I was walking along my local High Street about 3 years ago, when I noticed in the Travel Agent's shop a small notice in their window -
An African Night at Discovery Quay
I mentioned this to my husband and he immediately said "Time Share - No Ways" I was a little disappointed, but as we had been to a Time Share evening before, where they had tried to get us to buy a flat in Spain or Portugal. As we had decided that this sort of thing was not for us, I thought well there was no point in going. However, the following week this notice was still up in the window, so I decided as I was on my own, to go in and try to find out a little more about this African Night. I was inforned that it was a slide show with a talk all about Southern Africa. South African Airways and the Travel Agency were holding a small bits and bits to eat with a glass of wine afterwards There was no pressure at all I was assured. So I went home and relayed this information to my husband. "Are you sure about that, I am still certain it is Time Share" My heart sank as I thought it would be lovely to go and see a slide show of lots of places in Southern Africa, just to see really, places we had been to ,where l would like to go and see etc. But I left it.
Come the third week this Notice was still in the window, and I once again went in to try and get total clarification as to what the evening entailed. It was suggested to me that I take two tickets and tell my husband I was going and did he want to come with me? Which is exactly what I did.
"Well I need to get some petrol and we could get some fruit juice that we need if we went" said my hubby. I was delighted. I was going to my African Night after all. Little did I realise what the outcome of the evening was going to be..........................
Posted by: Mara at October 29, 2004 23:26 |
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I quote from Jan Raath. An article he wrote in the Times Newspaper of 28th October 2004.
A White opposition MP who is a hero to thousands of black Zimbabweans faces a year's imprisonment for knocking one of President Mugabe's ministers to the ground during a parliamentary debate.
A parliamentary disciplinary committee yesterday recommended that the legislature jail Roy Bennett of the Movement for Democratic Change for contempt of parliament.
Under Zimbabwean law, the legislature can fine, expel or jail MPs for misbehaviour in parliament. Debate on the issue begins today. Mr. Bennett's lawyers say that his chances of avoiding prison are slim. Mr. Mugabe's supporters have a comfortable majority in the house. "The sentence should send a clear message that parliament should not be used as a boxing arena" Paul Mangwana, the chairman of the disciplinary committee said.
On May 18th Mr. Bennett was goaded by Partrick Chimamasa, the Justice Minister, who told him that the Government had seized his farm for good and that he would never be able to return because his ancestos were "murderers and thieves". Mr. Bennett, 47 and a former policeman, stormed to the Government Front Bench and floored Mr. Chimamasa with a shove to his chest. Mr. Mangwana said "Mr. Bennett's plea of provocation had not been accepted. The MP had shown no remorse" he added.
Mr.Bennett had suffered four years of harassment at his farm. Two of his 360 workers were murdered. Most of them were assaulted and tortured, as was Mr. Bennett. His wife and two teenage children were terrorised. Soldiers, police and ruling party thugs occupied his farm in violation of six High Court orders and looted his home, crops and livestock. "They hate me" he said "They do it becasue it is me. I am white Opposition".
Mr. Bennett has won the support of many ordinary black Zimbabweans. In parliamentary elections in 2000 he stood for the opposition - Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) in the tribal farming constituency of Chimanimani in southeast Zimbabwe, until then one of the country's most militantly pro-Zanu (PF) areas. He won 12,000 votes, twice as many as his ruling party opponent. After his scuffle with Mr. Chinamasa, three Zanu (PF) MP's congratulated him. His opponent acquired the nickname "Chinamasaoswa" meaning "he who took such a beating he messed his trousers".
Mr. Mugabe said "Bennett must go" Zanu(PF) banned him from eastern Zimbabwe. Harare's Governor threatened revenge if he was seen on the streets of the capital. Two days later, thousands at an MDC rally in one of Harare's townships greeted him as a hero. Mr. Bennett, a second-generation Zimbabwean, was raised on a farm. His speech is peppered with "Rhodie" slang, but he also speaks Shona and has been accorded the unheard-of-honour for a white man of a tribal totem - of Mukanya (Baboon) - which admits him as a full-blooded Mushona.
___________________________________________
I was today invited out to meet a lady who has, until recently, lived in Zimbabwe for 50 or more years. She told me that she was in Zimbabwe when the incident took place and it was shown repeatedly on T.V. She informed me that what she saw was nothing to what Mr.Bennett is being charged with. In fact Mr. Chinamasa stumbled and this is what caused him to fall down. A shove was not enough to down a man.
