted for righteousness sake (Matthew 5:10-12) and being treated as worthless and we should not confuse these two.

The government in Zimbabwe (much like many other nations) has assumed the position that only God can have. They are accountable to no one but themselves. There is no law higher than them and there is no evidence that this is about to change. In fact, the evidence points in the other direction, namely, that their claims to unbridled sovereignty are only going to increase, creating in its wake more hardship and destruction.

The people in this nation, in forsaking the absolute Word of God, have no standard of righteousness by which to challenge this out of control freight train. Inflation is accepted like some unstoppable alien invasion from outer space—nothing is related to the obese size of government or their mismanagement and corruption. No one questions the implications of fractional reserve banking or legalised counterfeiting.

The problems facing our nation are not racial issues (as some in high places try to use as a cover for their own deception, corruption and failures), but it is a righteousness issue. “Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people” (Proverbs 14:34). Righteousness here means doing all things in obedience to the revelation of God (this includes rulers who should be even more careful to walk according to the light since God has given them such a great responsibility).

When one group in the nation are charged an arbitrary extra tax—this should terrify everyone in the nation. Even those not directly affected should have the sense to see the danger if such behaviour is left unchallenged. Envy and fear are usually the reasons those unaffected remain silent at such times.

When the government illegally freezes all company foreign currency accounts and then forces them to sell at a below market exchange rate, what is the government saying, but that every single thing in the nation belongs absolutely to them. What will be next? It is only wilful ignorance that allows people to ignore such immorality.

When the president assumes sovereign ownership of all water in the nation, what does this reveal but his belief that he owns everything in the nation. If there is no law above such people then what security can there be? Are we expected to have a blind faith in the reputation of government—no questions asked, trust them with everything we have kind of confidence? What is the foundation for this kind of confidence?—their track record of no corruption, no mismanagement and diligent hard work?

If the Word of God is not going to be the final authority for all areas of life then the government’s arbitrary word will be—then justice and what is right are determined by who is the strongest. If the government says they want such and such, then any one who argues is wrong, for whatever the government decides is right. Why? Because they can implement their will by force.

The reason a nation gets into a situation like this is because the people in the nation are walking in violation of the counsel of God. When a people’s standard of right and wrong is not based upon the unchanging Word of God then, for example, when a small group of people within the nation are charged an extra percentage of taxation, those not directly affected are not incensed. When the government who has already implemented excessively abusive taxation laws, sees someone make a good profit they are unable to restrain their greedy inclinations and immediately pass a “law” so that they can “legally” take more of what doesn’t belong to them.

This is a blatant manifestation of legislated tyranny and tyranny is never satisfied until it has consumed everything in its reach—and the Zimbabwe government has made it very clear that every single thing within the nation is “legally” within their reach. God alone has this kind of power and authority—everything belongs to Him and He has not given such great powers and liberty to any government. To remain silent in the face of such repeated and increasing abuses of power is to commit suicide. Either its evil or its right, there is no other option. If it is right we should give the government everything we have right now! If it is wrong then we need to show why it is wrong—by whose standard are all things to be judged?

If there is no ultimate unchanging standard to appeal to then nothing can ever be said to be wrong. God’s Word alone provides us with an eternally unchanging standard for truth, liberty, peace and justice.

Wickedness will not go away on its own. It needs to be exposed by the light of the truth—constantly, courageously and consistently. We need to realise, as Otto Scott has said, that “Placating evil men does not imbue them with virtue, but emboldens them to more evil”. It is also true that all that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing.
Dr. R.J. Rushdoony, aware of the tendency in the world to ignore the need to make clear moral distinctions said, “We have to understand that in the world there is that which is truth and also that which is not truth. There is that which is right and there is that which is wrong. All is not the same and equal”. To blur this distinction is to remove one of the fundamental pillars required to preserve society.

All people are responsible before God to uphold the truth and expose unrighteousness. If we compromise our right and responsibility to do this we will reap the consequences of tyranny. We are not only to be concerned that we receive justice, but that everyone receives equal justice—the same standard applied to rich and poor, black and white, politicians and common folk. If there is not one unchanging standard, then we do not have justice—no matter what we call it.

The starting place for any kind of change is primarily within the hearts of individuals. People need to be converted from walking in rebellion to God, to walking in loving obedience to Him, through His grace and mercy. We need both leaders and ordinary folk to fear God and walk before Him in obedience. We need to bring all our own thoughts and actions into line with the Word of God. At the same time we cannot release ourselves from the responsibility of being the salt and the light in society. Compromise leads to compromise which leads to compromise which leads to annihilation!

Finally I will conclude with a quote from John Philpot Curran who said in 1790, “It is the common fate of the indolent [idle] to see their rights become a prey to the active. The condition upon which God has given liberty to man is eternal vigilance; which condition, if he break, servitude is at once the consequence of his crime and the punishment of his guilt”.

If justice, liberty and freedom (in the true sense of the terms) is worth anything to us, then may we not keep silent through fear and ignorance. However, if these ideals have no value in our minds, then most definitely we must keep silent and in so doing, speed up the goal of absolute tyranny!

Think about these things.
But don’t stop with merely thinking!

Zimbabwe, once a breadbasket, now a basket case under Mugabe

2007-02-24T13:04:00.000-08:00

By MICHELLE FAUL
The Associated Press

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa — Zimbabwe is reaching the end game, witnessing the last, desperate throes of a regime that has destroyed one of Africa's few successful economies, plunged millions of people into grinding poverty and led to the deaths of tens of thousands from malnutrition and lack of medical care.

It probably won't happen today, when President Robert Mugabe celebrates his 83rd birthday with cake and champagne at a $1.2 million party while hundreds of thousands of Zimbabweans struggle to survive on bread and water.

And it may not happen in the weeks leading up to April 18, the 27th anniversary of the end of white rule and Mugabe's ascension to power.

But years of abuse and neglect are culminating in untenable crises.

"People's anger is mounting," said Zimbabwean political scientist John Makumbe. "They're no longer afraid to go into the streets and I think the government is growing very afraid of what may happen."

The world's worst hyperinflation is spiraling out of control, bringing shortages of food, fuel, medication and electricity. Police have banned demonstrations in opposition strongholds in the capital, Harare, for three months. And criticism is mounting within Mugabe's ruling party, which is divided over who will succeed him and when.

Mugabe blames sanctions, drought and former colonizer Britain for the collapse of an economy based on exports of a wealth of agricultural and mineral products.

Others blame land grabs over the past several years in which Mugabe encouraged blacks to violently force out most of the 5,000 white commercial farmers who owned 40 percent of all agricultural land that produced 75 percent of agricultural output.

White farmers had employed the country's largest work force and their ejection led to the displacement of 300,000 families. The farms, most given to Mugabe relatives, allies and cronies, lie fallow today and Zimbabwe does not have the foreign currency to import food.

The World Bank estimates it would take more than 20 years for Zimbabwe's economy to return to levels in 1980, when the country was considered the breadbasket of the region.

The rate of hyperinflation — running at near 1,600 percent — has the country in revolt. The number of Zimbabwe dollars that bought a three-bedroom house with a swimming pool and tennis court in 1990 will buy a brick today.

A lifetime public worker's monthly pension can't buy a loaf of bread. Charities have reported depression, suicide and malnutrition among retirees.

A hairdresser paid the minimum monthly wage of $30,000 Zimbabwe dollars said her bus fare to work costs more than her salary but she goes anyway to get the tips from clients that keep her and her daughter alive.

The list of deserters on the walls of army barracks grows ever longer despite a 300 percent pay raise in January, which fell short of the military's demand of a 1,000 percent increase.

Doctors and nurses have been on strike since December and the rest of the civil service is threatening to join them.

Makumbe, the political scientist, said an estimated 70,000 people have died this year because there are no drugs in hospitals and medical equipment such as dialysis machines don't work any more.

He said one 16-year-old boy who broke his collar bone in a fall has lain at home in pain for days because his widowed mother does not have the million Zimbabwe dollars needed to have the bone set.

Water shortages have caused a cholera epidemic that has killed dozens since November, medical officials said.

One in four Zimbabwean children have been orphaned and more than 2 million at risk of starvation, the U.N. Children's Fund said.

The government has tried to control inflation by printing money and setting the exchange rate. The official exchange rate is set at 250 Zimbabwe dollars to one U.S. dollar, but the real trading rate is 5,000 to one.

Party and government officials with access to foreign currency buy it at the official rate and then resell it at the real rate, making a huge profit.

Updates on Arrested Pastors in Zimbabwe

2007-02-10T16:36:00.000-08:00

Link to updates on arrested pastors in Zimbabwe

Report from Cathy Buckle

2006-10-24T11:49:00.000-07:00

Dear Family and Friends,
I do not remember what month or even what year it was when I came face to face, for the first time, with the reality of those strange sounding words I'd learnt at school: pellagra, beri beri, scurvy and rickets. It was in the mid 1970's and I was in my late teens. Zimbabwe's Independence was near - just a few years away - and I was doing a placement for my training as a social worker. I had been sent to a high density suburb - in those days called townships - where thousands of people, displaced by the war, were sitting it out in extreme poverty, just waiting for the time when they could go home. The task was simple - identify and then assist people most in need - and they were literally all around me.

That was thirty years ago but there are parts of it I remember as if it were today. Everywhere I looked there it was - not words in text books but living proof of pellagra, beri beri, scurvy and rickets. If ever a mother needed to explain to their child why they had to eat their vegetables - here it was. Arms and legs as thin as sticks; deep cracks and open sores on feet, shins and arms; bow legs, sunken faces and staring lethargy. And scabies too - scores and scores of children itching and itching and itching as the mites were everywhere, in their hair, in their dirty raggy clothes and probably even in the sand under their bare feet. What little we had as
trainee social workers in the middle of a civil war, didn't go very far. We had vitamin supplements, red carbolic soap, antiseptic liquid and plastic basins. Forever I will remember squatting down in the dust, picking up a naked screaming infant and bathing it in disinfectant in a bright green plastic bowl. The child was absolutely terrified and screamed hysterically - I can still hear that sound now.

Those are not images I like to remember but every now and again I do think of them, it helps to know how shockingly bad things were then, just before independence. I didn't think I would ever see those things again, at least not in Zimbabwe. This week I saw one of those words again: pellagra - and it bought memories of 30 years ago flooding back.

On page 7 of a weekly newspaper there was a report which I wish had been on the front page and I wish it had been accompanied by photographs. " Malnutrition claims five at Ingutsheni" is the headline.Ingutsheni is not a high density suburb or a camp for refugees, it is a mental hospital in Bulawayo. The report details the dire conditions currently prevailing. Severe shortages of food and medicine, a very unbalanced diet and extreme financial problems. The report told of people at Ingutsheni suffering from pellagra lesions, weight loss, nutritional diseases and serious malnutrition problems.

Ingutsheni is not alone. Similar situations are there for any who care, or dare, to go and see for themselves. I have a friend whose son is in a home for mentally handicapped adults. It is bad, very bad, I have seen it with my own eyes and it breaks my heart to know that this is happening in our beautiful, bountiful land. At homes for the mentally handicapped, the mentally ill, the elderly, orphanages -oh God help us - people who cannot help themselves are suffering and dying, out of sight and out of mind in Zimbabwe's institutions. People barely surviving on only maize meal, people who need eggs, fruit, milk, meat, nuts, cereals.

Memories of a naked, screaming child from thirty years ago are vivid in my mind this week. I cannot stop myself from wondering where that child is now, if he is even still alive. This is 2006, we are not at war and this should not be happening but it seems nothing and no one can do a thing to stop it. I write this letter for David and his colleagues in a home for mentally handicapped adults - you have no voice, I know and I am so sorry.

Until next week, with love, cathy.

Copyright cathy buckle 21st October 2006.

Letter from Cathy Buckle

2006-09-24T18:26:00.000-07:00

Dear Family and Friends,

Every day things in Zimbabwe get just a little bit harder and while
ordinary families stagger from one crisis to the next, the country's
leadership seem to be completely bereft of ideas. The latest phrase from
government officials and ministers is "Very Soon". It's never completely
clear if 'very soon' is a threat or a promise but the litany is faithfully
regurgitated at every occasion. 'Very Soon' we will have petrol they say;
'Very Soon' we will grow enough food; 'Very Soon' we will drive out every
white farmer; 'Very Soon' we will turn around the economy and 'Very Soon'
we will change the currency again, this time with just one day of warning.
This week the threatened promise is that 'Very Soon' corrupt cabinet
ministers and members of parliament will be arrested. Somewhere along the
line, however, instead of arresting corrupt leaders, police this week
arrested top company directors. All accused of increasing prices without
government approval, the CEO's of Dairibord (milk), Lobels (bread),
Saltrama (plastic), Windmill (chemicals), ZFC (fertilizer) and Circle
(cement) were arrested. It is not clear how any business can maintain
prices when inflation is officially reported to be 1204% but is crystal
clear that when the ideas run out it is easier just to arrest and detain.

The arrests of people trying to express their dissatisfaction at events in
Zimbabwe also continued this week. At least 140 NCA members were arrested
as they marched in protest over the recent abuse and torture of union
leaders demonstrating in Harare. The NCA members were arrested in Masvingo,
Gweru, Harare and Mutare in a clear sign that unrest is spreading in the
country.

And in between the arrests there has been a whole rash of absurdity that
leaves you just shaking your head in wonder. This week email and internet
service was all but impossible in the country. Zimbabwe's Internet Service
Providers said that there had been a 90% drop in internet traffic and that
it was a situation of "virtual standstill." The state owned telephone
company Tel One apparently owes a massive seven hundred thousand US dollars
to a satellite company and were appealing to the central bank to bail them
out of the debt. At one point in the week a major ISP put out an email to
all its subscribers asking if anyone had a connection in high up places
that may be able to intervene in the crisis. Towards the end of the week
Tel One posted an advert in the state owned press saying that with
immediate effect the cost of internet services had increased by two
thousand seven hundred percent. Nothing is done in measured steps in
Zimbabwe. The Big Stick comes out, threat/promises of Very Soon are uttered
and prices are backdated by years not months.

The irony of arresting the baker for increasing the price of bread by 50%
but ignoring the government owned phone company for increasing internet
prices by 2700% is absolutely bone shaking. Until next week, thanks for
reading, love cathy.
Copyright Cathy Buckle, 23 September 2006.

Violence in Zimbabwe

2006-09-20T19:47:00.000-07:00

This is what happens when you defy the Zimbabwe Government

September 18, 2006

THE beating stopped as the sun began to go down. After two-and-a-half hours, the fourteen men and one woman held at Matapi police station in Mbare township, Harare, had suffered five fractured arms, seven hand fractures, two sets of ruptured eardrums, fifteen cases of severe buttock injuries, deep soft-tissue bruising all over, and open lacerations.

Toendepi Shonhe, an MDC organiser, in hospital in Harare
with a broken hand and bruising still livid five days after the assault

The 15 included Wellington Chibebe, the leader of the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU), and senior officials of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change.

“As a case of police brutality on a group, it is the worst I’ve ever seen,” a doctor who helped to attend to them said.

President Mugabe’s security agencies are notorious for violent assault, but this was the first time that the top strata of the Opposition had been subjected to severe physical attack.

