Gold and Diamonds

Dear Family and Friends,

A few months ago a friend was approached by a vendor who had a large walnut-sized transparent stone. The vendor didn't want to say where he'd got the stone from but claimed it was a diamond and he was trying to sell it. The stone had a sharp edge which made a deep scratch in a steel drill bit without damagaing the stone. Was it a diamond? Who knows, but there are plenty of stories like this doing the rounds. People in Mutare tell of deals going down all the time, men in dark glasses, cars with tinted windows and little bundles changing hands. Some talk of clear stones, others are grey or cloudy but whatever the colour we are all wondering just who died while digging for these stones.

A chilling report has just been released by Human Rights Watch implicating Zimbabwe's military in horrific abuses at the newly discovered diamond fields in Chiadzwa. Human Rights Watch collected evidence of violence, murder and forced child labour at the diamond deposits in Marange. The report talks of military helicopters gunning people down, of teargas being thrown into shafts and of people buried alive. It says that at least 214 people were killed during a three week military operation in October 2008 and of people buried in mass graves. Press reports quote Georgette Gagnon, Africa director at Human Rights Watch as saying: "The police and army have turned this peaceful area into a nightmare of lawlessness and horrific violence." Human Rights Watch says that: "Zimbabwe's new government should get the army out of the fields, put a stop to the abuse, and prosecute those responsible."

It is incomprehensible that this is going on even now as Prime Minister Tsvangirai tries to persuade the west that we have changed and are deserving of their money. The Human Rights Watch report could not be more damning, or more to the point when it notes:

"The government could generate significant amounts of revenue from the diamonds, perhaps as much as $200million US dollars per month, if Marange and other mining centres were managed in a transparent and accountable manner. This revenue could fund a significant portion of the new government's economic recovery programme."

There remains little doubt in anyone's mind just exactly why Zanu PF refused to concede defeat in the 2008 elections: from farms and wildlife to gold and diamonds.

Until next week, thanks for reading,
Love Cathy

Copyright Cathy Buckle 27th June 2009
www.cathybuckle.com

For information on my new book: "INNOCENT VICTIMS" or any of my other books, or to subscribe/unsubscribe to this newsletter, please write to: cbuckle@mango.zw

A Rhino Called Tatenda

Dear Family and Friends,

Behind the scenes, out of the spotlight and against the most overwhelming odds, some amazing things have been going on in Zimbabwe these last nine years. This week we saw proof of one in the form of a documentary about a black rhino called Tatenda. Hand reared from a baby, Tatenda was orphaned when he was just a few weeks old. His mother, together with another heavily pregnant female and a male rhino were all shot and killed one night in November 2007 on a game farm outside Marondera. The slaughter was for a small handful of horn supposed to have medicinal properties. The tragedy came after years of breeding and re-introducing black rhino to the wild.

Tatenda survived the massacre, was nurtured and protected by John and Judy Travers and their family and staff and his early life is immortalized in this enchanting Animal Planet film: "There's a rhino in my house. "

Perhaps hand rearing one animal doesn't sound like such a spectacular event, these sorts of things happen all the time in Africa, but the fact that an endangered orphaned black rhino could be saved here, at this time in our history, is astounding. Farms ravaged by ongoing land seizures, rampant unchecked poaching, shops without food, filling stations without fuel. Everything involved in keeping Tatenda alive was surely a major undertaking. Game cubes, milk powder, even rubber teats had to be sourced and imported from other countries.

This film isn't just about a baby rhino, it's about dedication, devotion and a vision for the future. Throughout the film there is no bitterness, blame or anger but only compassion and a determination to save a species for the next generation. Enchanting images of the children from Numwa School coming to a Rhino's birthday party, squirming and giggling as they stroke his hard grey skin are the picture of the real Zimbabwe that we all love so much

There are many stories within this story; many people who helped, donated and were involved behind the scenes. One who must be mentioned is Johnny Rodrigues and his family and their ZCTF (Zimbabwe Conservation Task Force). Always on the move, fetching and delivering,

monitoring and recording, this family are determined to expose what's been going on this last decade and to save Zimbabwe's wildlife. Like many of Zimbabwe's little known heroes, their own life has been on hold while they've sacrificed all for love of their country and its flora and fauna.

As desperate as the plight of the people of Zimbabwe is right now, the state of the environment and the animals is even more precarious. For Tatenda and everyone involved in saving him, we are thankful.

