- Dear Family and Friends,
-
-
- Every day that price controls continue, the discontent
amongst Zimbabweans rises. Everyone, everywhere is now affected and it
doesn't matter if you are a political heavyweight, a soldier, policeman
or ordinary member of society, everything is either in very short supply
or just not available at all. In one big supermarket this weekend there
were 78 empty shelves on a busy Saturday morning and the goods most plentiful
were wine, cleaning products and toilet cleaner.
-
- Walking along one empty aisle after another with my 15
year old son, home for the school holidays, we were looking for soft drinks
- any colour, flavour or make would have done but there was nothing at
all to be had. We both stood open mouthed at the sudden scrum that developed
right in front of us.
-
- From an internal storeroom a man emerged with a shopping
trolley which was half
-
- full with small, 375 ml, bottles of cooking oil. From
all over the supermarket, and the doorway and outside on the pavement,
people ran, pushed, shoved and shouted as they scrambled to get to the
trolley and grab one of the small bottles. Even security guards on duty
at the exits joined in and it was frightening to witness the dramatic changes
in people from calm and dignified to squabbling, scrabbling, pushing and out
of control.
-
- Even though he is a teenager and almost taller than me,
I looked first to my son, was he OK, out of the way of the madness, and
then to a friend I'd seen, an 82 year old man who had gone white as a sheet
and seemed rooted to the spot, not sure what was happening or which way
to move. I put an arm round him and he was shaking and I couldn't believe
he hadn't been knocked over in the stampede.
-
- Outside in the car park the conversation was not about
empty shelves, the lack of essential food stuffs or the sudden and complete
disappearance of even soft drinks. It wasn't about the lack of meat or
eggs, flour, sugar or rice or the daily water cuts, instead it was about
beer.
-
- Now Zimbabwe has run out of beer it seems and for
many this has been the anaesthetic which has dulled the pain of this
time of madness. Outside the main beer distribution warehouse in the town cars
and trucks lined both sides of the road, their vehicles piled high with
empty crates. A bread truck was stopped at a small garage where petrol
and diesel haven't been available for some weeks and perhaps a hundred
people lined up each to be allowed to buy a single loaf. These are scenes
I have seen in documentaries about the second world war and they are almost
impossible to comprehend in our country which until so recently was a land
of plenty.
-
- You really do have to see these scenes, walk amongst
the people and witness these shocking scrambles for food to understand
why Zimbabweans are crawling under razor wire and climbing over barbed
wire border fences to get out of the country.
-
- Until next week,
-
- thanks for reading,
-
- love cathy.
-
-
- Copyright cathy buckle
- 4 August 2007
- www.cathybuckle.com
- My books: "African Tears" and "Beyond
Tears" are available
- from:orders@africabookcentre.com
-
- cbuckle@mango.zw
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