Posted by: Mara at October 28, 2004 17:54 |
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africa
A Chance Meeting
I noticed an African family in my home village the other day. A grandmother and her daughter with a teenage son and a much smaller child. They seemed a very nice family, and I asked the grandmother if she were new to my village. She replied no that they were up for a week's holiday.
I mentioned to her that I had been born in Malawi and asked where she came from. She whispered her reply to me - Zimbabwe. I was amazed but realised this was a legacy of fear. I immediately took her in my arms and hugged her, she in turn hugged me. We exchanged names and chatted for a while about exactly where came from, where we had had our babies, the wonder of the Victoria Falls and Lake Kariba etc., and I wished her well and went on my way. Once I had finished all my business I set off to go home, when I heard someone call out to me - it was the grandmother's daughter.
Christine went on to tell me that she was doing a degree course, and once it was safe to go back to Zimbabwe she would be returning. She intended to put to good use her new found knowledge and get into Government, and to really make a big difference to women's lives. She gave me her address and phone number and hoped I would contact her. Christine also said that I and my family would be most welcome to return to Zimbabwe as her guests. This simple act of friendship gave me such a warm feeling, and I returned home with a smile on my face.
Posted by: Mara at October 27, 2004 01:28 |
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Up todate News from BBC on Zimbabwe
SA unionists stranded in Zimbabwe
A South African trade union mission is stranded at Zimbabwe's airport, after being threatened with deportation for defying a ban to enter the country.
The government has described the trip by the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) to assess conditions in the country as "not acceptable".
The group was allowed into Zimbabwe on Monday with the stipulation that they did not meet certain civic groups.
But the delegation refused to give any guarantees.
'Appalled'
Members of the 14-member delegation are currently being held under armed guard at Harare International Airport.
The South African government has said it is negotiating to resolve the "current impasse".
"They wanted us to leave but they didn't want to provide us with the tickets," Cosatu official Violet Seboni told the BBC's Focus on Africa programme from the airport.
"There are police all over the show... We are confident we have made a mark.
|
The move is a snub to the South African government as well as to Cosatu
Patrick Craven
Cosatu spokesman |
"We were told that the cabinet took the decision that we must go back to South Africa."
After a meeting with the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU), police and intelligence officers raided the offices, Ms Seboni said.
They were then taken back to their hotel and escorted to the airport.
Speaking from Johannesburg, Cosatu spokesman Patrick Craven told AFP the organisation was "appalled at the conduct of the Zimbabwe police".
He said the delegation were due to meet the South African high commissioner later on Tuesday.
"The move is a snub to the South African government, as well as to Cosatu," he said.
'Law unto itself'
As a signatory to the International Labour Organisation convention, Ms Seboni said the Zimbabwe government was not respecting workers rights.
"The government of Zimbabwe is a law unto itself," she said.
She said they were proud of the fact that they had managed to see the ZCTU, in a meeting she described as "fruitful".
The group had intended to assess the state of the country ahead of parliamentary elections next year.
Among the groups the mission had been told not to meet were the Zimbabwe Crisis Coalition, the Zimbabwe Council of Churches and the National Constitutional Assembly, which the government view as politically linked to the opposition.
Meanwhile, no details have emerged from Zimbabwean opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai's meeting with South African President Thabo Mbeki in Pretoria on Monday.
Mr Tsvangirai is now visiting the leaders of Mauritius, Lesotho, Namibia and Botswana.
It is his first trip outside Zimbabwe for nearly three years, following the return of his passport after his acquittal on treason charges last week.
Posted by: Mara at October 26, 2004 23:11 |
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Here are a couple of Cathy Buckle's weekly letters:-
Dear Family and Friends,
Despite targeted sanctions and travel bans, Zimbabwean President Robert
Mugabe was this week in New York where he addressed the United Nations
General Assembly. President Mugabe's characteristic attack against the
West and in particular against Bush, Blair and the Iraq war allies, drew
applause from delegates. Back home we didn't have much to clap about and
in fact, in my home town of Marondera, we've been wringing our hands in
despair, shaking our heads in wonder and muttering in disgust ever since
last Saturday.
It was the annual Marondera Show last weekend and part of the
entertainment involved displays by the army and airforce including a mock
battle. Under normal circumstances there would be helicopters and a lot of
noise and smoke but there shouldn't be blood or injuries. Like everything
else in Zimbabwe now, there was nothing normal about what went on in
Marondera last Saturday. No one really knows what happened but the mock
battle started and somehow a few live bullets had been loaded instead of
blanks and suddenly people in the crowd of spectators were being shot.
