- Dear Family and Friends,
-
- There is a distinctly different feeling in the air in
Zimbabwe this week - and I'm not talking about the approaching winter
winds.
For months before the elections when you asked many people how and when
the situation would change, they would say "hope and pray". Soon
after the election results were announced those same people, when asked
the same question, said: "we are going to suffer and we are going
to die."
-
- Now almost a month since the elections, the shock,
disbelief
and reality has set in. Despite all the pronouncements by President Mugabe
at his inauguration about a booming economy, huge agricultural outputs
and food and job security for us all, nothing has changed. No one is fooled
anymore because nothing has changed.
-
- Agriculture Minister Dr Joseph Made continues to seize
farms and evict owners. Health Ministers Stamps and Parirenyatwa can still
not provide the most basic services such as disposable gloves and pain
killers for use in our hospitals and clinics.
-
- Finance Minister Makoni has less to work with than ever
before and now has to find Z$ 95 million to buy food and save us from mass
starvation.
-
- But there is a distinctly different feeling in Zimbabwe
amongst the most ordinary of people. When you ask that same simple question
- how and when will things change - ordinary Zimbabweans respond in just
a few words: "soon, now we have had enough."
-
- People are tired of broken promises; they are tired of
being beaten and chased out of their homes; they are tired of tending the
wounds on the backs of their husbands and sons; they are tired of standing
for hours at a time to buy sugar and oil and maize meal. People are tired
of the lies, the hatred and the violence and they are hungry. People are
tired of worrying where the money will come from to buy a loaf of bread,
particularly this week when it was announced that price of yeast went up
by 142%. People are tired of hearing that government youths have gone on
the rampage and this week prevented 600 tonnes of sweet potatoes from being
irrigated.
-
- I do not know of a single household where there is not
a story of horror waiting to be told - a husband beaten up, a son abducted,
a friend tortured, a relation in hiding, an uncle in prison. People are
tired of government ministers making speeches filled with hatred and anger
such as the words spoken this week by the female Deputy Minister of Youth,
Gender, and Employment creation: "Zanu PF will not continue to sell
maize to MDC supporters because they oppose us ... anyone who continues
to support MDC should be beaten."
-
- It is beyond belief that a government minister can get
away with saying such disgraceful things. How can a woman whose salary
is paid by both MDC and Zanu PF taxpayers remain in government. Worse
though,
how can a woman who has carried life in her womb, held children and
grandchildren
in her arms and cooked food for her family, say that people should go
hungry
and be beaten because they do not believe the same things as her.
-
- 344 women were arrested this week, many had babies on
their backs and children at their feet. They had gathered at the YWCA for
a conference and were arrested for meeting without police permission. No
doubt the deputy minister approves of this too.
-
- From a restless Zimbabwe until next week.
-
- With love,
- cathy
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