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The mass email I'm composing looks like "All Zim, all the time"--
Posted on 08/09/2002 3:04:19 AM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife
A friend of mine in Australia told me that Zimbabweans were people who must not be taken seriously by a reasonable person. He told me that "there was a free and fair election in Zimbabwe, and in fact, there is no evidence of dissenting voices except from a few individuals like you whom we read were arrested mainly because of the use of violence".
I agreed with my friend totally after realising a lot of contrast between the behaviour of most people in Zimbabwe, especially when we compare their actions and the social, political, economic and moral environment that is supposed to be the source of influence of any behaviour.
People are all living well below their desired standard of living, yet they continue to keep quiet. The privatised police brutalise people, yet still this is not a point of concern. At universities and colleges students languish in hunger and someone can go for a good three days or more without anything to fill their stomach and without any hope for a normal meal. Girls are taken advantage of by capitalists who provide them with money, but most probably spread HIV/Aids to the desperate and unsuspecting young girls, yet they keep on at their studies in order to accomplish their ambitions. Workers are grossly underpaid, yet they go to work every day to trade the only energy in their bodies to ensure food for their families.
The rural people voted for Robert Mugabe, yet they are the most pathetically deprived of resources and information, and the truth is that they are still wearing Third Chimurenga T-shirts believing there is a revolution in Zimbabwe even though there is no map that shows where the revolution starts from and goes to; that is if there is such a revolution at all. The media is victimised on a daily basis; journalists arrested and if human rights activists raise questions about it, they too are harassed and victimised, but surprisingly all the Zimbabweans continue to keep quiet. The judiciary has been torn apart and senior officials like the Minister for Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs have criticised judges openly in cases they are directly implicated, thereby occasioning blatant contempt of court.
Those who have money are no longer different from those who do not even have a cent because they can only buy bread, sugar and milk if these are available, but if they are not there then there is no difference between the haves and have-nots. The government instilled fear in the majority of its citizens and it seems people have accepted it as normal to queue for basic commodities, while the government-controlled Herald proudly trumpets in one of its headlines "Yellow maize arrives in Zimbabwe"‚ as if there is anything good about having stockfeed for our food.
The list is endless and to continue repeating them is a waste of time because everyone, including those who are causing the problems, are familiar with the problems Zimbabweans are facing. The best way forward is a united voice and to be above party politics. This means a coalition of supporters from various parties. Zimbabweans from all political parties must demand the following from Robert Mugabe and his government:
__ A free and fair presidential election under the supervision of the African Union, the European Union, the Southern African Development Community and any other interested parties; .
__ A new constitution prior to the rerun of such an election, while a proposal for a new constitution such as that of the National Constitutional Assembly can be put to a referendum;
__Restoration of the rule of law; Independent security organs (police, Central Intelligence Organisation, soldiers and army) and judiciary;
__Provision of drugs required for the hospitals; Courtship of donor programmes and activities designed to attract more funding in the form of foreign currency;
__ Restoration of international relations in order to boost tourism;
__ Sacking of all arrogant ministers who are not unanswerable to the people;
__Allowing the media to operate freely, while the independent media are freed of State harassment;
__ Freedom of expression and freedom after expression;
__A non-racial transparent land resettlement and redistribution programme;
__ An Immediate end to hate language and speech;
__A free education system, especially at institutions such as universities and colleges;
__An end to politically motivated violence;
__A transparent food relief distribution not based on party affiliations; and
__ A national youth service free from exploitation by any of the political parties and free of abuse of ignorant unemployed youths
Zimbabweans must realise that these and other unlisted demands do not come on a silver plate. During colonialism courageous people like Mugabe endangered their lives to obtain the independence.
Those who believe they are unjustifiably treated and are convinced the government is not addressing their problems, must confront the government through dialogue first. If this fails as has been always the case, then by any means necessary we must build a Zimbabwe we want because we are all citizens of Zimbabwe.
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The mass email I'm composing looks like "All Zim, all the time"--
During the election, Mugabe's militia - bolstered by 20,000 new recruits based at 23 posts in Mugabe's tribal homeland of Mashonaland - spread out around the nation and prevented at least 500,000 registered MDC voters from turning in their ballots, about 15 percent of all registered voters. The militia set up roadblocks all across the nation and would allow only passengers with ZANU-PF membership cards access to voting stations. On one Zimbabwean farm, where a poster of Mugabe was ruined with graffiti, the militia reportedly threatened to send the black workers on the farm to one of Mugabe's "re-education camps."
Philip Chiyangawa, a ZANU-PF member of parliament was captured on videotape telling one Mugabe youth militia member to "get a hold of MDC supporters; beat them until they are dead. Burn their farms and their workers' houses, then run away and we will blame the burning of the workers' houses on the whites. Report to the police, because they are ours." ***
The choice for people who are not high up on the ZanuPF pecking order is going to be a bullet in the face while fighting or a bullet in the back of the head while in a re-education camp. Actually there are worse fates than death although they usually lead directly to death. That is what awaits those who are Mugabe's victims.
Stay well - Stay safe - Stay armed - Yorktown
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