Some of the victims spoke for the first time yesterday about the assaults that took place after police broke up an attempted protest by the trade unions against the Government’s ruinous handling of the economy.

The savagery of the attacks is seen as indicating the jitteriness in the Government over its hold on power amid the desperate poverty into which President Mugabe has sunk Zimbabweans. “It was carried out as a deliberate, premeditated warning, from the highest level, to anyone else who tries mass protest, that this is what will happen to them,” a Western diplomatic source said.

Last Friday 31 protesters appeared in court charged with public order offences. Six were wearing slings. They were remanded on bail for trial on October 3. Some had been taken straight to court from hospital. Mr Chibebe was unable to appear because of his injuries.

The Harare demonstration had been intended as part of a day of nationwide protests. A huge police clampdown meant that none could get under way. The Government had given warning that the demonstrations would be “at the ZCTU’s peril” and denounced them as attempts “to create public disorder to achieve regime change”.

Last month Mr Mugabe added his own threat to opposition groups — “Be warned: we have armed men and women who can pull the trigger.”

The Government has not responded to the world outrage over last week’s violence. Up to last night, the state media had not mentioned the assaults.

When would-be protesters were taken to the cells last Wednesday, they found two teams of five young men in standard police uniform and equipped with heavy metre-long wooden sticks. The assailants also used their boots and hands. Prisoners were called out two at a time and beaten continuously for between 15 and 20 minutes. When one team tired, the second took over. At least two sticks were broken on the bodies of the prisoners.

It was 36 hours before they were taken to hospital.

“It was maximum force,” Toendepi Shonhe, a local MDC organiser, said in hospital yesterday. A bunch of steel and brass keys that he had in his trousers had been buckled from the blows.

Mr Chibebe and another trades unionist were the first to be pushed into a small cell. “We heard the screaming and the sound of beating, but we thought it was from another part of the police station,” said Mr Shonhe. “Then Chibebe came out and his face was covered with blood.”

Ian Makoni, 56, a member of the MDC national executive, went in with Lucia Matibenga, a MDC vice-president. As Mr Makoni walked into the cell, he received a hard slap in the face: “The man said, ‘So you think you can rule this country. We won’t let that happen’.”

Then the beating began. It continued when Mr Makoni fell to the floor, one policeman lashing him while his boot was on Mr Makoni’s neck. Another briefly stopped to blow on his hands for relief from the exertion. Mrs Matibenga was crying: “I’m sorry, I’m sorry,” as they whipped her. Mrs Matibenga had had her right arm broken by police in another incident about a year ago. On Wednesday they hit her repeatedly on the same spot. Mr Makoni fell unconscious three times after his assault.

James Gumbi, a member of the ZCTU council, the last to be beaten, received the force of all five assailants at once.

The 15 spent the night in a cell meant for five. “All you could hear was groaning all night,” Mr Makoni said. “It was cold on the floor. We had three blankets. You couldn’t move because the cell was so packed. You had to lie on your painful side. It was torture.”

Mr Chibebe did not move. “We thought he was going to die,” Mr Shonhe said. “And we thought they were coming back. One of the policemen said, ‘Wait till you see what we are going to do when it is dark.’ ”

Mr Shonhe said: “I will demonstrate again. This is only the beginning. The only way out is for us to come together and face the dictator head-on.”

VIOLENT CONDUCT

· Robert Mugabe’s Government has often employed ruthless and repressive tactics to intimidate and harass the Zimbabwean people

· During the 2002 elections several opposition supporters were beaten, raped and killed

· Morgan Tsvangirai, the leader of the main opposition party Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) was accused of plotting to kill Mr Mugabe. He was tried and acquitted

· During the 2005 elections about 200 women were arrested in a park in Harare, the capital, for holding a prayer vigil. Many were said to have been treated in hospital for severe bruising from beatings inflicted by police

· About 18 white farmers have been murdered since 2000, when Mr Mugabe began his campaign of violent farm invasions to drive whites from their land. Last year one of the last remaining white farmers was beaten and strangled by intruders and his body burnt in what campaigners called a “political hit”

· In March 2005 Mr Mugabe carried out Operation Murambatsvina (Sweep out the Rubbish), a brutal slum clearance in which thousands of police swooped on townships, destroying everything they declared to be an “illegal structure”. The United Nations estimated that more than 700,000 people lost their homes or jobs. Riot police then targeted churches that were sheltering people who had been made homeless.

2006-08-07T09:11:00.000-07:00

From The Baltimore Sun

World looks away as Mugabe's rule spawns misery in Zimbabwe

By Cynthia Tucker

August 7, 2006

ATLANTA -- With the Middle East near a full-fledged conflagration, with the janjaweed militias continuing their campaign of genocide in Darfur, with Afghanistan again spiraling out of control, it's hard to shine a spotlight on one small disaster in a faraway corner of the world. Nevertheless, a moment of mourning for the once-proud African nation that was Zimbabwe seems in order.

Oh, it's still there on the map. But it's hardly a functioning nation anymore. It has been brought low in a single generation by the tyranny of just one man, Robert G. Mugabe, who has been in power since 1980. The unemployment rate hovers near 80 percent; the inflation rate is more than 1,000 percent.

About 20 percent of the population is believed to be infected with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. The New Yorker recently quoted the World Health Organization on declining health standards: "The life expectancy of a Zimbabwean woman has dropped from 61 years, in 1991, to 34 years, the lowest in the world."

Zimbabwe should have been a model of multiethnic democracy and economic growth. Mr. Mugabe didn't have to be as wise as Nelson Mandela to make his nation work; he just had to avoid being a madman. Unfortunately, that's exactly what he turned out to be. And the world stood by while he ruined a country.

Black Americans have flocked to start businesses in South Africa; a few have sought citizenship in Ghana, which is offering the gimmick to draw entrepreneurial black Americans to live there. But little of that attention was ever focused on Zimbabwe, which might have turned out differently had international pressure been brought to bear on Mr. Mugabe.

Instead, other African leaders turned a blind eye, afraid their own human rights records might be examined if they turned up the heat on the Zimbabwean dictator. Inexplicably, political leaders such as former United Nations Ambassador Andrew Young have defended Mr. Mugabe.

"Our black leadership has been utterly ineffective in dealing with the autocrats and dictators in Africa who are not white," said Richard Joseph, political science professor at Northwestern University and director of its Program of African Studies.

When I visited Zimbabwe in 1983, its black intelligentsia was high on hope, convinced it could provide a model for black rule. After a decades-long guerrilla war against the whites-only government of what was then Rhodesia, black nationalists had finally brokered a peace accord, which led to elections that put Mr. Mugabe in power in 1980.

Much of postcolonial Africa was already a mess. Idi Amin had wreaked havoc on Uganda through his despotic and murderous rule; Nigeria had endured a civil war that led to thousands of civilian deaths in tragic Biafra; the nation then known as Zaire - now called Congo - was in the kleptocratic grip of Mobutu Sese Seko, who looted the country's natural resources before he was finally deposed in 1997.

Zimbabwe offered the chance for a fresh start, and for a moment it looked as if Mr. Mugabe would get it right. Though he had an autocratic instinct from the start - some suspect his army of murdering hundreds of political opponents - he sounded many of the right notes. He left in place an independent judiciary; he embarked on a literacy campaign for the country's uneducated black citizens; he called for racial reconciliation, urging Zimbabwe's 200,000 whites - including its nearly 50,000 white farmers - to stay and keep Zimbabwe free and prosperous.

But when poor blacks grew impatient with the pace of change, Mr. Mugabe responded by letting thugs seize the farms of white landowners and turn the land over to his supporters. The agricultural sector soon collapsed. Mr. Mugabe also began a brutal campaign against political opponents.

It's not too late for international intervention to save Zimbabwe, Mr. Joseph believes, but he acknowledges the difficulty in getting attention there. "There are so many tragedies [in Africa] to deal with," he said.

The only good news is that Zimbabwe is a relatively easy one to tackle. But the world community needs to get started - forcing Mr. Mugabe out and supervising elections - before there is no longer anything left to save.

Cynthia Tucker is editorial page editor for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Her column appears Mondays in The Sun. Her e-mail is cynthia@ajc.com.

How Zimbabwe Might Have Been Different

2006-07-30T23:10:00.000-07:00

This telegram, written 25 years ago from Robert Mugabe (then Prime Minister of the new republic of Zimbabwe) to Dave Coltart (then a student at Cape Town University in South Africa), shows a different vision of Zimbabwe than the one that has actually played out over the past quarter of a century. A copy of it can be found at this web address: http://davidcoltart.com/cv/ (scroll down to the bottom of the page).

"Dear Mr. Coltart replying to your message of the 17th August – for which many thanks, I am happy and encouraged to learn that Zimbabwe students at Cape Town University are ready and willing to return home upon completion of their studies to serve their country. As you are no doubt aware we in government intend to establish a non-racial society based on equality and the promotion of the well-being of all our people in accordance with our socialist principles. It is in this connection that we have adopted the policy of reconciliation whereby our people must put aside the hatreds and animosities of the past and approach the future in a positive constructive frame of mind with commitment and dedication to the all-around development of the new Zimbabwe. As we struggle to re-build our country out of the destruction or war we look to young people like your-selves to assist us achieve our objective of establishing a prosperous, harmonious and humane society in this country. I call on all of you who have completed your studies to return and join us in the urgent tasks before us. I hardly need to remind you that this is as much your home as it is ours, as has so often been said in identifying with and returning to new Zimbabwe you have nothing to fear but fear itself. Yours sincerely. R.G. Mugabe, Prime Minister of the Republic of Zimbabwe."

More steel in the men of God:

2006-05-22T16:32:00.000-07:00

Despite police threats the Church goes ahead with Commemoration

Sokwanele Report: 20 May 2006

Church leaders in Zimbabwe's second city, Bulawayo, achieved a remarkable victory today in keeping to their original plan to stage a peaceful protest march and hold public prayers, despite the most severe intimidation from Mugabe's security forces. Many similar events planned by churches and civic groups in other parts of the country to commemorate the anniversary of the regime's infamous Operation Murambatsvina were either called off or postponed in the face of massive police intimidation. But the steely resolve of the pastors leading an informal group called Churches in Bulawayo, and the courage of several hundred church members who turned out in support enabled the Bulawayo protest to go ahead notwithstanding.

On a bright Saturday morning as the streets of Bulawayo's oldest township, Makokoba, were just coming to life, a small group of protesters started to gather at St Patrick's Church. Within an hour a crowd of between two and three hundred had assembled. After a full briefing from one of the pastors the procession set off towards the city. Those in the procession were in high spirits. They were obviously not cowed by the presence of many uniformed police in and around the church grounds and along the route they walked - to say nothing of the dictator's omnipresent secret police, the Central Intelligence Organization or CIO.

This event was but one of the several organized across the country by the Zimbabwe Christian Alliance, an informal ecumenical alliance seeking a united Christian response to the current crisis. The objective - shared by many civic groups including Crisis in Zimbabwe - was to focus attention on the plight of victims of ZANU PF's purge of the poor, one year on from the nationwide campaign of destruction which saw hundreds of thousands rendered homeless and destitute. The United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan called it "a catastrophic injustice to as many as 700,000 of Zimbabwe's poorest citizens".

The organizers of most of the other commemorative events planned for this weekend eventually succumbed to police pressure to call them off. Not so the pastors who lead Churches in Bulawayo. When the police whom they had consulted on a courtesy basis, withdrew their original permission and purported to ban the procession and prayers the pastors responded with a strong public statement. They expressed their serious concern at the "about turn" which they said they viewed as "an infringement of our freedom of worship".

The statement continued: "If police are to ban church services, which are exempt under the Public Order and Security Act, such a development will have serious implications on the Church's right to carry out its God given mandate. Such action serves to clearly demonstrate the desperate position of the regime."

The pastors complained of the repeated interrogation of individual clerics and the intimidating tactics employed when they were all subjected to a two hour harangue by thirty senior security officers who were members of Mugabe's Joint Operations Command, comprising police, army and CIO. Two of their number, Pastors Lucky Moyo and Promise Maneda, were arrested by the police on Tuesday and released later on the same day.

The greater the credit of the Bulawayo church leaders who persevered despite the unlawful but nonetheless frightening threats made by the police. Clearly they believed in the justice of their cause - their divine mandate to be a voice for the voiceless poor. But apart from this important dimension of their contest with Mugabe's security apparatus, they believed that the law (such as it is) was also on their side. The draconian Public Order and Security Act (POSA) to which they made reference in their public statement provides the police with wide-ranging powers to control or ban public gatherings of three or more persons. Gatherings for "bona fide religious purposes" however are exempted from the controls. The pastors were strongly of the view that their procession and public prayers were not subject to police control. When the police purported to ban these events under POSA therefore they brought an urgent application to the High Court to have the police action declared unlawful. And a High Court judge sitting late into Friday evening, within hours of the proposed gathering, pronounced in the pastors' favour. Their confidence in their legal right was duly vindicated.

An interesting question remains to which we cannot know the answer; how different would today's events have been had the High Court judge ruled against the pastors ? The police would then undoubtedly have done everything in their power to prevent the procession from taking place. And would the pastors still have walked, in obedience to their "higher calling"? And would a few hundred church members have walked behind them? Would we have witnessed a direct confrontation between Church and State on the streets of Bulawayo? It is interesting to speculate, and our entire reporter can add is that from his contacts with the pastors he understands they had every intention of walking, with a favourable verdict from the Court or without. Their prolonged exposure to the appalling suffering of the victims of Mugabe's tyranny has put a new steel into these men of God.

The Christian protestors walked from St Patrick's Church into the city. It was an orderly and peaceful procession as the organizers had been at pains to ensure. From "Nkosi Sikeleli Africa" the procession moved on to a number of Christian songs, which quickly gained the friendly attention of passers-by. Police details provided an ironic escort, ostensibly to protect the walkers from the traffic.

When the procession reached its destination at the Brethren in Christ Church in the city those taking part settled down outside to listen to speeches, song and even a poem in commemoration of Operation Murambatsvina. The banners proclaimed "Churches in Bulawayo: we still remember", and "Standing in solidarity with the poor". A number of texts were also displayed focusing on the Biblical injunctions to defend the rights of the poor.

Fr Danisa Khumalo, a Roman Catholic priest said "we shall never forget the smoke that rose from Killarney" (one of the informal settlements razed to the ground by Mugabe's armed security units); "we shall never forget how the churches opened their doors and welcomed the homeless" …"we shall never forget the so-called transit camp" …"we shall never forget the displaced people … are we not all victims?" … "And is Zimbabwe a better place because of the so-called clean-up operation?"

Pastor Albert Chatindo reeled off a long list of statistics of internally displaced persons who have been forcibly removed to a range of remote rural destinations where they have no roots, no school or health facilities and are now almost totally dependent on food and other hand-outs from the Church. Reference was made to those who have been moved several times - one family seven times - and the resulting trauma, stress and depression.

In answer to the question whether one single displaced family from the records of Churches in Bulawayo had received any state assistance under the regime's much-vaunted re-build programme "Hlalani Kuhle", Baptist Pastor Ray Motsi answered emphatically, "No, not a single one."