Until next week, thanks for reading,
Love Cathy

Copyright Cathy Buckle 20th June 2009

What Wheat Crop

Dear Family and Friends,

The first little seed of truth was planted in the government controlled Herald newspaper this week. In a report about the country's annual wheat crop, we were finally told in writing what we already know and can see with our own eyes, which is: What wheat crop!

The Vice President of the Zimbabwe National Farmers Union, Garikai Msika said the winter wheat cropping programme was a total failure. The report cited the usual litany of plaintive excuses including a lack of money, seed, inputs and the change to US dollars. The report said that the Zimbabwean government should immediately start mobilising funds to import wheat. Tragically, the report did not even mention the continuing farm seizures or the effect they are having on food production in the country.

We are still trying to take in the news that an American doctor, resident in the USA for the past 30 years and with an established medical practice there is trying to take over the remaining 60 hectares of a Chegutu farm. The doctor has not lived in Zimbabwe since Independence three decades ago and yet now she says she is merely correcting an 'historical imbalance.' Even harder to comprehend was the doctor's own admission that it was her sister, a church Pastor, who had tried to evict the farmer. I am reeling still, to think that a woman of the church would be involved in this and cannot help but wonder what example this is for the parishioners in her church.

Most distressing of all is that 4 months into Zimbabwe's unity government this madness is still going on. As fast as Prime Minister Tsvangirai and Finance Minister Biti persuade the world to give us money, farm grabbers are just as fast sabotaging all attempts to pull the country out of starvation. Daily we hear of maize crops being stolen by the truckload, of export oranges and mangoes being looted or going rotten in cold rooms and all because there continues to be no law and order on the farms.

The UN said recently they expected to have to feed 7 million Zimbabweans by the end of this year. We have wasted our chance to grow a winter wheat crop and the Red Cross are even having to feed our prisoners. While this goes on non resident doctors, church Pastors, politicians and security personnel continue to ravage Zimbabwe's few productive farms. Surely the time has come for Prime Minister Tsvangirai to put a stop to this.

I am delighted to close with the news that my book "African Tears" is at last available again, as an E-book. Have a look at my website and follow the links if you are interested.

Until next week, thanks for reading,
Love Cathy

Copyright Cathy Buckle 13th June 2009

Walking Amongst Us

Dear Family and Friends,

Life is strange, almost surreal, in Zimbabwe this winter 2009. A week into June and the weather still can't quite decide if its winter or not. Mosquitoes, usually long gone by now, continue to emerge at dusk and come into our houses, sitting on ceilings and roofs waiting for victims. The weather isn't the only thing that's weird at the moment.

Deputy Prime Minister Mutambara came to our town this week. One port of call was the local government hospital which has been in a state of near collapse for a couple of years. Gaping potholes that littered the road leading to the hospital were hastily filled before the Deputy PM's visit but the patching stopped a couple of metres past the main entrance gate. You fall into the holes on this main road just a corner away. The mentality of making things look good just for the leaders and only when VIP's visit, continues to haunt us and the rights and needs of ratepayers and members of the community remains elusive.

There's a notable increase in the amount of big 4x4 vehicles belonging to international charities on our roads. UN departments, food programmes, medical organizations, religious charities. We hear this week that the ICRC are feeding our prisoners, providing inmates with blankets, soap and clothing. Unicef are drilling boreholes at the University and our supermarkets are filled with South African goods.

'Zimbabwe for Zimbabweans,' the much quoted Mugabe mantra, is never more hollow than now.

So destroyed is our agricultural foundation and so collapsed our production at home, that imported South African goods are cheaper than home grown food. Imported frozen chickens continue to be 2 US dollars (20 SA Rand) cheaper than birds grown in our back yards. Its a surreal situation not likely to improve any time soon as farm grabs by senior political and security men continue unashamedly even as we try to put the country back together again.

Perhaps the most surreal and frightening thing of all is that 4 months into Zimbabwe's unity government, truth, justice and accountability is simply not featuring. The very men and women who led us to this diabolical state; the ones who stole, beat, burnt and killed are walking amongst us untouched - as if nothing happened. Zimbabwe cannot be allowed to move on without truth, justice and accountability.

