Zimbabwe -- Cathy Buckle -- No deck chairs or umbrellas

Letters from Cathy Buckle ^ | February 8, 2003 | Cathy Buckle

[Clive]

Dear Family and Friends,

The world cup cricket is coming to Zimbabwe after all and I couldn't help but laugh at the half page advertisement in the state owned Herald newspaper today. Along with telling us which roads will be closed there is a monstrous lists of "Ground Rules" for prospective spectators. Included are the following things which will not be allowed into the grounds:

* No cold drinks of any type, regardless of the container it is in.

*No banners or flags which are supported on a stick.

*No trumpets, drums or musical instruments

*No deck chairs, umbrellas or gazebos.

"Banners and flags may only include wording which is: tasteful, non-offensive, non vulgar. non political, non racial, non discriminatory and non sexual."

Whilst this may strike anyone living outside Zimbabwe as utterly ludicrous - a sort of Charlie Chaplin 'Great Dictator' skit - for those of us who live here it has, like everything else these days, a tragic undercurrent. The world will watch cricket being played in Zimbabwe while some of us will be remembering the life of a very brave young man who has just died..

Edison Mukwasi aged 29 died in an Harare hospital this week. Edison was an ordinary man working on a construction site in Harare before he joined the opposition and the last two years of his life have been utter hell. He was the MDC's youth chairman for Harare and his nightmare began in January 2001 during the Bikita West by-election.

At that time Edison and 12 others were picked up by police, tortured for four days whilst in detention and then dumped in the Gonarezhou National Park. According to Edison's mother, Edison's lungs and liver were perforated during the torture.

In November 2002 Edison and others were arrested by police at a cricket match in Harare and allegedly tortured again whilst in police custody. He was supposedly to be charged with suspected public disorder but was released without being charged. Edison is survived by his wife Gladys and their two week old daughter Nyasha.

Zimbabwe mourns the death of Edison Mukwasi and also of at least 50 others who died when two trains collided last weekend in Dete. The scenes of the mangled, melted carriages were utterly horrific. We were shocked when later on that same day President Mugabe walked down the red carpet at Harare airport. He was not on his way to the crash site but to a conference in Ethiopia.

Even more horrific was the female reporter on ZBC television who reported that bodies were burnt beyond recognition and that "body parts were going to be pulled out in order for the corpses to be identified".

The gross lack of human compassion did not end with that statement. A couple of days after the accident the government announced what the relations of the deceased were going to be given as compensation. Each family would get one coffin, 5 bags of maize and fifteen thousand dollars. Frankly this is an insult, the money will not even last a fortnight and the maize just a couple of months.

Casualties in Zimbabwe in both human and economic terms are growing by the day. This week Circle cement, the biggest producer in the country announced that they have ceased their operations and are closing down. The government continues to seize the remaining handful of productive farms left in the country and on Friday listed another 31 properties to be seized, some as small as 60 hectares.

We all know that with a war in Iraq looking more and more likely, the chances of any news coverage for Zimbabwe are going to be almost nil in the months to come. Perhaps the coverage we get during the World Cup Cricket will be our last chance for international attention to our plight. I intend to keep writing this letter for as long as you want to read it.

Last weekend there were some serious threats to my website so for a while I will not give it's address but if you would like details please contact me and if you no longer wish to receive this letter please tell me. I know only too well how annoying unwelcome mail can be.

Until next week, with love, cathy.

[Clive]

-

[wretchard]

The cricket matches in Zimbabwe will be an historic opportunity to relive in our own lifetime the 1936 Berlin Olympics. OK. So the cricket match isn't the Olympics and Robert Mugabe isn't nearly so powerful as Hitler, but the issues are the same writ smaller for a smaller age.

[ovrtaxt]

Just spent a couple of days with an Afrikaans evangelist from South Africa. He goes all over the southeast of the continent to minister, but he won't step foot in Zimbabwe. He has a wife and a son.

[stlrocket]

Why the Brits love Cricket.

[xJones]

We all know that with a war in Iraq looking more and more likely, the chances of any news coverage for Zimbabwe are going to be almost nil in the months to come. Perhaps the coverage we get during the World Cup Cricket will be our last chance for international attention to our plight. I intend to keep writing this letter for as long as you want to read it.

Poor brave Cathy. If her young son is still there, she should get him out if she can.

[happygrl]

The exchange rate is approximately Zim $1800 to U.S.$1. SO these people were given less than $10.00 in U.S. terms.

[happygrl]

FWIW. Last night I had a phone conversation with someone on the sanctions list. Seeing the opportunity, I gave them hell. NO EXCUSES for starving people !!!!

Needless to say, their reply was very circuspect, and equivical.

Phones have ears there.