The crowd also heard from some of the victims themselves of the Mugabe regime's crime against humanity. Those telling their horrific stories were hidden from view, an elementary precaution to protect their identity and save them from possible retribution from the security forces. Prayers were offered up on behalf of these victims, the homeless, the sick, children whose education has been cut short, the bereaved, and those who have given up all hope.

A message of solidarity was read out from Archbishop Pius Ncube who would undoubtedly have been in the procession himself had not a prior engagement taken him from the city, and from the British-based TEAR fund which is in a partnership agreement with local churches, providing support for their relief work among the displaced.

For many of the unfortunate victims of Operation Murambatsvina and hundreds of internally displaced persons the Church has become their only refuge and security in a turbulent time of deep crisis. They are grateful, and we as a nation should be profoundly grateful that the Church is there for them. That the Church is taking up its divine mandate, not only to care for the victims of the most gross human rights abuses but also to challenge and confront the arrogant tyranny responsible, is a cause for general rejoicing.

More Mugabe Madness

2006-05-22T07:13:00.000-07:00

Zimbabwe's President Threatens Critics

By MICHAEL HARTNACK
The Associated Press
Tuesday, April 18, 2006; 4:43 PM

HARARE, Zimbabwe -- President Robert Mugabe threatened in a speech Tuesday to bring down "the full wrath of the law" against anyone who disturbs Zimbabwean peace and stability.

The threat follows calls by the country's main opposition leader, Morgan Tsvangirai, for street protests to topple Mugabe's 26-year rule.

"Anyone who dares go against the law, ... dares lead any group of persons to embark on a campaign of violence or terrorist activity, will be inviting the full wrath of the law to descend mercilessly on him and, or on those who follow him," Mugabe, 82, said in a rambling and repetitive speech broadcast on state television to mark the 26th anniversary of independence.

This year's festivities come at a time of deepening economic crisis and a rapidly widening gap between Zimbabwe's rich elite and poor majority. Unemployment exceeds 70 percent, inflation is over 900 percent, and the country faces acute shortages of food, gasoline and other imports.

Roman Catholic Archbishop Pius Ncube of Bulawayo, a leading Mugabe critic, says at least 10,000 people in the country have died of hunger and malnutrition-related diseases. He accuses officials from the ruling Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front of denying aid to opposition supporters.

Critics blame Zimbabwe's economic woes on the seizure of thousands of white-owned commercial farms for redistribution to black Zimbabweans since 2,000.

But Mugabe pointed the finger Tuesday at a "spate of devastating droughts and an evil program of unjustified sanctions" by Western nations. The United States and European Union have imposed travel bans and other targeted sanctions against Mugabe and members of his regime.

"We are happy that no one anywhere in the drought-stricken areas was allowed to die of hunger," said Mugabe, who has led the country since independence from Britain in 1980.

Mugabe also vowed to press ahead with plans to place other economic sectors still under foreign ownership in the hands of the state or black Zimbabweans, including forcing major platinum producers with multibillion dollar development projects under way to sell at least 51 percent of their shares.

© 2006 The Associated Press

January Prayer List

2006-01-10T10:34:00.000-08:00

Please join us in prayer for the following issues in our nation:

For those IDPs (internally displaced people) who were displaced by the regime’s callous Operation Murambatsvina. Pray that they will be able to rebuild their lives and plant crops with the onset of the rains.
For the churches who are trying to identify and assist these people with food, housing and clothing, but are hampered particularly by lack of manpower, lack of fuel and lack of funds. Pray that the Zimbabwe regime will humble itself to accept the offer (from the UN) of tents to house some of the IDPs.
24% of the population is infected with HIV / AIDS; the average life expectancy is now only 34 years. Please pray for the hungry, the malnourished, and those affected by AIDS.
Please pray that the UN and the international community will find its voice and speak strongly against the evil in this land.
Please also pray that God will raise up godly men and women to lead this country forward.
That our leaders will be brought to a place of repentance and acknowledgment of their need of Jesus as their Saviour.
For pastors: for wisdom, courage and discernment.
For Christians (and others) who are at the forefront of the fight against human rights abuses; that they may be strengthened and encouraged, and have the vision to continue their work even in the face of danger.
Give thanks for the rains which have fallen and pray for a good rainy season.

Operation Murambatsvina - The Suffering Continues

2005-09-19T06:58:00.000-07:00

Sokwanele Report: 15 September 2005

In her report of 18th July the UN Special Envoy, Mrs Anna Tibaijuka, concluded "Operation Murambatsvina has precipitated a humanitarian crisis of immense proportions." After noting the 700,000 people who had had lost either their homes, their sources of livelihood or both, and the further 2.4 million indirectly affected in varying degrees, she added:

"The humanitarian consequences … are enormous. It will take several years before the people and society as a whole can recover. There is an immediate need for the Government of Zimbabwe to recognise the virtual state of emergency that has resulted, and to allow unhindered access by the international and humanitarian community to assist those who have been affected. Priority needs include shelter and non-food items, food and health support services."

Rather than acknowledging their despicable crime the Mugabe regime has tried to rubbish the Special Envoy's report. Rather than setting up a massive relief operation they prefer to remove the damning evidence from sight by the simple expedient of forcing the unfortunate victims out from the towns where their homes and premises were destroyed into rural wastelands. Yet notwithstanding their shrill denial and the urgent cover-up, it seems that Mugabe for one is not convinced that the bluff will work. Only this week he withdrew the invitation to Kofi Annan, the UN Secretary General, to come and see for himself.

In order to re-visit one of the sites of massive destruction and assess the continuing cost in terms of human suffering, one of our reporters travelled to Victoria Falls this week. Despite being mentally prepared for the worst he was still shocked by what he saw there, and the stories he heard first-hand from some of the victims and those in the community, particularly the local pastors, who have taken up their cause.

The ZANU PF blitzkrieg swept through the town on May 30th. In July a team of five pastors from Bulawayo, who were already providing food and shelter to over a thousand victims in their own city, made a "solidarity visit" to their colleagues in Victoria Falls. This visit helped to strengthen the resolve of the church leaders in Victoria Falls whose courage had failed them for a moment when one of their number was arrested by the police for expressing too close an interest in the plight of the homeless. Now the pastors from the two centres visited the ZRP together. The initial reception to their visit was hostile and suspicious but eventually the pastors won a grudging measure of respect, for the police gave them permission to move through the devastated areas, talk to the victims and assess the level of pastoral need. What they saw disturbed them profoundly.

Chinotimba is an established, high-density township. It comprises several hundred long-standing dwellings occupied by settled tenants. Such was the extent of the housing shortage in the town however that on almost every plot there was - before the Mugabe tsunami - a temporary shack standing alongside the authorised dwelling. Every shack was occupied by a local resident who would otherwise have been homeless. When Mugabe's storm troops moved through the area they destroyed every shack in their path. The pastors could see the outcome for themselves. In every remaining small, two-bedroomed house they visited they found at least 3 families - a minimum of ten people crowded into each. And adjacent to each house, in the open, where once a temporary shelter had stood, they discovered fifteen or so homeless people would creep back in the evening to sleep. In many cases these were the same tenants who had now lost what limited protection they once enjoyed from the cold and damp.

The team of pastors observed that many of those living in these squalid, overcrowded conditions and sleeping under the stars, were sick. Some, they were told, had already died of exposure. During their visit to one home they found a corpse awaiting collection for burial.

Next the pastors visited "DRC", a new township in the making. Prior to Operation Murambatsvina the plots had already been allocated to tenants. Water and sewage services had been connected up. The tenants had been granted leases and were paying rent for the sites while they started building their approved houses. Given the harsh economic conditions prevailing it was not surprising that for most the rate of progress was slow. When any money or materials was available they would buy what they could and proceed with the building. The erection of the structures went on piecemeal and more slowly than the tenants would have wished, but that was hardly their fault. The pastors were shown some of the rent cards issued by the local authority. Their evolving structures were formally approved and legal. Yet again when Mugabe's uniformed thugs came to the site they flattened every single structure, however far construction had proceeded. Approximately 2,000 people were affected by this violent and unlawful action in this area alone.

In other residential areas adjacent to the small commercial centre of the town the pastors encountered some 350 now homeless residents whose dwellings had been smashed and burnt to the ground. Again these people were the legal owners of the dwellings. Not only were they able to produce legal documents establishing their title; they also had receipts for the rent paid. When the pastors interviewed them in mid winter they were sleeping out in the open. They were, observed the pastors, very bitter at the government which had treated them in this callous, inhuman (and illegal) fashion.

In the pastors' own assessment some 4,000 dwellings and places of work were destroyed in Victoria Falls during Operation Murambatsvina. (In our earlier report of June 15 we estimated the number rendered homeless at 60,000)

Such was the level of suffering in the community uncovered by the church leaders in July. In the ensuing weeks the pastors from Bulawayo remained in contact with their counterparts in Victoria Falls, and towards the end of August they made a further visit to the once prosperous holiday resort. They found that the plight of the homeless was even worse than on their first visit.

This time the pastors discovered that, following further sweeps of the townships by Mugabe's thugs, many of the homeless had retreated to the bush two or three kilometres outside the town. There they found close to a thousand homeless men, women and children sleeping rough in the bush. These poor people had no shelter, food, water or toilet facilities. Most were unemployed but some were still trying to hold down a job in the town while living in these appalling and unsanitary conditions. All were at risk from the wild life that occasionally strayed through the bush, including monkeys, baboons, buffalo and elephants. Experience had taught them that the buffalo were most to be feared. Again those reduced to this pitiful existence expressed great bitterness and anger at the government which had visited this misery upon them.

The pastors were also shown over three warehouses in the small industrial area adjacent to Victoria Falls. To their horror they discovered that the warehouses had been converted from industrial to residential use - unofficially. Each warehouse had now become home to a large number of otherwise homeless men who were still in employment. The minimum number in each was 45. Access to the warehouses was barred to all women, including wives and family members. Any females seen in the vicinity were immediately chased away. When the men of God who visited these dismal premises raised questions about the impact of such living conditions upon family life and public morality, they received no satisfactory answers. Word was that the owner of the warehouses has demanded $ 4 million per month for each, saying how the money was raised and how many men had to be crowded in to achieve this return, was not his concern. The whole operation is of course totally illegal.

The pastors who spoke to our reporter were clearly angry and disgusted by the conditions to which the victims of Operation Murambatsvina have been subjected. They were also deeply concerned for the future welfare of these people. On the surface it might appear that the situation has improved because there are only a few people still living in the bush now. But this is only because of the regime's forced repatriation programme which has seen over 900 of those previously living in the bush around the town, moved back to their so-called "rural homes", the link with which in many cases is no more than a name on an identity document. Food packs were supplied by the church to some of the homeless before their forcible removal, but these will only last a few weeks at best. And then what?

What provision has been made by this heartless regime - indeed what provision will they allow others (who do have a heart) to make - for the tens of thousands of victims now being unceremoniously dumped in remote rural areas, without food, water, shelter or employment?

Anna Tibaijuka was right. The humanitarian consequences of this despicable programme of destruction and forced migration are enormous, and it will take several years before the people and society as a whole can recover. What is more, that time will only begin to run once the issue is addressed seriously by those in power and there is a massive, coordinated response to the humanitarian disaster. And that process has not yet even begun.

Role of the Church in African Governance

2005-08-17T09:42:00.000-07:00

From Ecumenical News International:

Nigerian President, Olusegun Obasanjo has urged African church leaders to become key players in the process of achieving good governance in the continent. "The Church must be a critical partner in the on-going efforts at strengthening the structures of democratic governance, and bringing about sustained development in an environment of justice, equity, and fairness," Obasanjo told leaders at a meeting of the Nairobi-based All Africa Conference of Churches.

Anonymous Report from the Ground

2005-08-06T10:21:00.000-07:00

Things have quietened down quite a lot here, but the suffering is still out there - just not concentrated in central locations. The displaced who stayed with us are gradually making their way back to us - just to say hello and tell us where they are staying now (mostly in the rural areas, or with friends) and to get a bit of food from us.

Economically, we are in dire straits (which is great news - the suffering is intensifying, but there is no other remedy) - power cuts are more frequent (making it impossible for industry to function), fuel is non existent (unless you import it yourself at black market prices) and the forex rate is soaring. Best of all is the fact that "he" has come back empty-handed from the chinese....!

A Crime against Humanity

2005-07-24T22:05:00.000-07:00

We, Christians Together for Justice and Peace, an informal, ecumenical group of church leaders in Bulawayo, write to express a sense of outrage at the most recent assault by the ruling powers upon the homeless and destitute in our land. We are aware that what we have witnessed here in Bulawayo over the last few days is part of a coordinated, national strategy by the ruling party. Our concern is for all the victims across this country of the utterly repugnant Operation Murambatsvina. Nevertheless our particular perspective is that of those to whom has been given the divine mandate to speak on behalf of the voiceless and the disempowered victims of injustice in the Matabeleland region.

We are appalled at the downward spiral of lawlessness and violence which we are witnessing among the very people who in any free, democratic and law-respecting society are charged with upholding the law and protecting the innocent – namely the police, the army and the security services. The trend that we observe for those employed in these services to fail to distinguish between the interests of ZANU PF on the one hand and of the State on the other, and to respect only the authority of the party, is deeply disturbing. The sustained attack upon the poorest of the poor in defiance of the laws of this land and of all the constitutional rights of the victims (who now run into millions), justifies the oft-made assertion that those who now rule Zimbabwe are in a state of undeclared war upon their own people. The people need to be rescued urgently from this destructive tyranny.

When we witness, as some of us have in the last 24 hours, uniformed police in full anti-riot gear unlawfully invading church premises late at night or in the early hours of the morning and forcibly removing hundreds, including the frail elderly and babes-in-arms, then we know we are dealing here with what can only be called a crime against humanity. When one of our number, a respected church leader who attended the scene in order to express his Christian solidarity with the victims of that crime, is subsequently arrested and interrogated in a hostile and threatening manner by police details some of whom we have reason to suspect are youth militia dressed in ZRP uniforms, then we know that our beloved country has become a fully-fledged police state. And when, the day before this outrage, another of our number who has exercised a pastoral ministry to some of these displaced persons for many years, is interrupted in the course of delivering a sermon to his parishioners at the holding camp to which they have been forcibly removed, and he is told to leave the camp immediately, then we know that those who now rule Zimbabwe are engaged in an undeclared war upon the Church. (The authorities at the holding camp in Helensvale have subsequently confirmed that no pastor or church representative is to set foot in the camp again without the express permission of the (ZANU PF) governor)

We view these latest moves of the ZANU PF regime as deeply sinister, and have the gravest concern for the welfare of the victims of Operation Murambatsvina who have now been forcibly removed from their homes (and temporary places of refuge) twice in a matter of weeks. It is abundantly clear to us that the regime has made no serious provision for re-housing and has no coherent policy for these victims of its own brutality, save for sweeping them out of the way – as so much “trash”. For their welfare we are now bound to look to the international community and specifically to the United Nations to intervene. Tragically the same is true of the nation as a whole as it seeks to be rescued from the death grip of a tyrannical power.

Let the United Nations and the international community take note that a crime against humanity is being perpetrated at this moment in Zimbabwe, and let them act accordingly and with all speed to spare us from further unimaginable suffering.