Until next week, thanks for reading,
Love Cathy

Copyright Cathy Buckle 6th June 2009

Rusty Paper Clip

Dear Family and Friends,

The unity government is being torn apart over the retention of the Reserve Bank Governor, Gideon Gono. While they argue, threaten and grandstand, we look at our tattered lives.

In a box, abandoned and covered in dust and fluff, lies the evidence of my lost life savings, seizure of my home and property and destruction of my pension. I am not alone but am one of ten million Zimbabweans who find themselves in the same position, one that has unfolded in just 9 ugly years.

At the bottom of the box are the last accounts from our farm that was seized by the Zimbabwe government in 2000. The accounts show no income and there is a note attached with a rusting paper clip which says: "No compensation paid for house, fixtures, fittings, infrastructure, fencing etc." That statement remains true 9 years later.

Next in the box is a tattered orange cardboard file. Most of it's contents are still too painful to revisit. One section deals with lost life savings which had been invested in a bank that was closed down by Zimbabwe's banking authorities. In dog eared, dirty bundles held together with melting, perishing elastic bands there are piles and piles of money. Purple 500 hundred dollar notes, olive 1,000 dollar notes and then strange things called 'bearers cheques. They are blue, red, brown, purple and green bits of paper with expiry dates and values ranging from 5 to 100 thousand dollars. They bear the signature of Reserve Bank Governor, Gideon Gono.

Then other bundles with even higher denomination 'bearer cheques' ranging in value from 1 to 500 million dollars. These too have expiry dates and are signed by Gideon Gono. There in the box are the records of new attempts to save money - futile efforts because Mr Gono slashed three zeroes from the currency and thousands became single dollars overnight.

More bundles of money, this time they are in billion dollar denominations and are called Special Agro Cheques. they too have expiry dates and are signed by Mr Gono: purple, green, brown, blue, valued from 5 to 100 billion dollars. Then more records of how everything was lost again when Mr Gono imposed daily withdrawal limits from the banks. We could only draw out enough of our own money to buy half a loaf of bread a day; the queues were in the thousands and our money lost all its value before we could get it out of the banks.

Again Mr Gono removed zeroes from the currency; in a single swipe billionaires became paupers. New bank notes which started at one dollar soon got bigger as mismanagement continued and again we had bank notes for 500 thousand, 1 million, 1 billion. We went dizzy as notes were issued by Mr Gono for 1 trillion, 10 trillion. When Mr Gono's presses physically couldn't print the money fast enough, all out trillions, quadrillions and septillions were lost when trading in Zim dollars was suspended and we moved into US dollars.

At the top of the box is a small newspaper cutting. It quotes Mr Gono admitting that he removed money from private bank accounts to fund government expenses. And after all this there is cause for argument?

Until next week with a view of scarlet poinsettias
Love Cathy

Copyright Cathy Buckle 30th May 2009

Greed and Speed

Dear Family and Friends,

As Zimbabwe struggles out of the darkness of a decade of dictatorship and political mayhem we are beginning to see how hard the return journey is going to be. And how long. Little snapshots tell the
story:

Two policemen, in uniform and on foot, did a walkabout tour of some local businesses this week. They want to improve relations, they say, but need assistance with the basics. They desperately need tyres for their vehicle and are looking for donations from the public. If you can't run to tyres then how about typewriters, or paper they ask, saying they have no stationery.

Typewriters! Can you imagine modern policing being done, not on computers but typewriters! For a couple of years members of the public have had to provide their own fingerprint forms, vehicle clearance forms and even their own affidavit forms when visiting a police station and then wait endlessly as records are handwritten. With such problems as pens and paper, it doesn't bear thinking how long it might take to restore law and order at higher levels, in regard to things like property rights, human rights and farm invasions.

Two well known shops with branches all over the country went into darkness this week as their electricity supply was disconnected. Having no tills, computers, lights or other equipment took them back into the dark ages in a hurry. They had been disconnected for non payment because the amounts being demanded by ZESA (the electricity supplier) are in the thousands of US dollars - more than a company's entire monthly turnover. Similar exorbitant amounts are being charged by the state controlled fixed line telephone company and everyone is reeling and then despairing as they are disconnected. It appears that the electricity and telephone suppliers are trying to recoup 10 years worth of collapse in just a few months but their greed and speed is putting business and the rebuilding of the country into a new cycle of shutdown.