Eyewitnesses said that people were screaming and running in all directions
and that it was utter chaos. One eyewitness, a teacher accompanying school
students to the show, said she saw a woman who had been shot in the chest
and a man who appeared to have been shot in both legs. Two teenage girls
standing next to the army display were both shot in the legs. Others
reported seeing two soldiers being covered with white sheets and loaded
onto a helicopter but no one knows the condition of these men. There has
been very little news in the state media about the event, but at least 14
people were shot, four of whom appear to have been children.
All week the gossip and rumour in Marondera about the shooting has been
escalating and the quieter the government and army are, the more we have
speculated about what really went on. No one can understand how live
bullets accidentally got mixed in with blanks, or how any trained soldier
could mistakenly load a live cartridge instead of a blank. Some people
think it was just gross incompetence and negligence but others believe it
was actually an assassination attempt on the provincial Governor who was
one of the spectators.
The Commander of the Zimbabwe National Army, Major General Sibanda,
visited the injured at Marondera Hospital during the week and, according
to the Herald newspaper gave the patients Bibles, fruits and get well soon
cards and said: "What happened was an accident which has never happened
before since Independence. We have come here because we are human and feel
for the people who were injured in the accident."
A report in Thursday's Herald newspaper carries the headline : "Live
cartridge found at mock battle site." What just one? Is the question I ask
myself.
Dozens of people have emailed to ask if I had been hurt in the incident. Thank
you for your concern. My son and I were at the Show but not at the time of the
shooting.
Until next week, love cathy.
Copyright cathy buckle 25th September 2004.
http://africantears.netfirms.com
Dear Family and Friends,
This week the latest telephone bills were delivered and they were the
stuff that heart attacks are made of. The price of one unit of local
telephone time has gone from 120 to 585 dollars. Even though I knew it
would be a complete waste of time and money, I phoned the state owned
Telephone Company to complain about the increase and see if there was any
sort of logical explanation for such a massive price rise. A bored and
unsympathetic voice told me that the price had gone up. "Yes, I can see
that," I said, "but can you tell me why?" "I know nothing about that," was
the response. "But the government has just announced that inflation has
dropped to 314%," I said "and yet your increases are 485% - that's over a
hundred and fifty percent higher than inflation." Again, the answer was "I
know nothing about that". In desperation I said "can you at least tell me
what exactly the increase is for?" The answer did not change: "I know
nothing about that." I assume that my telephone bill pays a part of this
woman's wage and that alone incenses me. Another call, by a friend, to the
Branch Manager also yielded the same answer: I know nothing.
Zimbabweans have become trapped in a communication and information prison.
A few months ago the cost of postage stamps increased by almost 500% and
we all stopped posting anything except the most essential letters. The
traditionally long queues in the post office have become a thing of the
past because no one can afford to do business there anymore. The irony of
the telephone charge is that in the same week that most peoples' domestic
phone bills have hit the half million dollar a month mark, President
Mugabe has been touring schools and giving out computers. Almost every
night on ZBC news for the past fortnight, we've seen either President
Mugabe or his wife donating computers to schools and extolling the virtues
of Information Technology. How tragic it is that all these schools now
have computers but will not be able to afford to use them to their full
capability. School fees have remained frozen at unsustainable levels by
our government and no schools are going to be able to afford the massive
telephone charges that are made for email and internet connections. The
generosity of the President's gifts are made a complete mockery of, by the
rulings of his ministers or the excessive greed of his governmental
oganizations who are literally driving themselves out of business as we
can no longer afford the services they provide.
For four and a half years I have been sending this weekly letter for free
to anyone who cares enough about democracy to read it. Without the
generosity of my email server Mango, I would not be able to afford to do
so anymore. I would like to try and keep writing this letter for as long
as I can afford to pay the telephone bills but must again ask people to
please not send photos, pictures or attachments that now cost literally
multiple thousands to download.
Thank you and until next week,
with love,
Cathy.
Copyright Cathy buckle 18th Sept 2004
http://africantears.netfirms.com "African Tears" and "Beyond Tears" are
available from: orders@africabookcentre.com ; www.africabookcentre.com ;
www.amazon.co.uk ; in Australia and New Zealand:
johnmreed@johnreedbooks.com.au ; Africa: www.kalahari.net
www.exclusivebooks.com
No one seems to care about the ordinary people in Zimbabwe.
Thousands are leaving due to lack of jobs and food, and from fearing further bloodshed in early next year's elections.
Why do we not care? Why is nothing being done to help them?