Christians Together for Justice and Peace
Bulawayo
July 21, 2005

Statement from Churches in Bulawayo

2005-07-21T22:09:00.000-07:00

21 July 2005

The churches in Bulawayo have been working hard to alleviate the suffering of the displaced people. They consulted with the police commissioners and the Governor and Resident Minister for Bulawayo.

The churches in Bulawayo were allowed to shelter internally displaced people who were willing to be resettled in the rural areas. This was agreed at a stakeholders meeting held at the Social Welfare Provincial Officer’s office on the 12th of July 2005. This was the understanding between the police, social welfare, Non Governmental Organisations (NGOs) and the churches. The rest of the displaced people had to be moved to the transit camp. Churches as part of the key stakeholders were allowed to pitch a tent at the transit camp and had a representative there at all times.

On the 19th of July, the representative of the Churches in Bulawayo at the Transit Camp was asked to leave in the middle of a church service and threatened that he should not come back without written authority from the Governor. Efforts to get an explanation from the government officials were fruitless. On the 20th of July 2005 at about 9.30pm the police forced themselves into a number of churches where these people had been kept. The churches had made plans to move them to the rural areas. They had also prepared food packs, blankets and seed packs to be distributed. In spite of all the arrangements and agreements that had been made on behalf of these people the police went on to commandeer them into open trucks. We watched with horror as the operation unfolded.

Included in these people were the sick, some who were on Anti- Ritro Virus (ARVs) medication, the elderly, women and little children. One woman was even pulled into the truck because she was frail. Children who were already asleep were woken up by the riot police and frog marched into the open police trucks. People who had corrugated sheets, metal, timber and all that were left of their belongings were packed like junk. This was the story in all the churches where they picked up the people through out the city. This operation was undertaken under the cover of darkness between 9pm and 5am. The removal of the innocent, poor, weak, voiceless and vulnerable members of society by riot police was uncalled for and unnecessary. It is inhuman, brutal and insensitive and in total disregard of human rights and dignity. These people are not criminals but bona fide citizens of this nation. It seems the crime, they committed is that they are poor. It seems the government does not have plans for poor people. This is evidenced by the destruction of their simple structures and meager property they owned. Four people died some are traumatized, depressed while others are now insane because of the situation.

As the church and the clergy we would like to register our protest in the strongest sense of the word. The government misled us to believe that what they discussed with us was in good faith. There was no need to take the leadership of the churches in Bulawayo for questioning and later the detention of one of our pastors on spurious allegations. This was uncalled for, intimidation and harassment. They handcuffed him and threatened him in a manner that is unwarranted. There is no rule of law. There is impunity, which demonstrates a tyrannical rule in our beloved country. The country faces major challenges of collapsing economy, poverty and shortage of foreign currency which should be the concern of the government. The poor people are only symptomatic to the crisis.

We would like to restate our understanding of the agreed position. The churches in Bulawayo are part of the stakeholders and should be allowed to play their part. The churches advocate for a permanent place of resettlement and release of the people that intend to go back to their rural areas. School children have been displaced by this operation which has denied them the right to education. We call on the government and its officials to abide by the laws and not to be above it. The rule of law must be restored. The churches should be allowed to continue with their God given mandate and mission to be involved with the displaced people as agreed to by the government earlier.

Bulawayo update

2005-07-09T22:14:00.000-07:00

From our inside correspondent:

9 July 2005

No news is not necessarily good news. Whilst the immediate impact of “Operation Drive out Trash” has abated somewhat, the suffering continues. This weekend marks 4 weeks since the police / militia invaded the Killarney settlement, and the displaced people are still in the same desperate situation that they were in then, it’s just that this is no longer “news” but “olds”.

The police are still going round the old established suburbs and breaking down homes, or forcing people to break them down themselves. I read of one place in Harare where people were going to be charged a fee of USD150 for the regime to break down their houses, if they didn’t demolish their own homes themselves…. the brazenness is unbelievable. At least the owners get to salvage door frames and window frames and so on, if they do the demolition themselves.

We pray that the visit of Ms Tibaijuka (UN Envoy for Habitat) will yield some hard-hitting words from that organization. She certainly seems to have had the opportunity to witness first-hand the devastation, despite the regime’s efforts to thwart her.

For those involved in assisting the displaced in Bulawayo, a well co-ordinated team manages the logistics centrally, bringing food and other basic necessities to the churches who are temporarily housing these people. However, the day to day issues take up a lot of time, and most other church work is put on the back-burner, which is fine – many of us sense God keenly at work in our churches at this time and speaking to us. Thank God that his grace is sufficient!

The authorities are still talking about setting up a holding camp some 30kms outside the city on a farm, but tents are still to be pitched, and toilet facilities still to be dug. At least the church now has a firm say in what will happen to these people, as we have been involved in the humanitarian relief aspect from the beginning. But we fear that it will be a case of “out of sight, out of mind”, once these people are moved out there. When we struggle to get petrol or diesel to make that short trip from our homes to town, how many of us are going to actually make the sacrifice of time and fuel to go out and visit the people in the camps once they’re set up? Most likely, if it goes ahead, it will become yet another near-permanent settlement, and no plans to properly re-house will ever be carried through to completion. That would leave the inhabitants way out of town, and hence far from any source of income (however meagre) – so some at least would migrate back to the city again in time.

Please continue praying for these people, and for the issues raised above. We pray for a miracle, and that these events will prompt more people to raise their voices in protest at the evil which we see. In the words of Isaiah:

‘Why have we fasted, and thou seest it not? Why have we humbled ourselves, and thou takest no knowledge of it?’ – “Is not this the fast that I choose: to loose the bonds of wickedness, to undo the thongs of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke? Is it not to share your bread with the hungry, and bring the homeless poor into your house; when you see the naked, to cover him, and not to hide yourself from your own flesh?” (Isaiah 58: 3, 6-7).

More Thoughts from Bulawayo: 26 June 2005

2005-06-30T08:50:00.000-07:00

By Anonymous

It is now 2 weeks since the start of the destruction of peoples’ homes in Bulawayo, and at the churches, we are now settling into a routine (which in reality is anything but a routine) of sorting out the daily things which need to be done.

One church here is providing shelter to 300 people, another two have over 100, another about 60, and the others (there are 8 in all) I do not have numbers for.

Feeding is obviously the main need, and most days I have been to one of the central storerooms where the churches can access emergency food. People are being fed on mealie meal, kapenta (dried fish), sugar beans, and fresh cabbage or tomatoes, or other vegetables as they become available. All but one of the churches is cooking on open fires, so you can imagine the logistical exercise taking place on a daily basis to bring firewood from outlying areas into the churches to cook for this number of people. This being winter, of course, people are prone to stoke up the fires and keep them going for longer than is strictly necessary, for the warmth and comfort they offer. And with diesel and large trucks so hard to come by, it is a tough job; garages no longer sell firewood the way they used to, because the whole informal sector is in tatters, and they were the ones who used to gather this and sell it to the garages.

Second-hand clothes pour into the churches on a daily basis too, as people go through their cupboards and see what can be put to good use, but it also takes manpower to sort through the clothes and distribute them.

We have had some very generous gifts of blankets, so there is not a shortage of these at present, but (as with the clothes) it is hard to distribute them equitably, although one does one’s best.

Someone brought in a whole sackful of cuddly toys, and it was great to distribute these to the children. They have long days – as do the adults – with very little to fill them.

My greatest concern at the moment is that disease will strike; it has the potential to spread rapidly in these conditions. Over the weekend, I heard that one of the young men had to be taken to hospital, as he had caught some infection and had become very weak; I don’t know if they will have the drugs there to treat him, but am sure that the churches can help pay for them if need-be.

From the perspective of those of us who are involved, the city seems split into two sectors: those who know (and care) and those who don’t. I couldn’t believe it when I heard that the doctor at the hospital professed complete ignorance of what had happened! We also need more churches to open their doors to the displaced, as still more people are moved into town, and as this callous exercise continues. Bizarrely, it is a real blessing to have these people staying at our church, as it keeps the issue squarely before our eyes, and we cannot stay in our comfort zones when we come to church and see them. It has been great to get to know individuals among them: often not much more than knowing their name, and having a few brief words with them during the day, but they have Names and Identities, and are not just “displaced people”.

The churches are working with the local authorities toward a solution to this situation, but given who the perpetrators are, it is difficult to see a real political will to re-housing these people in a dignified manner. It seems almost certain that they will be moved from the churches to an interim place, prior to a final home (I use the word guardedly: no structure will ever be provided for them; the most they can expect is a plot of land). But this means subjecting them to yet more trauma as they will have at least 2 more moves ahead of them. And who knows how long the “interim place” will be for….

There is a mood of uncertainty around; no-one knows what will happen next. It is good to be forced to depend on God as our Lord, our Sustainer and our Provider – we have no choice but to depend on Him. We really do take each day at a time, we cannot think ahead, but God has been so faithful. Please keep praying for these people – men and women made in God’s image, but being treated as “trash”(Operation Murambatsvina translates as “Drive out the trash”). Indeed, we cry for Zimbabwe.

Service of Prayer and Lament by Pius Ncube

2005-06-23T06:14:00.000-07:00

Sunday 26th June 2005 comemorates the "United Nations Victims of Torture Day". Christians Together for Justice and Peace have arranged a service on 25th June.

What better time to stand together with people of similar principles and the victims of the recent demolitions which have left so much suffering. Show your Christian solidarity and practice the Kingdom Values from the strength of your faith.

All people regardless of their faith who believe in the principles of Justice and Peace will be welcome. If you can not be there remember at your Sunday Service.

----------------------------------------

“The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach the good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour”. (Luke 4/18-19)

“THE GOD WHO HEARS THE CRY OF THE OPPRESSED”

Christians Together for Justice and Peace
Praying for the Nation
Saturday 25th JUNE 2005
10 a.m.
ST MARY’S CATHEDRAL
“UN VICTIMS OF TORTURE DAY”

Extracts from CTJP Mission Statement

• To promote the Kingdom principles of truth, justice and peace against all the idolatrous policies and practices of the present regime

• To enunciate clearly the Biblical principles of servant leadership and just governance

• To expose evil wherever we see it in the structures, policies and practices that enslave our people, and to call the nation to repentance before the truth which God reveals to those who have eyes to see and ears to hear

• To demand that the basic human rights, which we understand to be God-given, be respected by all. Specifically this includes the freedom of expression, association and assembly

• To promote a programme of education for all whereby each person comes to a realization of his or her human dignity and God-given human and social rights, and is encouraged to work towards the attainment of those rightsTo assert the rule of law and to make a united stand against the violence and lawlessness that are spiraling out of control and causing untold suffering

• To stand alongside the victims of violence, lawlessness and injustice in our society as an act of Christian solidarity, and to offer succour where we can

• To provide a space where the victims can tell their stories, and where necessary to be a voice for those who cannot or dare not speak the truth

• To demand an end to he present culture of impunity which benefits those closely associated with the ruling party and encourages acts of violence and lawlessness. Against this growing trend we set ourselves to see that the perpetrators, and those who sponsor them, are brought to justice

• To express our Christian solidarity with those, including but not limited to our own number, who are bravely witnessing to the Kingdom values in society and who are being persecuted for that witness

• To demand an end to the use of food as a political weapon, and to use our own best efforts, in conjunction with the relevant NGO’s and donor agencies, to lobby for the distribution of food aid on the basis of human need and without regard to race, ethnic origin, political affiliation or other such criteria

• To lobby for the adoption of a just and equitable Constitution in which the core values of the Kingdom are enshrined

A Week in the Life of Bulawayo: 17 June 2005

2005-06-20T08:25:00.000-07:00

By Anonymous

It’s hard to describe the events of the last week of chaos but, looking back, “they” have gone beyond the bounds of what we could ever have imagined.

Last Saturday, the police (some say the militia) moved into a squatter camp on the edge of the city, smashing down houses, burning them, and then destroying whatever was still left. People were left in the open; they managed to pull all their belongings into one spot in the ruins, and were camped around them. Going down there at night, the small fires were burning in the ruins, around which people were cooking and huddled for warmth. I met an old man there, the picture of sad dignity; as he was telling me his story, one tear appeared at the corner of his right eye, and rolled down his cheek. One elderly woman told me how her husband had died some time back, and her daughter had just died in the last couple of weeks, leaving her with the 3 grandchildren to look after: now she had no home left from which to care for them.

By Sunday, the relief operation had started in earnest: mainly individuals going out in their own vehicles to pick up anyone who wanted to come into the safety of the churches in town. Understandably, most did not want to move without taking their belongings with them; these included dogs, chickens, picks, wheelbarrows, beds, wardrobes, roofing sheets…. It was heart-rending to see how the possessions of one family, and all the family members could be fitted into one small private vehicle.

This whole operation of bringing people into the safety of town has been hampered by the fuel crisis which we have been experiencing, on and off, for 4 years or so. It is now probably at its worst ever – cars are locked in queues at the side of the road leading up to fuel stations, in the hope that a delivery might come. Productive time is spent, not in generating incomes for individuals and in boosting the economy, but in fuel queues. Truck drivers are in the fuel queues and are not available for hire. Resources are strained, yet somehow many people have been moved over the last 6 days.

The churches which have opened their halls to these displaced people, now resemble scrap-iron yards. The corrugated iron sheets from roofs, the wheelbarrows and sundry other possessions – all are piled up outside, and the people sleep inside on the floor, using donated blankets. During the day the children wander around, or play ball (in the cases where some kind person has donated a soccer ball); the women are busy with their usual chores of washing clothes, bathing the children and so on. Many of the men are absent during the day, returning at night to eat and sleep. There is an air of crazy normality within this completely abnormal, man-made crisis.

The impact on their homes, possessions and life is evident. What is not so evident is the trauma that this brutal uprooting must have caused.

In terms of background, the area which was destroyed was the site of a rural village, but as economic hardships increased over the last years, people flooding into Bulawayo set up their homes there - some little more than shacks. Many of the residents had been there for a number of years; quite a few were originally from Malawi, Zambia or South Africa; some were victims of the farm seizures, having lost their jobs as the farms they were on were seized. These diverse people have diverse needs, and the future is uncertain. The churches do not know how long these people will need to stay on their premises, and are taking a day at a time, receiving food, blankets, old clothing and so on from well-wishers. The regime seems to have no plan for assisting these people – not surprising, given the callousness of the operation.

So we continue: taking one day at a time by God’s grace. If you do nothing else, then please at least pray for us all in Zimbabwe.

Silent Diplomacy Can't Stop Mugabe's Mission

2005-06-19T15:04:00.000-07:00

Kate Hoey reports from Harare in the Guardian:

IN TWO WEEKS’ TIME, at a luxury hotel in Scotland, Tony Blair will sit down to dinner with President Mbeki of South Africa, an unashamed ally and apologist of the monstrous Mugabe regime in Zimbabwe. As the two leaders wine and dine in Gleneagles, Robert Mugabe’s riot police will be engaged on their brutal and systematic mission to destroy the homes and livelihoods of some of the poorest people in Africa.

How can Mr Blair talk blithely of making poverty history when African leaders led by Thabo Mbeki allow such atrocities to continue unchallenged on their doorstep? The South African President must take huge responsibility for the terror and humanitarian disaster which I have seen over the past week in Zimbabwe.