Cause for much excitement this week has been the availability, suddenly, of telephone lines for mobile phones. For more than eight years these lines have been non-existent, available only on the black market. In January this year a line on the black market cost 135 US dollars.This week phone lines are available legally for 35 US dollars - still ten times more expensive than in our neighbouring countries but they are selling like hot cakes. Oppressive Zanu PF legislation concerning access to information and the free press has not been repealed but the sudden boom in phone lines is a dramatic step forward for Zimbabweans who can now send and receive their own information without the political shackles.

Until next time from the land of golden grass,
Thanks for reading, love Cathy

Copyright Cathy Buckle 23 May 2009

No Going Back

Dear Family and Friends,

We were disappointed but not surprised when Prime Minister Tsvangirai's planned address to Parliament on the 13th May was cancelled. By then the deadline given by the MDC to resolve outstanding issues in the very unequal power sharing had passed but, surprise, surprise, nothing happened. Ultimatums and deadlines still don't work against Zimbabwe's old order - everyone knows that, or almost everyone it seems!

Then we were told that Prime Minister Tsvangirai would make a statement on Friday the 15th May announcing what's to be done about Provincial Governors, Foreign Ambassadors, the Reserve Bank Governor and Attorney General, all of whom were appointed unilaterally by Mr Mugabe. That statement also didn't happen and so we are left to speculate and remain stuck in no-man's land as the struggle for real power continues.

Even as the stalemate continues everyone looks at the MDC to DO SOMETHING but no one looks at Zanu PF to do anything. It's like we have collectively stopped expecting anything from Zanu PF. Almost every day Zanu PF wail about sanctions and no one even bothers to correct them anymore and say: sanctions are not imposed on Zimbabwe but on specific, targeted individuals.

'Shall we come home?' is a question some Zimbabweans living in exile are already asking but so far there's not a sensible answer to give them. To people who grow food for a living we can only say: farm seizures are continuing; Title Deeds are still worthless; police still don't get involved because "it is political." To professionals we can only say: government teachers, nurses and civil servants earn just 100 US dollars a month; lawyers get arrested for defending their clients and people go to prison for months at a time for their political beliefs; none of the repressive and oppressive legislation has been repealed and dual citizenship is still outlawed. To everyone we have to say: there are no jobs; the cost of living is crippling; there is often no water and electricity and infrastructure is in a state of near collapse.

Its not all bad though because despite the tragic loss of both his wife and his grandson in the last three months, Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai is still saying he's not giving up. "There's no going back" is the phrase he keeps repeating and it is the hope that we keep holding on to.

Until next week and from under a wide blue sky,
Thanks for reading, love Cathy.

Copyright Cathy Buckle 16th May 2009.

Rooftop Food

Dear Family and Friends,

Winter is moving into Zimbabwe and even though the days are shorter, the wind cooler and the temperatures dropping, it is a beautiful time of year. The grass is tall and gold, the cassia and mimosa trees are covered in yellow flowers and the aloes are promising a spectacular display in the weeks to come: their spikes a mass of blooms waiting to open. On the roadsides the white poinsettias are covered in flowers, the Munondo trees are crowned with chocolate pods and in the vleis and wetlands the red hot pokers are a sight to behold.

As our growing season comes to an end and after the good rainy season we've had this year, I'd like to be able to tell you that out here in the country areas there is a great bustle of harvesting underway. Sadly that is not the case this May 2009. Roads out of once busy commercial farming areas are stagnantly quiet. All season many of our farms have lain fallow because of no seed, no fertilizer or quite simply no interest from the people who took them over. Zimbabweans travelling east, west, north and south can testify to seeing this same picture of empty fields in all directions.

Thankfully in urban areas the small roadside, suburban plantings (similar to allotments) of maize, beans and sunflowers have done quite well. Maize cobs are lying out to dry on verandahs and roofs in urban areas and this has become a common sight; it is a graphic demonstration of how hunger has infiltrated right into our cities, towns and urban neighbourhoods. This rooftop food is how Zimbabwe's teachers, nurses and civil servants are going to survive the months ahead - on what they've grown on the side of the road.

We are reminded this week that the MDC have been participating in Zimbabwe's power sharing unity government for a hundred days. Most days its been very hard for ordinary people to see the power sharing as it has had so little effect on our daily lives. Criminals still walk free on our streets; political prisoners are still juggled in and out of detention; chaos continues on farms; water and electricity supplies are pathetic and an undoubtedly fierce battle for real power rages just out of view.

