e that is living in la la land…It is time your leader and his henchmen realize that it is THEY who are the cause of Zim’s problems and if THEY don’t rectify it then “somebody” within Zimbabwe better be prepared to fix it. The International community has enough problems and they are too damn busy fixing them to worry about how to fix Zimbabwe’s. Stand up and fix it yourselves.
KEN SWAN, Canada
Zimbabwe not prepared for 2010
EDITOR – Zimbabwe is busy shouting that they are going to benefit from South Africa during 2010. Firstly the road which leads from South Africa to Zimbabwe leaves a lot to be desired. No one is willing to travel through bumpy roads with a lot of pot holes. No one is interested in visiting a country without any fuel. Please Mugabe and your dead wood do something. Zimbabwe is bleeding. We are waiting to hear from you.
LOVEMORE MASEKO, Durban
Mbeki, Mugabe under the same blanket
EDITOR – The Zimbabwe Exiles Forum (ZEF) is deeply concerned by reports of the proposed mounting of eight roadblocks along the highway between Beitbridge and Johannesburg. According to sources the Zimbabwean Central Intelligence Organisation (C.I.O) will join forces with the South African Police Service (SAPS) and the Scorpions in a bid to control illegal immigration from Zimbabwe into South Africa. The operation is said to be scheduled to begin on 30 January 2007.
If it materialises, this development would be most unwelcome as it will be a serious threat to the well-being of Zimbabwean asylum-seekers in South Africa. Firstly, the presence of C.I.O operatives in South Africa exposes many Zimbabweans who fled torture and political persecution at home to the very danger that they were fleeing from.
Secondly, this move makes it possible for the Mugabe government to physically and materially eliminate and undermine the strong opposition to its rule which has been organised by displaced Zimbabweans based in South Africa. Many pro-democracy and human rights activists and their organisations working on the Zimbabwean situation from South Africa will also face strict censorship and might even close down. What this unholy alliance will do in effect is to stifle the relatively democratic space to freely express themselves that Zimbabweans find in South Africa. There have already been disturbing reports of surveillance from CIO operatives that clandestinely monitoring the activities of human rights and opposition activists in South Africa and Botswana.
If this turns out to be true, which I hope it is not, it would confirm beyond doubt what we have always said, that Mbeki and Mugabe lie under the same blanket. The ‘quiet diplomacy’ policy of the South African government is nothing but a veiled abdication of the duty to protect innocent citizens in favour of protecting each other by African rulers. The ANC feels obligated to assist Zanu (PF) for old times ‘sake.
GABRIEL SHUMBA, Johannesburg
What kind of freedom?
EDITOR – Thanks for your newspaper to represent the voiceless. Remember those days when we got independence from the British? Myself, I wasn’t born yet to experience the joy that for the first time we could speak up and voice our opinions in the creation of a better Zimbabwe.
For the rest of my adult life, I never even enjoyed the fruits of our freedom fighters at all. My situation started when my father raised his voice about the situation that was happening during the land grab period. To the family he was a great hero, we all supported him with his works in raising awareness about what people should expect from their government and what theirs was doing.
Guess what we got from this; all the food aid being distributed through our Zanu (PF) MP skipped us, the reason being – we did not have a Zanu membership card. Our farm was seized during a scary ordeal with the armed war veterans. I lost both my parents, due to the stress.
What kind of a “free” Zimbabwe is this? To those who sing and dance when they see the president, you will be surprised when you get in trouble you will be on your own. Those people don’t care about you but themselves and their families. Here in Australia I happened to meet some children of top officials, and I realised that these people know the disastrous effect their actions have on the country.
They destroy the country, your children suffer, but theirs enjoy the fruits of your sweat. It’s time for you to open your mouths and say something.
To those who took our farm unlawfully, what have you achieved? I recently saw a picture of the farm – there is nothing but two metres tall grass all over it. What a waste of resources. To those who threw tear gas cans, stole, tortured and killed my best friends, God bless you with your free Zimbabwe. Those who share the same misery as me and want my emotional support can contact me on wisdomchitiyo@yahoo.com.au.
WISDOM CHITIYO, Australia
Stop the mud-slinging
EDITOR – In light of the nightmarish spectre of shenanigans that led to the fragmentation of MDC recently, doomsday prophets had conjured the outright downfall of the party. Today the same sceptics sit there with eyes wide open ,in stark realisation that MDC are no pushovers at all. The party has beyond doubt survived the torrent of political trickery and is even getting stronger.
This however does not mean we must then ignore the good advice by some observers to reunite the warring factions. I am of the strong belief that unity is a vital ingredient of any liberation struggle. The key thing is to now explore ways on how to embolden the party in the run-up to the 2008 presidential elections. Under no circumstances should we tolerate the howling hordes of Zanu (PF) savages, who enjoy inflicting us with untold hardships.
In the meantime the restoration of confidence at grassroots level must be a primary concern. There is also a need to exercise self-control and restraint with regard to emotions stemming from differences in opinion. Actions displaying a bankruptcy of political maturity by the founding fathers of the MDC movement are deplorable. And more riling is the vindictive and absurd idiom that there are “irreconcilable differences” between the two factions.
There is no inadequate plea-bargaining expertise to resolve such an issue. The childish mud-slinging we have witnessed lately can only be cheered by the insane. We cannot afford to decimate the very foundation of the organisation. A further point of importance is that serial initiatives taken by civic society in backing our resolve to find a lasting cessation to our suffering must not be overlooked, but embraced.
It is tragic that the on-going campaign by the clergy, based on the so-called “National Vision Document”, has been defied with a brazen outpouring of scepticism by some quarters.
Of course it would be foolhardy for one to think that the men-of-the-cloth document mirrors the interests of the entire population. But it is crucial to see that the solution to our tragedy lies strictly on our willingness to work together in fighting the “common enemy” regardless of persuasions.
JAY-ZAT, Jozi