Why?

2005-06-14T15:52:00.000-07:00

by Trudy Stevenson

Like most of us, I have been trying to work out why the regime has embarked on this Operation Murambatsvina - "Operation Arrest and Destroy Everything" as I translate it freely!

It makes no sense, at first glance, for them to be turning people against them at this moment, especially their own people! And quite a lot of the dispossessed are their own people. The majority of Hatcliffe Extension voted ZanuPF in March, not because they necessarily supported that party, but they were too intimidated to do anything else. White Cliff was set up by war vets, ultra-ZanuPF supporters! Harare South has a ZanuPF MP.

I believe there are several reasons for the apparent madness:

a) Retribution - the cities voted MDC, and they need to be taught a lesson.

b) Distraction - people don't notice the failure of the state and the drastic economic decline if they are busy salvaging their wordly possessions - and even their lives! There is also a lot that can be done under the cover of "Arrest and Destroy Everything" - like sorting out the Tsholotsho element!

c) More sinister, however, is the Pol Pot agenda: drive everyone out of the towns and cities back into the rural areas, so they cannot organise themselves and challenge the regime. I doubt that Mugabe really believes they will grow food. If those already in the rural areas are not growing food, why would urbanites do any better? And where are their inputs and implements, and where are they going to be settled? Indeed, where is food available at present? In the cities, not in the rural areas. So - drive people out into the rural areas, and they are likely to starve to death, this year. Extreme? Wasn't it a minister who said a few years ago Zimbabwe would be better off without the 6 million who can't be fed, anyway? He is now a very senior minister.

I do not think we should assist in moving people out of town. That will not help those people, in the long run, especially if my analysis is correct. They will be much worse off in the rural areas. We need to find ways to allow people to remain in their homes and on their stands, especially if they have been paying rent there. If "The People's Choice" was really concerned about people and the cleanliness of the cities, they would first have established the market places (many official market places have been destroyed by the regime) and the alternative accommodation (many people had lease agreeements or paid rent to government/city council), and THEN moved the people.

That they did not do so indicates, in my view, that Operation Arrest and Destroy Everything is intended literally to get rid of a lot of what they consider rubbish - for good. Let us not allow them to do that. Let us stand in solidarity with the suffering and the dispossessed, and help them in every way we can to regain their human dignity and their livelihoods.

It is time to stand together, as Zimbabweans.

Trudy Stevenson MP
Harare North Constituency

Squatter Camp Demolished

2005-06-14T08:40:00.000-07:00

Our Bulawayo correspondent sends us these pictures:

These are photos of the Killarney squatter camp this last weekend (12 June). The police came in on Saturday and demolished the houses (which were really little more than shacks) and then burned them. People were left out in the open with no shelter - remember it is winter here - and very fearful. The police also threatened to come back with dogs and horses on the Monday to remove anyone who was left.

From Saturday onwards, the churches (mainly) moved in to remove as many people as possible. Those with bakkies (4X4 style vehicles) came in and helped, and since then a number of larger trucks have been in. We also are in the middle of a serious fuel crisis, with very little diesel around, so that makes the transport situation even worse.

The problem is - understandably - that people will not move without their possessions - including roofing sheets, beds etc. Some people have nowhere else to go, others could go to their rural homes, but transport there would be beyond their means.

Many of the churches, including ours, have opened their church halls to them, and the people are camped there until a more permanent solution can be found. This is a humanitarian crisis of huge proportions. I am sending you a letter from an MDC MP in Harare, where a similar situation prevails - that gives some of the background.

Please pray - please put it on your prayer chain - please email congressmen - these people are desperate, and it is all so unnecessary. How long, O Lord?

One real thing to give thanks for, though, is the response of individual churches and many many Christians (as well as others, of course) - it has been heart warming to see.

The Current Crisis

2005-06-13T20:00:00.000-07:00

A reporter within Zimbabwe describes the crisis presently facing the people of Zimbabwe:

Things are AWFUL here this weekend - we have spent much of the time ferrying people and belongings from the squatter camp which was demolished to various places around the city. We have 26 children camped in our place at present.

Please pray that this madness will stop - nothing short of a miracle will do it, as I can't see any earthly person or thing doing so. These people are out in the cold (remember it is winter here now) and the few possessions that they have are standing in the middle of fields with no walls around them any more. Please get the word out, and particularly ask the churches to PRAY.

Urgent Letter from Dave Colthart

2005-06-13T19:56:00.000-07:00

(Dave Coltart is Shadow Minister of Justice, Zimbabwe.)

Dear Friends:

In the course of last week thousands of poor Zimbabweans living in Harare, Bulawayo and other urban centres have had their lives destroyed by an increasingly vicious, brutal and paranoid regime. On the pretext of a “clean up” the regime’s police and army have systematically gone through our cities and towns arresting street vendors, confiscating their goods and destroying homes of poor people.

Whilst there is no doubt that some of these road-side shops and shacks are an eyesore and unhygienic, and whilst there is no doubt that virtually all are strictly speaking “illegal”, they have to be seen in the context of the fastest shrinking economy in the world which in turn is characterized by 80% unemployment and rampant inflation. The state of the economy is a direct result of the insane policies implemented by the Mugabe regime since 1997 when it first decided to send troops to protect its leaders’ interests in the Congo.

The chaotic land invasions orchestrated by the regime from 2000, to secure its grip on power, have dealt a near deathblow to the economy. Its dual exchange rate policy, designed to protect the ruling elite’s standard of living (by giving the elite ready access to cheap foreign currency), has devastated the productive sector. The low interest rate policy, designed to lessen the State’s debt, has all but destroyed the pensions of hundreds of thousands of ordinary Zimbabweans. The regime’s excessive spending on protecting itself and maintaining the elite’s luxurious lifestyle has resulted in greatly reduced spending on health, housing and education.

The vast majority of the people affected by this callous campaign are victims of these policies. Through no fault of their own they have been driven out of the formal sector and to survive have had to try to earn an honest living by street vending. Because the regime has spent billions on a huge military and a bloated, inefficient and corrupt cabinet, rather than on housing, hundreds of thousands have been forced to build shacks so that they have a roof above their heads. What is more is that these practices have been allowed to develop for years under a succession of Zanu (PF) governments which have done nothing either to allocate sufficient resources to build vending sites and low cost houses or to police these breaches of the law.

What is particularly outrageous about this pogrom is that no warning of it has been given and no alternative arrangements have been made for homeless people to move to or for unemployed people to get an alternative source of income. No plans have been announced as to how these people will be provided with an income or where the dispossessed will be housed. Indeed given the collapse of the economy it is hard to see how this regime will be able to do either. This regime cannot even find sufficient resources to pay for fuel so how is going to provide jobs and homes for the thousands of people affected?

What is particularly egregious, sinister and callous about this pogrom is that it has been done at the commencement of winter and at a time when millions are already facing starvation and are affected by Aids and have no access to medication.

I have no doubt that this pogrom will dramatically increase the number of deaths of poor Zimbabweans afflicted by the deadly combination of Aids, no access to drugs and malnutrition. The sudden removal of a source of income and a warm bed will condemn many to death in the coming weeks and months.

What is astonishing is the callousness of this regime, graphically illustrated in the two recent extracts from the regime’s Herald newspaper set out below. It is interesting that these articles are written by journalists who owe their allegiances to the regime for even they capture the desperation of the innocent poor. The words “panic stricken”; “distraught”, “shocked” and “grim faced” are used to describe the feelings of the poor. In contrast Robert Mugabe and the Police Commissioner use dismissive and aggressive language. The poor are criminals whose “illegal source of livelihood has been hemorrhaging the economy”. The poors’ “insatiable desire for corruption” has permeated the economy. The poor areas are “havens for illicit and criminal activity” in the words of Mugabe. He says there is a need to “remedy such ills”.

The truth is that it is Robert Mugabe’s regime that is primarily responsible for massive corruption which is not only some of the worst type of criminal activity but has also destroyed the economy and forced these poor Zimbabweans into penury. During the same period that millions of Zimbabweans have been impoverished and rendered homeless Robert Mugabe and his ruling elite have become fabulously wealthy, evidenced by their construction of mansions costing billions of dollars. A photograph of Mugabe’s new mansion, nearing completion in Harare, is attached. It should be stressed that his mansion is just one of many built by the Zanu elite in the last few years. The Governor of the Reserve Bank, whose recently announced policies appear to promote and at least endorse this pogrom, has himself recently built a mansion which according to reports rivals Mugabe’s.

The truth is also that this exercise has very little to do with a genuine desire to improve the lives of Zimbabweans. It has everything to do with a campaign of retribution against people who are, correctly, perceived to oppose the regime. It has everything to do with their fear that these same people will rise up in revolt against a regime that has been responsible for the destruction of the lives, hopes and dreams of millions of Zimbabweans. It has everything to do with instilling fear in the hearts and minds of these people before they rise up.

One thing is for certain: the good Lord knows everything and sees everything. The Lord knows the truth and the real motives behind these actions. The Lord also abhors actions by the rich and powerful that trample on the poor. This regime should soberly consider the application of Amos 5 to their actions:

You who turn justice into bitterness and cast righteousness to the ground
You hate the one who reproves in court and despise him who tells the truth.
You trample on the poor and force him to give you grain. Therefore, though you have built stone mansions, you will not live in them; though you have planted lush vineyards, you will not drink their wine.

For I know how many are your offenses and how great your sins.
You oppress the righteous and take bribes and you deprive the poor of justice in the courts.
Therefore the prudent man keeps quiet in such times, for the times are evil.
Seek good, not evil, that you may live. Then the Lord God Almighty will be with you, just as you say he is.
Hate evil, love good; maintain justice in the courts.
Let justice roll on like a river, righteousness like a never-failing stream.

The Bible is replete with other verses which set out the consequences for rulers who act in such a heartless and callous fashion. History also shows that autocratic rulers who have employed similar policies have been the authors of their own demise through their actions. I have no doubt that the same fate is going to befall this autocratic and brutal regime. Ironically actions such as these speed up a regime’s end.

In the interim we, for our part, will do everything possible to protect those affected by the depredations of this regime. We will do all in our power to expose the extent of the devastation, to use the courts to suspend these immoral actions and to mobilize communities to oppose the regime lawfully, peacefully and non-violently.

In doing so we hope that people everywhere will also express their outrage and condemn these actions. Now is the time for the international community to intensify pressure on this regime to respect basic human rights, to restore the rule of law in a just and humane manner and to respect the democratic will of the electorate through the holding of free and fair elections that comply with international electoral standards.

Let Justice, indeed, roll on like a river.

Yours sincerely,

David Coltart MP
Shadow Justice Minister
Zimbabwe

Mugabe's Contrived Chaos

2005-05-24T14:48:00.000-07:00

Once again, the dictator is acting out both his madness and his badness. He creates the conditions of disorder and then tries to offer himself as the people's savior for such disorders. Pray for his downfall.

Mugabe Arrests Street Vendors, Destroys Marketplaces

2005-05-24T07:05:00.000-07:00

Mugabe's latest tactic: arresting street traders and destroying marketplace stalls, calling these vendors "economic saboteurs." This London Telegraph article provides details.

Hundreds of police armed with batons and tear gas descended on the heaving street markets of the capital, Harare, and second city, Bulawayo. They wrecked stalls, destroyed goods and hauled away the traders.

Many were assaulted and the huge operation, codenamed Restore Order, provoked violent protests in the town of Chitungwiza, 20 miles south of Harare. Youths stoned police, injuring 11, in the most serious outbreak of urban disorder since Mr Mugabe's Zanu-PF Party won the widely condemned parliamentary elections in March.

Supt Oliver Mapandika, a police spokesman, said the operation would rid the cities of illegal traders. He blamed them for price rises and shortages of basic essentials and said that 9,725 had been arrested.

"Death cannot come too soon for evil Mugabe"

2005-05-24T07:01:00.000-07:00

Scotland's Sunday Herald interviews the heroic Pius Ncube, Roman Catholic Archbishop of Bulawayo. "We’re all praying that the Lord will soon take Mugabe away," says Ncube. "Everyone is fed up with him, including his own [ruling Zanu PF party] people. We're all hoping against hope that something will happen. He's a very, very evil man. The sooner he dies the better."

Mugabe Bugs the Media

2005-05-10T20:15:00.000-07:00

"In A move to control the flow of information in and out of Zimbabwe," reports the New Scotsman, "Robert Mugabe’s beleaguered government has acquired sophisticated phone-tapping, radio jamming and internet-monitoring equipment from communist hardliners in China." When people are starving, the best use of resources is surveillance equipment, right?

Economic Crisis "Out of Control"

2005-04-28T10:31:00.000-07:00

"Three weeks after President Robert Mugabe won a disputed election, Zimbabwe's economy has deteriorated rapidly and hardship has returned to haunt an embittered population," reports the Cape Times. Adds Reuters: "Garbage is piling up uncollected in the capital of Harare as Zimbabwe struggles with a deep economic crisis that has also left major towns short of water and electricity."

What the Pope Told Mugabe

2005-04-11T10:16:00.000-07:00

Below is the full text of the message Pope John Paul II sent to Robert Mugabe via the Ambassador of Zimbabwe to the Holy See when he presented his credentials on 15 May 2003. Behind the coded language of diplomacy, especially the ecclesiastical diplomacy of the Roman Catholic Church, is a strikingly forthright message.

SPEECH OF THE HOLY FATHER
TO THE AMBASSADOR OF ZIMBABWE TO THE HOLY SEE
H.E. KELEBERT NKOMANI
ON THE PRESENTATION OF HIS CREDENTIALS

15 MAY 2003

Mr Ambassador,

I offer you a warm welcome to the Vatican as I accept the letters by which you are accredited Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Zimbabwe to the Holy See. I am pleased to receive the greetings and good wishes which you bring from the President, Government and people of your nation, and I ask you kindly to convey to them my own prayerful good wishes. Although many years have passed since my visit to your country, I still have fond memories of the days I happily spent among your fellow Zimbabweans, experiencing their warmth and hospitality, sharing their joys and aspirations. On the occasion of that visit I spoke of Africa as a "continent of hope and promise for the future of mankind" (Speech at Arrival Ceremony in Harare, 10 September 1988, 1): it is my fervent desire that, in this new millennium, that hope and promise will become a reality for the people of Zimbabwe and for all the peoples of Africa.

Your kind tribute to Archbishop Patrick Chakaipa, who passed away only last month, are very much appreciated, and I am grateful also for your recognition of the significant contribution made by the institutions of the Catholic Church to Zimbabwean society at large, particularly in the fields of education, health care and social services. Indeed, the Church sees her apostolate in these areas as an essential element of her religious mission, and she is ever eager to carry out this work in harmony with others who are active in the same fields. Cooperation between Church and State is of great importance in advancing the intellectual and moral training of citizens, who will then be better equipped to build a truly just and stable society. This is part of the contribution that the Church seeks to make to the human development of individuals and peoples, especially those who are most in need.