Most people are saying that 100 days is long enough, the honeymoon is over and its time to get down to business. No more delays, stalling, empty ultimatums and promises. We want to see action from this enormous government that we have, real action that will improve our lives and lift us out of the filth and despair that we've tolerated for the last decade.

Until next week, thanks for reading, love Cathy

Copyright Cathy Buckle 9th May 2009 

Shocking Legacy

Dear Family and Friends,

Its been a month now since Zimbabwe's unity government took office and this seems an appropriate point to record the changes that are affecting everyday life.

The economy is now running completely on US dollars and the prices of most goods are still two, three or sometimes even four times more expensive than in our neighbouring countries. But, on the positive side, more and more shops have got products back on their shelves so at least now we can find food - even if we can't afford most of it!  Basic economic rules of supply and demand and competition are coming back into play and forcing the outrageous profiteers to back down. Seeing shelves stocked with food is such a shock that we still stand and stare wide-eyed at the sight of tins and packets and bottles. For such a long time we've been scavenging, scrounging, bartering and just going without that seeing food for sale again makes us realize the terrible abuse that was inflicted upon us by the previous leadership.

Another positive development has come for civil servants who have begun receiving a small monthly salary in US dollars, and a top up in Zimbabwe dollars. Frankly the top up in Zim dollars is a waste of time and utterly useless as there is nothing at all that you can buy in local currency - not even a single banana or cup of ground nuts from a woman on the roadside. The  US dollar amounts being paid to civil servants is nowhere near enough, is not linked to people's qualifications and is not comparable to salaries being paid for the same work in the region, but it is a start.

I had to visit a Police station recently and seeing the appalling circumstances under which these men and women have to work is truly shocking. Ceilings falling in, broken tables, chairs collapsing and without backs, no stationery, nowhere for people to sit, doors falling out of their frames, roadways almost unusable because of deep gullies and potholes. This  situation is similar in almost all government buildings and is another shocking legacy left by the previous leadership.

In the last month utilities, licences and other urban service fees have gone through the roof and despite our paying in US dollars no changes are yet noticeable on the ground. Garbage is still not being collected (its been a year now) roads are a maze of deep potholes, street lights still don't work and sewage continues to run openly in some streets. Water and waste management is in a perilous place and  the handing back of assets, tools, chemicals and other equipment by ZINWA (controlled by government) to the local municipalities has opened a writhing can of worms. Water pumps have gone missing, chemicals have vanished and assets which actually belong to the ratepayers, have simply disappeared. We are told by the incoming MDC officials that legal action is being taken and that people will be held to account. This promise is a breath of fresh air but actions speak louder than words! 

It's very early days and a mountain of decay, corruption and plain thievery stands in the path but the feeling of hope continues to grow. Change must come from the top, the middle and the bottom; we're ready at the bottom!

Until next week, thanks for reading,
Love Cathy     

Copyright Cathy Buckle 16th March 2009 

Susan Tsvangirai, Thank You

Vacate Those Farms

Dear Family and Friends,

I am writing this letter on the 9th anniversary of the commencement of farm seizures in Zimbabwe. I am also writing this letter on the day when Mr Mugabe's 85th birthday party is being held in Chinhoyi.

It is hot and humid day during which I have been forced to fill and carry buckets of water into my urban home so as to flush toilets, wash dishes and bath. Taps have been dry in the whole town for a couple of days and none have been spared including schools, hospitals, an orphanage, old age home, residences and businesses.

Television coverage of the birthday party began when Mr Mugabe's speech was already well underway in the afternoon. A long, pale, slate coloured tent adorned with sweeping sashes of golden yellow cloth stood in the fields of the Chinhoyi University. A red carpet lay in an avenue through the rough cut grass. Dignitaries and officials sat in the tent flicking paper fans while everyone else sat on the ground a respectable distance away in the baking sun.  

Wearing a dark suit and tie and leaning on a red, fabric covered podium Mr Mugabe spoke at length and in Shona about the 2008 elections. Suddenly straightening up 40 minutes later Mr Mugabe said: "I want to say this in English." A murmured titter of life ran through the crowd. Mr Mugabe said that there were farms in Mashonaland East, West, Central and in other areas around the country which had been properly designated in accordance with the Land Acquisition Act and were now to be taken.

"Let not the original owners of the farms refuse to vacate those farms," he said. "They must vacate those farms," he  repeated his words three times.

This then was Mr Mugabe's 85th birthday present to the starving people of Zimbabwe, seven million of whom are receiving international food aid. While more than half the population of the country eat donated food, the remaining commercial farmers are ordered to vacate land because of the colour of their skin. As for the SADC land tribunal ruling protecting Zimbabwean farmers, Mr Mugabe said: "that's nonsense, absolute nonsense; we have courts here that can determine the rights of our people."

As deep purple clouds turned black over my home town and thunder rumbled I abandoned the birthday speech for a few minutes to rush outside with tins, buckets and plastic baths to catch rain water. Water for cooking, cleaning and washing. 

When I came back inside live coverage showed the birthday cake being cut. It apparently weighed 85 kilograms and was being served by waiters wearing white gloves. Their uniforms were white too, trimmed in navy blue at shoulder, collar and cuff. Other reports told of extravagant menus, lavish foodstuffs and imported drinks for the 85th birthday event. It is all so remote and removed from the hunger, disease, poverty and water collection of our daily lives that we, or they, may as well be in another country.

Until next week, thanks for reading and for the overwhelming support for my new book,
Love Cathy.

Copyright Cathy Buckle 28th February 2009

Street Level Leadership

Dear Family and Friends,

While our new Prime Minister and unity government pick their way through the rubble of Zimbabwe, a frenzy of chronic overcharging has got underway and it has launched us into a state of  super-hyper-inflation.

Leading the pack of thieves are the parastatals and municipalities who must know that accountability is just around the corner and that this is their last chance. Tel One, suppliers of the only fixed line telephones in the country, have increased their price this month by  eight thousand percent. Last month phone bills were in Zimbabwe dollars and a residential account was the equivalent of 2 US dollars. This month they have changed to US dollars and are demanding 165 US dollars. There is nothing in writing, its just a matter of pay whatever we say or you'll be disconnected. Despite their demand that we pay in first world currency (i.e. US dollars) they continue to give us fourth world service. Telephone accounts are no longer issued and customers are given no breakdown showing monthly rental, calls made or units used. For most people the amounts being demanded by Tel One are more than their entire monthly income. They are almost twice the 100 US dollar salaries being paid by the Unity Government to soldiers, policemen, teachers and other civil servants.  

The electricity suppliers, ZESA, have increased their prices this month by 600 percent and have also converted to US dollars. They too do not provide accounts or statements, have not read household meters for well over a year and offer neither excuse nor explanation for their new prices. Its pay up however much we say or we'll turn you off.

Municipal charges have gone up by 900 %, in US dollars, and the outrage is palpable. No bills are produced and so we don't know how much of the charge is fact and how much is for someone's back pocket. Residential dustbins have not been collected for ten months. In desperation people have taken to dumping their garbage in the bush, under trees or simply on the side of the road. Most suburban street lights have not worked for two or three years, tar roads are a maze of gullies and cavernous potholes and the grass on street corners is over six foot high.

By all accounts the power sharing unity government in Harare is in a perilous place as I write. But while all eyes are on political prisoners, power struggles and battles of will, ordinary people are falling by the wayside. We wait for street level leadership and accountability - its been a long, long time coming.  

Until next time, thanks for reading,
Love Cathy

Copyright Cathy Buckle 21st February 2009

No Good Faith

Dear Family and Friends,

Watching the loser of last years election swearing in the winner was an occasion not to be forgotten. The irony of it stuck in the throat and yet the reality of it brought the hope of change ever closer. 

Its a change that is still not being reflected by state broadcaster ZBC who seemed incapable of filming the ceremony and used SABC's live coverage of events at State House in Harare. The irony of that was not lost us on us either considering that South Africa only introduced television broadcasting many, many years after Zimbabwe.  In between the flickering, flaring, haltering attempts by ZBC to record any of the inauguration of Prime Minister Tsvangirai, we were bombarded with yet another of  the seemingly endless supply of politically themed music concerts.

As Prime Minister Tsvangirai was preparing to pledge his oath of office, ZBC's concert had a banner reading: "We will never let go of our land." And then another which read: "Uniting against sanctions." There is no doubt where their allegiances lie!