It is this same commitment that motivates the Holy See in its diplomatic activity. In working with other members of the international community, the Holy See strives to foster peace and harmony among peoples, looking always to the common good and the integral development of individuals and nations. The task of diplomacy nowadays is increasingly determined by the challenges of globalization and the new threats to world peace which this entails. The key questions no longer concern territorial sovereignty — borders and jurisdiction over certain land areas — even if in some parts of the world this remains a problem. By and large, the threats to stability and peace in the world today are extreme poverty, social inequalities, political corruption and abuse of authority, ethnic tensions, the absence of democracy, the failure to respect human rights. These are some of the situations which diplomacy is called to address.

There is no country in the world which does not face one or more of these problems. For this reason, the values of democracy, good government, human rights, dialogue and peace must be close to the heart of leaders and peoples. The more these values form a fundamental part of a nation’s ethos, the greater will be that nation’s capacity to build a future worthy of the human dignity of its citizens. Moreover, the globalization of these values represents the globalization of solidarity, which aims to ensure that economic and social benefits are enjoyed by all on a planetary scale. This is a sure way of working for peace in today’s world. Conversely, when these values are neglected or, worse, actively violated, no programme of economic or social reform will enjoy long-term success. Instead, social and political violence will eventually increase, the gap between rich and poor will grow ever wider, and government leadership itself will be unable to create an environment that fosters truth, justice, love and freedom.

Utmost vigilance is therefore called for in safeguarding the rights and protecting the welfare of all citizens. Public authorities must refrain from exercising partiality, preferential treatment or selective justice in favour of certain individuals or groups; this ultimately undermines the credibility of those charged with governing. In his famous Encyclical Letter Pacem in Terris, my predecessor Blessed Pope John XXIII, quoting Pope Leo XIII, summed up the situation thus: "The civil power must not serve the advantage of any one individual or of some few persons, inasmuch as it was established for the common good of all" (par. 56). In fact, when everyone is treated on an equal basis — a sine qua non for a society firmly based on the rule of law — the value, gifts and talents of each member are more easily recognized and can be more effectively tapped for building up the community. As traditional wisdom handed down in an African proverb has put it: Gunwe rimwe haritswanyi inda (many hands make work lighter).

Making reference to your Government’s land reform programme, Your Excellency has remarked that this is a vehicle for improving the people’s standard of living, achieving equity and establishing social justice. In many countries, such agrarian reform is necessary, as noted in the document "Towards a Better Distribution of Land" published in 1997 by the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, but it is also a complex and delicate process. In fact, as this same document points out, it is an error to think that any real benefit or success will come simply by expropriating large landholdings, dividing them into smaller production units and distributing them to others (cf. No. 45). There are first of all matters of justice to be considered, with due weight being given to the various claims of land ownership, the right to land use and the common good. Moreover, if land redistribution is to offer a practical and sustainable response to serious economic and social problems in a given country, the process must continue to develop over time and must ensure that the necessary infrastructures are in place. Finally, and no less important, "indispensable for the success of an agrarian reform is that it should be in full accord with national policies and those of international bodies" (ibid.).

Feelings of disenfranchisement or of being unjustly treated only serve to foment tension and discord. Justice must be made available to all if the injuries of the past are to be left behind and a brighter future built. Insofar as the authentic common good prevails, the fundamental causes of civil strife will disappear. The Catholic Church pledges her full support for all efforts to construct a culture of dialogue rather than confrontation, of reconciliation rather than conflict. This in fact is an integral part of her mission to advance the authentic good of all peoples and of the whole person.

Mr Ambassador, as you enter the family of diplomats accredited to the Holy See, I assure you of the ready assistance of the various offices and agencies of the Roman Curia. I am confident that your mission will strengthen the bonds of understanding and friendship between us. Upon yourself and the beloved people of Zimbabwe I cordially invoke the abundant blessings of Almighty God.

How the Election Was Stolen

2005-04-06T20:08:00.000-07:00

"The row over voting and counting procedures in last week's Zimbabwe parliamentary election escalated yesterday when the US embassy in Harare issued a tough statement detailing a long list of irregularities," reports the Financial Times. "At the same time the opposition Movement for Democratic Change produced its first detailed comment on the way in which it says the election was 'stolen'."

It Is Not Always About Us

2005-03-17T12:03:00.000-08:00

By Albert Gumbo
13 March 2005

Picture this. It is 1940 in apartheid South Africa. You are a young black person whose father has been dead for the past 13 years. Your father’s friend has been paying for your education since then. All you want to do is get a good civil service career going so that you can be a pillar in the community and support your family. Now in your second year of university, you have just been elected to the students’ representative council by a quarter of the students. Three quarters have refused to vote because they have all just come back from a sports event at a neighbouring university and have discovered that the white students are better fed. What do you do about the election result? It looks good on any students CV to have been elected to lead fellow students. What would you do about the low voter turnout?Our young man chose to step down arguing that the vote was not representative enough of the students’ wishes. The principal Dr Kerr, organized a second round of voting with the same results. Our aspiring civil servant responded to his second election in the same way. The principal then threatens expulsion if the student does not change his mind and asks him to sleep on it. The student has a troubled night torn between duty to his sponsor and to his fellow students. The next morning he confirms that he will not serve. He is given a final chance to reflect on his decision and sent back to class. He does not change his mind and is expelled from the school. What would you have done?

Today, Nelson Mandela is the most respected person on the planet. You see, it is not always about us. Mandela made a stand choosing not to flee into a comfort zone, whatever that may be for you. Later on in his life, facing more or less the same threats at different levels and presented with opportunities to get himself out of life-threatening situations, Mandela remained true to his core values. Armed with the degree that never was from Fort Hare, he could have landed a good civil servant’s job. Later on, he could have been a very successful lawyer and still later on, he could have chosen the safety of exile but he argued that “a leader’s place is with his people.” Many of us know the public Mandela: The Mandela of the “Free Mandela” concerts, the Mandela of post apartheid South Africa and some, yes some Mandela the prisoner. Very few know the man and what values made the man an icon. You see, it is not what prison did to Mandela, it is what Mandela did with what prison did to him that made Mandela, Mandela.

What about you? I am not asking you to leave your job. All I am asking is that you stand in a queue and vote because it is your duty to your country. Who you vote for is up to you but it is important that you cast that vote. You see, it is not always about you: it is about accountability, it is about posterity and it is about “lighting a candle, instead of cursing the darkness.” It is about saying I care for my country and I owe it to the thousands who died for our freedom to try and sustain democracy. If you are sitting before a computer, remember that someone died so that you could have access to that computer or that I could email you this message. On the back of my car is a sticker. It reads: Zimbabwe: My Country, My Commitment, My Future. Its not about me, its about my country and I hope you feel the same way and strongly enough to “endure with pleasure” several hours in a queue to elect your next representative in parliament. Someone wrote: “A ship in the harbour is safe, but that is not what ships were built for.” Sail your ship into that polling booth and take your friends and family with you on 31 March. When you do that you will be “lighting a candle, instead of cursing the darkness.” The time for self-pity is long past. Our destiny is in your hands.

US Confronts Mugabe

2005-03-01T12:17:00.000-08:00

Reuters reports:

The United States on Monday accused Zimbabwe's government of serious human rights abuses and said the country's electoral process was skewed to ensure President Robert Mugabe's ruling party remains in power.

Read the full article here.

Breaking the Chains of the Past and Living in the Kingdom

2005-02-21T12:22:00.000-08:00

From Christians Together for Justice and Peace:

Christians Together for Justice and Peace amongst the Churches of Hillside Bulawayo

Saturday 26 February at Christ the King Catholic Church at 8:30am

BREAKING THE CHAINS OF THE PAST AND LIVING THE KINGDOM
Ephesians 2.14
Galatians 3. 28

All are most welcome and bring a friend or two or more.... "When two or more are gathered in my name...."

Address by the Rev Graham Shaw.

Christians Together is a grass roots organisation which brings hope and relief to the numerous sufferings in Zimbabwe and very specially here in Hillside South. It feeds the hungry, the destitute and homeless, it heals the sick, helps the orphans in this part of Bulawayo.Your help is so important to the helpless on our very doorstep!

Update on Roy Bennett

2005-01-30T21:01:00.000-08:00

January 25 2005

The blistered hands are testimony to the hard labour that Roy Bennett is now enduring on a daily basis. He is no stranger to physical work, but the sheer exertion of labouring on the prison farm is leaving its mark on Roy. However, his spirits are high and he is enjoying working outdoors but he never forgets the injustice that he is suffering. An injustice made worse with every day he spends in prison, especially in light of the fact that Zimbabwe's courts are continuing to reserve judgement or are delaying hearing cases relating to the imprisonment of Roy Bennett.

Despite appeals by his lawyers that their client is likely to suffer irreparable prejudice, there appears to be no movement by the judiciary to settle the Bennett cases. There has been a noticeable delay by the High Court concerning the Application to Review the Parliamentary procedure that resulted in the Honourable MP for Chimanimani being sentenced to a year in prison with labour. In addition, Justice Hungwe has still not passed judgement in the case brought before him in November of last year applying for Bennett's release pending the outcome of the Review application.

Furthermore, the legal team has also prepared a Supreme Court challenge on the grounds that Bennett was denied a fair trial as guaranteed by Zimbabwe's constitution. No date has been given by the court to hear this case despite its obvious urgency.

While the courts' decisions are to be respected, questions must be asked about the numerous judicial delays related to this case that have so far failed to result in a single judgement. Roy Bennett has now been in prison for almost three months. This is an obvious example of justice delayed is justice denied.

Roy and the family would like to thank everyone who has sent letters and cards to him as he has received so much mail and it is very uplifting for him. Roy asked Heather to reply to each one, but because of the volume, she is not able to.

Friends of Roy Bennett

Food Emergency Deepens

2005-01-30T20:52:00.000-08:00

"Nearly half of all Zimbabweans are facing hunger as the country's food emergency deepens," reports the Guardian.

Looming Food Shortages

2005-01-25T19:31:00.000-08:00

The Financial Times runs a short piece today on looming food shortages in Zimbabwe:

A senior UN official voiced concern yesterday about the prospect of food shortages in Zimbabwe as a result of the decision by President Robert Mugabe's regime to refuse further food aid. James Morris, executive director of the World Food Programme, challenged the Zimbabwe government's claims of a bumper 2004 crop of maize, the staple food.

Following a harvest of less than 1m tonnes the year before, such a turnround would be "staggering" if true, he said.

Zimbabwe: The Terror and Abuse Goes On

2005-01-22T21:25:00.000-08:00

The Mail and Guardian Online reports today on the campaign of violence and torture that continues under Robert Mugabe's regime:

New evidence of alleged attacks on opposition supporters in Zimbabwe has been passed to British newspaper The Guardian by activists who say they are being subjected to systematic violence, intimidation and sexual abuse in the run-up to elections in March.

Read the rest here.

Condi Rice: Zim an 'outpost of tyranny'

2005-01-18T19:37:00.000-08:00

www.newzimbabwe.com
Last updated: Tue, 18 Jan 2005 23:34:41 GMT

THE United States signalled a hardening of its stance on President Robert Mugabe's regime on Tuesday when Secretary of State-designate Condoleezza Rice named Zimbabwe in a list of six countries the US considers as outlaw States.

Read the full article here.

Mugabe Signs Repressive New Media Law

2005-01-10T21:18:00.000-08:00

Committee to Protect Journalists
New York, January 10, 2005
http://www.cpj.org/news/2005/zimbabwe10jan05na.html

Zimbabwe’s President Robert Mugabe has signed into law a measure that sets prison terms of up to two years for any journalist found working without accreditation from the government-controlled Media and Information Commission. The Committee to Protect Journalists urges Mugabe and his government to turn away from such measures, including another piece of repressive legislation still pending.

The newly enacted measure stiffens the 2002 law known as the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act (AIPPA), which has already been used to shutter Zimbabwe’s only independent daily newspaper, the Daily News. The measure, titled the AIPPA Amendment Act, took effect on January 7.

Parliament passed the AIPPA Amendment Act in November as one in a series of draconian measures adopted in advance of general elections scheduled for March. Critics say the measures are intended to intimidate the last vestiges of the independent press: Two independent weekly newspapers still operate in Zimbabwe, and some local correspondents work for foreign news agencies.

Other new legislation includes the Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act, which could be used to jail journalists for up to 20 years for publishing or communicating to any other person “false” information deemed prejudicial to the state. CPJ sources said the law could be used to intimidate journalists and the sources upon which they rely. They also fear its broad language could be used against Zimbabweans who communicate with news outlets and other organizations based abroad.

The Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act awaits Mugabe’s signature.

“CPJ is deeply troubled by these measures, which will have a further chilling effect on independent journalism in Zimbabwe,” CPJ Executive Director Ann Cooper said. “We call on Zimbabwe’s government to reject all repressive media legislation and to ensure a free media climate for elections, in line with its own commitments to the Southern African Development Community.”

The Southern African Development Community (SADC) comprises 14 southern and central African countries, including Zimbabwe, and promotes sustainable development, democracy, peace and security.

“CPJ calls on SADC—and particularly South Africa’s influential president, Thabo Mbeki—to hold Zimbabwe accountable to regional democratic standards, “ Cooper said. “With the election approaching, it’s more important than ever that the press be allowed to report freely.”

Mbeki has been mediating between the Mugabe government and Zimbabwe’s main opposition party, the Movement for Democratic Change, but he has been muted in his public comments on Zimbabwe’s appalling human rights and free press record.

In 2004, CPJ named Zimbabwe one of the 10 worst places in the world to be a journalist. Last month, CPJ wrote to President Mugabe urging him not to sign the latest repressive media legislation.

To view the letter click here.

Land Reform

2005-01-05T21:14:00.000-08:00

The December 2004 issue of Voice of Habakkuk, the newsletter of the Habakkuk Trust, focuses on land reform. It's available in PDF format here.

A Gloomy Election Countdown Begins

2005-01-03T20:25:00.000-08:00

Inter Press Service (Johannesburg)
January 3, 2005
http://allafrica.com/stories/200501030867.html

Wilson Johwa, Bulawayo

And so, another year in Zimbabwe - and in less than three months time, another election. It is a prospect that few seem to welcome.

Compare the political environment in the country now to what it was ahead of the last parliamentary poll in 2000, and the lack of voter enthusiasm is not hard to understand.

To begin with, a raft of repressive legislation has been passed that would be the envy of ruling parties elsewhere which are seeking re-election.

The Public Order and Security Act, passed in January 2002, gives officials the power to ban political rallies. It has also criminalized statements which could be seen to undermine the authority of the president, insult him or spark feelings of hostility towards him - thereby sounding the death knell for the average opposition stump speech.

The Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act (passed in March 2002) has restricted the activities of the independent press by obliging journalists to obtain accreditation from a government-appointed Media Information Commission.

"Local journalists risk criminal charges if they try to speak the truth. Besides, where would they publish? Most dissenting media voices have long ago been shut down," says an internet-based activist group, Sokwanele (which means "enough").

In addition, a Non-governmental Organisations Act, given the green light by parliament last month, bans foreign human rights groups from working in Zimbabwe. It also prohibits local non-governmental organisations (NGOs) that focus on rights from receiving foreign funding.

As money for financing these organisations is scarce in Zimbabwe itself, the bill could force many local NGOs to close their doors - including several that deal with voter education. This prompted the European Union (EU) to note in a statement issued Dec. 22 that the NGO Act, which still awaits President Robert Mugabe's signature, "could have a significant negative impact on the forthcoming elections in Zimbabwe."