Two days after our new Prime Minister was sworn in, ZBC TV still hadn't been able to sort themselves out in order to record the swearing in of  the new cabinet. Again they jumped from SABC TV to ZBC radio commentaries and then, at 4 pm, and before all the Ministers had been sworn in, the TV transmission stopped altogether.

We'd had long enough though to see the fresh, lively, intelligent, eager faces of the new MDC cabinet Ministers. Long enough too to see the same old, unsmiling, tired faces of the Zanu PF cabinet Ministers - no changes there, just reshuffling and recycling yet again. We also had time to see that the nominated deputy Minister of Agriculture Roy Bennet was not there. This man, so admired and respected by Zimbabweans from all walks of life had been arrested, moved to another city 250 kilometres away and is being charged with treason. 

The arrest of Roy Bennett gave credence to the sceptics and doubters of this unity government. There is no good faith here by the old order and the leopard has not changed its spots. A long, hard road lies ahead. Our thoughts are with Roy Bennet and with all the other civic society members and political activists who are still in custody. None are forgotten.

I close with a message of condolence and sympathy to Australians who have lost family members, friends, homes and possessions in the devastating fires of the last fortnight. Zimbabwe knows how you have stood up for us in our struggle and despair and our thoughts are with you.  

Until next time, thanks for reading, love Cathy

Copyright Cathy Buckle 14th February 2009

Turning Coats Inside Out

Dear Family and Friends,

These hot, humid and rainy February days are ones that will never be forgotten in the years ahead. We can still hardly even dare to hope that this unity government is going to work and trust is very thin on the ground. It still sticks in our throats that the losers of the March 2008 elections have simply refused to leave power for the last ten months and have got away it. How crazy is this! Suddenly we are seeing the very people who persecuted a population, looted the country's assets and bought starvation and disease to the land appearing on television saying: "we must be tolerant of our differences and work together." 

Hello!  you find yourself shouting at the TV, are we seeing people turning their coats inside out and so soon? Do they really think that a few utterances now will undo everything they have done, and been seen doing? 

Each day we tiptoe forward politically by a fraction of a millimetre and yet each miniscule gain appears as a gigantic leap because we have sunk so terribly low in the last decade. We now have the 19th amendment to our constitution which will enable the formation of a unity government and allow for the winner of the March 2008 election to be sworn in as Prime Minister. We also now have the news that a Magistrate has thrown out treason charges against MDC Secretary General Tendai Biti.

In the next few days, for the first time in three decades we will have someone other than Zanu PF looking into civil service books and you can only imagine how worried some people must be. A friend said he imagined the paper shredders must be working overtime in some of those government offices. You can almost hear them now! You can almost see those little strips of paper mounting up on our roadsides alongside all the other stinking garbage. You can almost smell the smoke from bonfires of burning paper!

Meanwhile ordinary people are in wait and see mode and while we wait a last desperate orgy of pocket filling is well underway. In just two days the price of petrol, in US dollars of course, went from 65 cents to 95 cents a litre and is still going up as I write. All other prices, in US dollars, are soaring as a result.  

Twelve zeroes were removed from our currency this week and we went from being trillionaires to paupers overnight. This is the third time this has happened. First it was 3 zeroes, then 10, now 12.  Another worthless set of bank notes is being introduced and thanks to a friend who can get her head around all the "illions", 1 New dollar = 10,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000  or 10 Septillion Old Old dollars!

I don't know how we'll ever explain any of this to our children in the years ahead, or if we'll ever even understand it ourselves.

Until next time, thanks for reading
Love Cathy

Copyright Cathy Buckle 7th February 2009

Ten Trillion Dollars

Scams and Schemes, Frauds and Fiddles

Dear Family and Friends,

In the last week everyday things have moved from billions into trillions and the calculations, conversions and zeroes are again the stuff of nightmares. It seems that at every turn there is a scam, scheme, fraud or fiddle going on and you have to proceed with extreme caution to avoid being cheated.

At the beginning of the week one US dollar bought 40 billion Zimbabwe dollars, by the end of the week that same foreign dollar realized 500 billion Zimbabwe dollars. Its impossible to keep up and most people have given up trying to operate in Zimbabwe dollars. In one huge supermarket which does not sell in foreign currency, the only items on the shelves this week were long life milk and condoms. In another supermarket nearby the shelves were full of goods but all were marked in US dollars and they were very expensive - more than most could afford. You pay in American dollars and the change is given in South African coins - its a flat, rounded down conversion rate - take it or leave it.

In other shops the tellers don't give any change at all so if you buy something for 9 US dollars you either leave having lost a dollar or you have to buy something you don't want that apparently costs a dollar. Its amazing how many really trashy little sweets have suddenly appeared at check out counters which cost fifty cents!

With almost everything now being in US dollars, the people suffering the most are the civil servants because they continue to be paid in Zimbabwe dollars: teachers, nurses, police, army, telephone, electricity, municipal, post office and government department workers. Their salaries continue to be paid direct into banks in Zimbabwe dollars and its almost impossible to get the money out of the bank or to find anything to buy with their worthless Zim dollars. This simple reality explains bribery and corruption better than any university degree.

For some unknown reason our banks are suddenly refusing to allow people to withdraw their own money out of the bank unless they can provide a pay slip to prove that they earnt the money legally. This might sound like a simple thing but for most people its a nightmare as employers no longer have paper or ink to print pay slips on and the postal service has all but collapsed. Other banks have adopted a policy of closing accounts which do not have a transaction within a month - this apparently because the currency is devaluing so fast. There is nothing in writing, no notice, no explanation, you just suddenly find your bank account gone - four or five decades of loyal service means nothing, millions, billions and trillions of dollars is suddenly useless, worthless trash. One elderly lady I met this week cried as she told me her life savings, including the money from a car she had recently sold, had devalued by sitting in the bank for a few months and were now worth 11 Zimbabwe cents.

Another scheme that is causing huge suffering is that of medical aid (insurance) societies demanding monthly contributions in US dollars but then refusing to reimburse claims from patients in foreign currency. Worse, they will now only honour the consultation fees of a handful of doctors and so patients find themselves stranded: unable to afford to see their own GP's or dentists and unable to physically get to the medical aid society "approved doctors."

As President Bush leaves power in America this week I can't help wondering how many scores, hundreds, of world leaders have changed in the 29 years since Zimbabwe's been controlled by one man, one party. It defies belief.

Until next week, thanks for reading,
Love Cathy

Copyright Cathy Buckle, 17th January 2009

Schools Will Not Open

Dear Family and Friends

The simple every day routine of children going to school has kept most families sane in this last traumatic decade in Zimbabwe. When war veterans and mobs were swarming onto farms and evicting everyone, as long as the children were able to keep going to school, parents found a way to cope.

I remember one occasion during that terrible time when one of my son's junior school teachers told me what a difficult time they were having in the classroom. The child of a farmer who had been violently evicted from his home was in the same classroom as the child of the war veteran who had done the evicting. Both children were traumatized, bullying and insults were being traded in the playground and both children needed counselling. On another occasion when the school was forcibly closed and taken over by security personnel, children were traumatized when they returned and found a bullet on the cloakroom floor.

Zimbabwe's teachers, despite having to work under unbearable conditions and often under attack themselves, have quietly steered our children through these most traumatic years.

Chased away from their jobs by militant government youths, the teachers waited until things calmed down and then came back to work. Accused of being opposition supporters they were intimidated and harassed and yet still they came back to the classrooms.  The head of the teachers union has been arrested repeatedly, been beaten in custody and yet still he speaks out. School administrators and head teachers have been arrested and held in police cells for raising school fees but when they were released they just went back to work and carried on.  

When we parents were crying, bleeding and homeless we would arrive at the school gates and hand our children over to compassionate, gentle, caring, professional staff who somehow managed to make everything alright.

There are hundreds of stories about what's been happening in Zimbabwe's schools these last nine years - to describe it is an education system under attack is a gross understatement. Teachers earning enough in a whole month to buy just one banana. Six children sharing one text book. Parents having to provide food for both their own children and the teachers. Schools which have no stationery, no chalk, no equipment, no water, no food.

According to the UN Children's Fund, school attendance in Zimbabwe dropped from 85% in 2007 to just 20% by the end of 2008. Now, at the worst possible time and with the country at its lowest ebb, the government have announced that schools will not open on the 12th of January as they should, but two weeks later - culling yet more precious days from our children's education. All these apparently little things are having a dramatic impact on our lives in Zimbabwe. Our children and our country will pay a heavy price in the years to come.

Until next week, thanks for reading,
Love Cathy.

Copyright Cathy Buckle 11th January 2009