Then again, those groups which do survive the funding crunch may also find themselves prevented from educating voters. The Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) Bill, also enacted last month, empowers the newly-created commission to decide which organisations should be allowed to raise awareness amongst voters.

The establishment of the ZEC was apparently intended to bring Zimbabwe in conformity with a set of electoral guidelines adopted in August 2004 by the Southern African Development Community (SADC).

Amongst other things, these stipulate that polls should be supervised by impartial institutions, that all parties should have access to state media - and that campaigns should be free of political harassment. Last November, the government-run Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation (ZBC) refused to accept adverts from the opposition despite guarantees of payment. The ZBC also routinely condemns the main opposition party, the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC).

However, the New York-based Human Rights Watch and others point out that the way in which ZEC commissioners are appointed still gives government too much say over who sits on the body.

"They (the ruling ZANU-PF party) have put everything in place to win the elections," says Lovemore Madhuku, head of the National Constitutional Assembly - a body which lobbies for constitutional reform in Zimbabwe.

As a result, the MDC has suspended its participation in the March vote. Party officials say a final decision on whether to contest the poll will be taken this month, on the basis of whether government has made real progress in adopting the SADC guidelines.

But, "There is more to gain by not participating and mounting a campaign to build a mass movement," observes Madhuku.

Opposition followers were the recipients of sustained abuse and harassment by state agents and pro-government militants in the run up to the 2000 parliamentary elections and the 2002 presidential poll, (about 30 lives were lost in the parliamentary election alone).

This prompted the EU and United States to impose economic sanctions and travel restrictions on President Robert Mugabe and other high-ranking officials.

For his part, Mugabe accuses Western powers of conspiring with the opposition to topple his government. ZANU-PF has dubbed the upcoming poll an "anti-Blair election", in reference to British Prime Minister Tony Blair.

While the members of Zimbabwe's political elite appear well-insulated from any threat to their financial wellbeing, the same cannot be said for ordinary Zimbabweans.

Government's controversial land redistribution programme and a costly involvement in the Democratic Republic of Congo's civil war are amongst the factors that have led to precipitous economic decline in Zimbabwe.

The land reform initiative began in early 2000, when veterans of Zimbabwe's war of independence and other militants occupied white-owned farms, reportedly to protest against racial imbalances in land ownership that dated back to the colonial era.

While most of the country's prime agricultural land was in the hands of minority whites at the time, it has since been alleged that the farm invasions were orchestrated by government in a bid to gain public support ahead of the 2000 parliamentary poll.

In the five years that followed, Zimbabwe's economy contracted by 40 percent due to ravages in the agricultural sector - and the resultant uncertainty in other areas of business. Inflation, down from 623 percent last January, is still at a staggering 149 percent. Unemployment runs at 70 percent.

Food production also dropped dramatically. This, combined with the effects of a ruinous drought that has affected several SADC countries over recent years, has put millions of Zimbabweans in the position of requiring food aid.

In May last year, Harare prevented the United Nations World Food Programme from updating its assessment of the amount of aid needed in the country. This has raised fears that the supplies which are available will be distributed to gain votes, rather than on the basis of need.

"There's no doubt that the cleavages of discontent have widened," says Brian Kagoro, chairman of Crisis in Zimbabwe - a coalition of civil society organisations.

While some claim that levels of repression in Zimbabwe are lower than they were ahead of the 2000 and 2002 votes, largely because ZANU-PF is confident of a victory in March, the MDC has issued a report that details extensive human rights abuses against its members last year.

The party says seven of its legislators, 53 MDC officials and hundreds of activists were subject to arbitrary arrest, abductions, intimidation, assault, rape and destruction of property in 2004.

Fear of abuse and financial need have driven vast numbers of Zimbabweans abroad to South Africa, Britain and elsewhere (some estimate that 60 to 70 percent of the productive adult population, more than three million people, has left the country).

Most of these individuals will be unable to vote in the March poll. The Electoral Bill, passed shortly after the ZEC Bill, restricts the casting of postal ballots to government employees and their spouses.

Dissenting voices within ZANU-PF have been dealt with as ruthlessly as those outside the party. "ZANU-PF has become increasingly authoritarian in its own internal politics," notes Kagoro.

Perhaps the most high-profile victim of these actions has been Information Minister Jonathan Moyo, who was removed from the highest decision-making body in ZANU-PF last month. This came after he organised a meeting of ruling party members to oppose the election of Joyce Majuru, who enjoys the support of Mugabe, to the post of vice president.

Moyo also had well-publicised differences with other ZANU-PF stalwarts. Additional reports, denied by government, indicate that he has tendered his resignation.

ZANU-PF has been in power in Zimbabwe since the country gained independene from Britain in 1980.

Poem for Roy Bennett

2004-12-28T14:03:00.000-08:00

Poem written for Roy Bennett – prisoner of conscience incarcerated in Zimbabwe

Lunar Rainbow Promise

When through the cell bars the moonbeam fingers come,
To dance in shaded yellow blue white transparency
On the darkness of the dirty walls
And the moaning of men has given way to restless mutterings -
This silent time, alone, a merciful escape from the heated toil of the day,
Brief respite from shackled injustice.
An uneasy quiet settles, where the mosquito’s hum
Becomes a symbol of self-determination droning on defiantly,
Far beyond the command of men.
In that moment, I will come and be with you
Sit beside you on the sparse floor
To share your space,
Cramped though it is,
To gently embrace your weariness
Remind you -
My kingdom is greater than this earthly span.
Another day is spent – one solid step towards liberty.
Hold to the dream,
Be strong in the truth,
For my hand is raised to protect you through voices raised in protest.
A trial by fire for a perfect vessel
To bear testimony for those who cannot speak
Long since forgotten in the place where you are.
You are my witness for them.
The moon is my messenger, my ethereal angel.
Reaching in beyond the confines,
To heal your heart and mind.
Her gentle light is your lunar rainbow promise,
Alone in this time, you are not.
Freedom is the right of the just.
None can shackle your spirit, when you rest in me.

Free Roy Bennett Website

2004-12-28T13:59:00.000-08:00

Dear Friends,

The Free Roy Bennett Campaign website is now live and can be found at http://www.freeroybennett.com.

Please can you help us to publicise the website. We'd be very appreciative if you would circulate information about the site to everyone on your mailing lists.

The Free Roy Bennett website provides downloadable factsheets; petitions; emailing facilities to easily enable people to contact their friends with information about Roy; collected articles about what Roy, his family and employees have endured for the past few years; and images which record some of those events. The website has been designed to give people as much opportunity as possible to participate in the campaign to free Roy; in particular, by helping to spread the word and by collecting petition signatures.

We'd be grateful if you would consider adding a link to our website from yours, and we have provided images for this purpose to be used by your webmasters - visit the 'Add a link to your site' section of the website.

Please do not hesitate to contact us if you have any questions and thank you very much for your support.

With best wishes,
The Free Roy Bennett Campaign

"We do not need titles or fancy cars. We just need the courage to stand up, and oppose the oppression we face." Roy Bennett, August 2003

Visit: www.freeroybennett.com
Email: info@freeroybennett.com

CTJP Statement in Support of Roy Bennett

2004-12-28T13:53:00.000-08:00

We, Christians Together for Justice and Peace, an informal, ecumenical group of church leaders meeting in Bulawayo, write to express our sense of outrage at the persecution of the Hon. Roy Bennett, MDC Member of Parliament for Chimanimani – a sustained persecution which culminated in the sentence imposed on him by Parliament in October. We write, not in a partisan spirit, but rather because we are confronted here with a blatant example of a gross injustice, to which we would feel bound to respond whatever the colour, ethnicity or political affiliation of the victim.

We believe his sentence to be totally disproportionate to the incident in question. In fact we regard him as a prisoner of conscience, imprisoned for his stand as a popular opposition MP in a rural constituency. We fully endorse the statement made recently by the Churches in Manicaland in his support.

We view Roy Bennett’s case as being representative of all those who have been detained without trial or through the abuse of the legal system, and all those who are being held in sub-human conditions in jails and holding cells across the country. Many of these people do not have a voice to protest at the injustice done to them.

We therefore encourage individuals to sign the “Free Roy Bennett” petition, which is circulating throughout the churches and civic society, and to continue to uphold him and his family in prayer. Let us pray and work together for the coming of that day when justice will “roll on like a river and righteousness like a never-failing stream”. (Amos 5/24)

Christians Together for Justice and Peace,
Bulawayo.
15th December, 2004

Merry Christmas for Who?

2004-12-28T13:48:00.000-08:00

Zimbabwe Independent (Harare)
December 23, 2004
http://allafrica.com/stories/200412240162.html

Gift Phiri

UPMARKET Barbours department store on First Street is a hive of activity as bargain hunters rush to do their Christmas shopping. The high-class department store has extended its shopping hours. Gilded smiling half-moons on red crepe paper are part of the decorations put up to capture the festive mood.

In the third-floor children's department, kids are receiving presents from "Father Christmas", who is sitting adjacent to the till. A harassed mother in the latest hipster and a turqouise blouse watches a toddler eyeing an American punchball set.

There is a selection of Barbie dolls and some Fisher Price-imitation lorries. A little girl with braided hair clutches a giant pink teddy bear. Price: $946 000 - a farcry from the average monthly wage of most domestic workers.

At Borrowdale Brooke's new Spar superstore, on special offer this week are Albany Christmas mince pies, giant focaccia bread, prawns and fresh oysters.

In this marble-floored heaven, Brian peers at sirloin steaks on the refrigerated display. He is prepared to part with a cool $200 000 for 4 kg of the meat which will be marinated, braised and barbecued on Saturday afternoon on manicured lawns. The leftovers, usually in abundance, are thrown to the Bull Mastiff and the Rottweiler.

Across the city to the south of the capital at a clearing adjacent to Mbare Musika, hundreds of residents go through their daily routine of shopping for meat. There are no shops, not even stalls but women with dishes full of fresh meat of all sorts. The street-side market offers beef, chicken, pork, mutton and offal, which attract the poor residents as much as it lures swarms of flies.

James from a squatter camp on the banks of Mukuvisi River peers closely at the meat. He has only $3 000. It is enough to get him a meal. The lady entrepreneur can offer him a bit of pig liver for that amount. It's not much, perhaps 75 grammes. But he carries it off happily. It will be shared by his partner and two kids. He is greeted like a conquering hero back from a successful hunt.

The family will not even notice the stench from the piece of meat. Today they can bribe their stomachs that they are having meat instead of the never-changing diet of boiled vegetables.

Brian and James live in the same city but are worlds apart. They voted in the 2000 general election and they both intend to vote in March next year. Brian says he will vote because it is his democratic right to do so. But James prefers the prospective candidate who visited the camp recently and promised to relocate them to new flats being built "kuWillowvale".

The gap between the "have and the have-nots" has never been so pronounced in the country's 24 years of Independence. With Zimbabwe's silver jubilee beckoning, the general populace has become poorer in direct contrast with its rulers who are wallowing in astonishing prosperity.

UNAids in its latest global report has said life expectancy in Zimbabwe has

plunged to 35 years due to the HIV and Aids pandemic. The Zimbabwe Human Development report says 70% of the country's populations can be classified as poor. Here is an ever-lengthening housing waiting list, schools have no furniture or books, hospital drug stores are not replenished on time and unemployment has remained high at over 70%.

This underlines the country's "remarkable achievements" - we are always reminded of - in the last 24 years.

In the rural areas, thousands are going hungry. The World Food Programme (WFP) has said there is "mounting and compelling evidence" of food insecurity in Zimbabwe,

"There is belt-tightening going on in Zimbabwe," said WFP regional director for southern Africa, Mike Sackett. "Between now and the next harvest, it is unlikely to improve."

Although government claims inflation has declined to 149,3%, independent analysts say that it is still the highest in the world.

The "pro-poor" policies which government has tried to implement in the last two decades have failed to achieve the desired results. The policy of indigenisation seems to have been hi-jacked by a few party sharks to enrich themselves. The land reform exercise, which was touted as the panacea for all the country's ills, is yet to achieve tangible results as there is low production on the ground.

People are still poor as evidenced by the legion of street children in all major urban centres and Harare in particular. At the intersection of Rotten Row and Jason Moyo the dozen children staying there are incongruous with the rich and famous whose vehicles drive to and from the Harare Sheraton Hotel. Or perhaps they have not yet attracted the attention of President Mugabe who drives past the spot in his 15-vehicle motorcade. Life is still a long struggle and these children will be on the streets this Christmas and the best they can get are scraps from the tables of the rich.

But for Brian and his friends, a big party in the gazebo is ideal. He is grappling with the guest list. He hopes everyone invited turns up. What will he do with all this food if it rains and noone turns up? The Christmas tree he brought home is too small and his wife has ordered him back to get a proper tree. The electrician he hired is taking too long to install Christmas lights in the garden. He has to take the Rotti and the Mastiff to boarding kennels so that they do not disturb guests with their wild howling at night. A party would be thrown for the two together with other canines.

Blessed are the poor for theirs is the world?

Zimbabwe Church Leaders Shy From Discussing Crisis

2004-12-16T07:26:00.000-08:00

An ecumenical regional solidarity conference on Zimbabwe held in Mozambique, last week, almost ended in chaos after senior Zimbabwe Council of Churches delegates denied that the country is embroiled in economic and political crisis.

The ZCC senior delegates shied from talking about the crisis situation in Zimbabwe alleging that the organizers of the conference, EDICESA, were not specific about the agenda of the meeting. The ZCC delegates included the president, general secretary and other senior bishops.

Other delegates from the neighboring countries were however, frustrated by failure of the Zimbabwean council of churches leaders to clearly articulate issues and threatened to leave the meeting.

As a compromise the meeting then resolved to look at issues faced by the whole southern Africa region. The strategy for action was focused on issues faced by Angola, Swaziland and Zimbabwe. FOCCISA resolved to mediate between the two major political parties to resurrect the negotiation process in Zimbabwe. The regional body also agreed to set up a SADC elections monitoring unit to enforce the regional principles and guidelines on elections.

Addressing the same gathering the AEA Ethics, Peace and Justice Commission executive secretary, Rev Patson Netha, urged the church in Zimbabwe to unite and resolve the crisis. The meeting was also addressed by the director of OSISA Mr. Tawanda Mutasa, who facilitated discussion on the SADC Principles and Guidelines on Elections.

Prayer Request

2004-12-01T22:07:00.000-08:00

Christians in Zimbabwe ask that you pray for these matters:

NGO bill: which has gone through Parliament, and now just requires the presidential stamp.
The hungry; the NGOs who want to feed but can’t; those who are being persecuted for raising the issue of starvation in the media; pray that the NGO’s will be able to distribute food without fear or favour to those most in need; pray that the world (including within our country) will wake up to the reality of the fact that we have a
serious food deficit.
Zanu PF conference which starts on Wednesday 1 December: that hearts, minds and consciences will be awakened.
Cricket: that there will be no violence or wrongful detention in the wake of possible protests at the England vs Zimbabwe cricket matches.
Roy Bennett (now moved to Mutoko, some 100kms outside Harare) and his wife and family. Roy was imprisoned for a year by a parliamentary court for pushing the Speaker of the House of Parliament in May.

We value your prayers and the prayers of all those concerned with righteousness, justice and peace.

In Christ,
Christians in Zimbabwe

Update: ZEC & NGO Bills

2004-11-24T12:39:00.000-08:00

Both the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission & Non-Governmental Organisations Bills went through Committee Stage last night/this morning, after much resistance from the MDC benches and many Divisions, and both are referred to PLC for the Amendments passed. It has been misreported in today's "Herald" that MDC has agreed to the Bills - this is very far from the truth! We were out-voted on every Amendment proposed by our side - and we proposed extensive Amendments to both Bills.

There has been no major amendment to either Bill. It is expected that Parliament will not sit next week (post-Budget week), so the Bills are unlikely to be passed before Tuesday 7 December at the earliest, unless in an unusual move they are pushed through after the Budget tomorrow.

Indeed the much-touted Amendment to NGO Bill on "Governance" to apply only to first-generation human rights issues was WITHDRAWN by Minister Paul Mangwana last night! Now ALL "NGOs" involved in human rights work and governance issues will be banned from receiving foreign funding.

Parliament is not sitting today, but will reconvene for the Budget presentation tomorrow afternoon.

Cricket Boycott

2004-11-23T06:42:00.000-08:00

Christians Together for Justice and Peace

We, Christians Together for Justice and Peace, an informal, ecumenical group of church leaders meeting in Bulawayo, write to express our strong moral opposition to the series of one day matches between England and Zimbabwe which are scheduled to take place in Bulawayo and Harare in the coming weeks.

Like the many church and civic leaders who have already protested against this tour and the brave cricketers from the English side who have refused to participate, we consider it to be wholly inappropriate for such a tour to go ahead at this time. We note with great sadness that Zimbabwean professional cricket has been hi-jacked by politicians who have imposed a political agenda on the game and racist criteria in the selection of the Zimbabwean players. It is a matter of great regret to us that a once popular sport which brought our country much deserved acclaim in the international field has now been corrupted and is used by an unpopular regime to make political capital.

We recall the time when the people of South Africa were suffering under the yoke of apartheid and the international community imposed a sports boycott on the country in solidarity with the oppressed. The suffering of our people under the present tyranny in this country bears many of the same marks as that suffering, and just as those who were committed to the struggle for freedom and democracy in South Africa called for a sports boycott at that time, so now we support the call for a boycott of this cricket tour. In our view it is impossible to continue normal sporting relations in an abnormal society. Rather than pretending that things are normal (which is implied in such a tour) it is surely better to call attention to the political and humanitarian crisis now engulfing this nation, in order to address the causes of that crisis, and so move towards change, renewal and healing.

We therefore urge all Christians, particularly those who have a passion for cricket, to search their consciences and consider whether it is not their duty also to support the boycott which is being organised across the country. We do this, not to bring politics into sport, but rather to make a Christian statement about a sport which has already been heavily politicized, and severely damaged, by politicians who have no real interest in the game at all. Our concern is for justice and peace, for which we are all now called to make some sacrifice.

Christians Together for Justice and Peace
Bulawayo

18th November, 2004

The Voice of the Suffering

2004-11-20T16:15:00.000-08:00

Dear Family and Friends,

I met a very brave woman this week. Heather is 42 and married with two teenage children. Her 18-year-old son has recently left home and her daughter is at boarding school and about to write public exams. These are about the only normal things left in Heather's life after almost five years of hell. As we sat and talked Heather's phone rang almost incessantly, but we had time to have a cup of coffee together. It was very special coffee, home grown on their farm in Chimanimani.

Heather is the wife of an opposition Member of Parliament and she and her husband have lost everything in their determination to bring democratic governance to Zimbabwe. Being married to an MP hasn't meant chauffeur-driven limousines, exotic weekend retreats and lavish dinner parties for Heather. It has meant rape, torture, murder, arson, looting, and theft All of these horrors have become personal experiences as they have happened directly to Heather and Roy Bennett and their friends and employees in the last five years. None of the crimes committed against the Bennetts and their employees have been resolved. None of the perpetrators have been sentenced or imprisoned and none of the court rulings issued in favour of the Bennetts have been upheld or obeyed by Zimbabwe's police.

Being married to an MDC MP has meant fear, anguish and enormous personal sacrifice for Heather but amazingly, even now with her husband in prison, she is not angry and bitter or baying for blood and revenge. It is unlikely, but not yet clear, if Roy Bennett will be allowed to stand for Parliament again now that he has been convicted for pushing an MP to the floor and sentenced to a year in prison for the offence. Heather told me that even if Roy could never represent the people of Chimanimani in Parliament again, the five years have not been wasted. The Bennetts have stood up for what is right, spoken for those who cannot and helped build the New Zimbabwe we are all fighting for. Heather says at the moment she feels like she's flailing in a raging waterfall with demands tugging at her from all directions. But her focus is entirely on her husband, his safety and his health in prison. Heather can only visit Roy once every two weeks for ten minutes. All she can take him is a 50ml tube of toothpaste, a bar of carbolic soap, a small jar of vaseline, and 6 individual pieces of fruit. This ten minutes every fourteen days has become the focus of Heather's life and she said it takes every ounce of her self control to get through those ten minutes without crying.

For pushing an MP who was shouting abuse at him in Parliament, Roy Bennett is sharing a four-man cell with 17 other people. He is dressed in rags and working all day in the fields at Harare Central Prison. When I left Heather I drove past the Harare central prison this week so that I could describe the view. In temperatures of over 30 degrees C, men wearing ragged white shorts and short-sleeved tops trudge barefoot, without hats, in the burning sun carrying buckets. They walk to the river, bend, fill their buckets, and carry the water back to pour on the vegetables. Others carry hoes and they bend and weed between lines of straggling greenery, watched by a bored prison official.

For almost five years I have been writing this letter to the world about events in Zimbabwe. It is men and women like Roy and Heather Bennett whose unceasing bravery and determination have given me the courage to keep going. When I left Heather this week I was ashamed that all I could offer as thanks for their example and inspiration was my words. Roy Bennett did not steal or loot, burn, torture, rape, or murder, he pushed a man to the floor. If you would like to know more or would like to be involved, please email freeroybennett@yahoo.com.

If you are able to contact your local MP please ask them to expose this situation and lobby support for a fellow parliamentarian. If you could just help with signing a petition, please do so. Every name is wanted and needed as soon as possible, just write PETITION in the subject line and contact freeroybennett@yahoo.com. This letter is for Heather Bennett, a very brave woman who asks only for our voices.

Until next week, love Cathy

For full information on Roy Bennett please also visit my website: http://africantears.netfirms.com.

Copyright Cathy Buckle 13th November 2004

Mugabe Seeks to Ban NGOs

2004-11-17T21:05:00.000-08:00

As expected, Mugabe's ruling party, ZANU-PF, is pushing through legislation which will ban all foreign-funded non-governmental organizations. This action is against the advice of the parliamentary committee which was asked to look into the constitutionality of such a decision. Here is the committee's report lambasting the proposed legislation.

Statement of Solidarity with Archbishop Ncube

2004-11-16T20:39:00.000-08:00

Christians Together for Justice and Peace

We are an ecumenical group of church leaders, based in Bulawayo and representing a wide diversity of Christian traditions. We have a common concern for the kingdom values of truth, justice and peace and are committed to working together and supporting one another to this end, in Christian solidarity. The Roman Catholic Archbishop of Bulawayo, Pius Ncube, is a respected and valued member of our group.

We note with deep concern the recent personal attacks by Mr Mugabe upon Archbishop Pius and other church leaders. When interviewed on Sky News he made a scathing attack on the Archbishop Emeritus of Cape Town and Nobel Peace Prize laureate, Desmond Tutu, labeling him “an angry, evil and embittered little bishop”. He proceeded to belittle the enormous contribution Tutu had made towards the ending of apartheid in South Africa, and then later in the interview linked him to Archbishop Pius with these words: “That’s another Tutu, the bishop, an unholy man. He thinks he is holy and telling lies all the day, every day”.

We have to say that we find these words so offensive and insulting that we cannot think any true national leader would ever utter them. Moreover it goes beyond a personal attack upon the revered church leaders concerned because within the Church, the body of Christ, “if one part suffers, every part suffers with it” (1 Corinthians 12/26). We therefore take Mr Mugabe’s words as a direct attack upon the Church itself. We feel the pain and share the offense of these harsh words directed at both Archbishop Tutu and Archbishop Ncube. If they are “angry”, “evil” and “telling lies” then, in Christian solidarity, so are we. In reality what we are witnessing here is a serious attack upon the Church itself – or rather upon that part of the body of Christ which the ruling elite has not been able either to cower into silence through fear or to neutralize through the promise of patronage. It is an attack upon what we might call the “Confessing Church” in Zimbabwe, alluding to the group of Christian leaders of that name who would not be cowed into silence or “bought” by the Nazi regime in Germany, but who bravely resisted that evil tyranny, at great personal cost.

If we are attacked or threatened by the powers then so be it. We are proud to take our stand alongside Archbishops Ncube and Tutu. Our mandate as church leaders in resisting an evil tyranny and in witnessing to the truth, justice and peace of the Gospel is derived from the Scriptures themselves. Specifically here we might quote the divine word given through the prophet Ezekiel:

“… this is what the Sovereign Lord says: ‘Woe to the shepherds of Israel who only take care of themselves ! … As surely as I live … because my flock lacks a shepherd and so has become plundered and has become food for all the wild animals …I am against the shepherds and will hold them accountable for my flock. I will remove them from tending the flock … I will rescue my flock from their mouths, and it will no longer be food for them” (Ezekiel 34/2, 8, 10)
(Space does not here permit but it is worth reading the whole passage to feel the full force of the prophetic denunciation of the failed shepherds of Israel)

Let the Church of Christ stand together against all slanders and threats. We have a divine mandate to challenge and confront sin, especially the sin of the rulers which causes untold suffering to the children of God. Our allegiance is not to any human ruler but to the King of kings and Lord of lords !

Christians Together for Justice and Peace
Bulawayo

10th June, 2004

SA Churches Blast Zim Leaders

2004-11-15T20:57:00.000-08:00

Zimbabwe Standard (Harare)
Bulawayo, November 14, 2004

A high-powered delegation of South African Churches on Thursday blasted Zimbabwean leaders and their African colleagues whom they said continued to cling on to power while their citizens were suffering.

Reverend Elijah Maswanganyi, who led the delegation that attended a week-long conference of the Association of Evangelicals in Africa held in Bulawayo, in solidarity with the people of Zimbabwe, said such actions deserved strong condemnation.

Maswanganyi said there was an urgent need of young blood in the leadership in Zimbabwe and Africa if the socio-political situation and economies of African countries were to improve. "The problem with our leadership today is that of holding onto power for too long and they seem not too keen to pass on the torch to others. The main reason for clinging to power is simply because of their sins, and they don't trust anyone."

He told the SADC delegates that the region urgently needed leaders with no chieftainship, autocracy and beliefs in royalty if southern African nations were to develop.

The 38 church leaders from 14 SADC countries - who attended the SADC churches solidarity conference, also strongly slammed the NGOs Bill which they described as "poisonous" and " detrimental to human life development".

They said only heartless and inhumane lawmakers during the time of Egyptian ruler, Pharaoh, could craft such "harsh and crude" laws .

When time came for Archbishop Pius Ncube to speak, the whole conference was temporarily stalled after Central Intelligence Organisation (CIO) operatives invaded the room, outnumbering the delegates.

Ncube, however, did not present his address on the current Zimbabwe crisis at the scheduled time because of the CIO disruption. He did so on Friday morning amid applause from SADC church leaders who praised him for being "brave", "just" and "sincere" to the whole world.

Ncube said there was urgent need for the SADC region and the international community to exert more pressure on Mugabe and his government so that the country could return to the rule of law.

o Meanwhile, the churches on Friday signed a Bulawayo Declaration, which called on all the parties to work towards promoting good governance and leadership through biblical principles that will reduce political intolerance, violence and corruption.

Displaced Farmers in Zimbabwe

2004-11-15T19:53:00.000-08:00

Appeal to the Methodist Church in Britain

2004-11-15T18:31:00.000-08:00

Zimbabwe Memorial to Conference

BECAUSE:
Ordinary men, women, and children are arrested without valid cause in Zimbabwe (e.g. ‘praying in public’); because people are regularly beaten and tortured by the police, and left without food, water, or medical attention for days in Zimbabwe’s jails;

BECAUSE:
Little children and vulnerable adults are starving in the cities and countryside; because freedom of assembly and the press have been outlawed; because President Mugabe continues to refuse food aid even though 2.5 million people are at risk of starvation, so that the government can control the distribution of grain for its own political purposes;

BECAUSE:
The churches and Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) who report on human rights abuse, hunger, political oppression, in Zimbabwe are persecuted; because laws make all protests and reporting of rights abuse illegal in Zimbabwe; because international aid to NGOs that support human rights has been cut off, and because the government has imposed a news black out, so that the suffering of the people and their slow starvation goes unreported;

BECAUSE:
Our Lord, Jesus Christ, has said to his Church: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, and to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour”;

AND BECAUSE:
Lack of public protest by the churches provides a plausible mask to a ruthless dictator;

BE IT RESOLVED THAT:
The Derby South Circuit asks the Methodist Church of Britain to stand with those who have the courage to speak out against the human rights abuses of the people of Zimbabwe;

THAT
We support the rights of individuals and churches in Zimbabwe to worship God in freedom, including in the church’s worship, her right to speak out against any individuals and institutions that oppress the body and starve the soul;

THAT
We support those churches and NGOs in Zimbabwe who feed the people, report on human rights, support the vulnerable, and announce the day of the Lord’s favour, when all of humanity and the creatures with whom we share God’s earth and heaven will have a fair share of the good gifts of God’s creation, meant for all to share;

THAT
We abhor the torture of Zimbabwe’s people, especially government-sponsored repression of the human dignity and human rights of the person, including the right to free speech, free assembly, free association, equitable distribution of food, land, clean water and air;

AND FINALLY THAT
We, the Methodist Church of Britain, will provide physical, financial, and spiritual assistance to the people of Zimbabwe to the best of our ability. We will speak out in the Parliament and the press to ensure that the sufferings of the people of Zimbabwe are not forgotten, and that we will work with other Churches and institutions to ensure that those who have fled from the repressive regime in Zimbabwe are given asylum, food, shelter, and counselling.

About this Site

2004-11-01T10:23:00.000-08:00

Christianity is a solidarity movement and has always been one. From the beginning, Christians have confessed that God has entered in solidarity with creation in Jesus Christ. As Saint Paul has written, "God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself." God’s work continues in our work, as we seek for the restoration of all creation. This means, reaching out to the broken and oppressed, defending the defenseless, and speaking up for those who cannot speak for themselves. In this ministry of pain-sharing, we are called to weep with those who weep and rejoice with those who rejoice.

This website aims to be a voice for the many who have no voice, the citizens of Zimbabwe who are suffering under the oppression of an evil king. Here we tell their stories, recognize their hardships, whisper their prayers and share their hopes. Together, with them, we look forward to the day when the heavens above will shower down justice and peace in a dry and weary land.