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EDITOR – Once again, we have been affronted by the nauseating sight of the delegates at the SADC summit in Lusaka giving thunderous applause to Robert Mugabe.

Why is it that anybody who is anybody in African politics sees fit to pay homage to a man who is a murderous dictator, who has destroyed his country?

I cannot imagine what the leaders of the civilized world think when they witness this type of behaviour by those deemed to be the leaders of their people. I can only presume that words such as ‘spineless’, ‘brainless’ and ‘fools’ spring to mind.

I wonder if these delegates realize the damage they do to the image of the continent of Africa in the minds of the rest of the world. It becomes quite apparent that those lofty ideals such as NEPAD, good governance and Peer Review are really just hot air dreamed up to appease the Western world and, hopefully, induce them to throw more dollars into the bottomless pit.

Is it too much to ask for a leader of this part of the world to stand up and tell the world that Mugabe is an illegitimate resident who has caused the deaths of tens of thousands of his countrymen; that he has ruined the economy of a once-vibrant country and is soundly hated by the vast majority of the Zimbabwe population? The fact is that Mugabe comes out of the same mould as Bokassa, Amin, Mobuto and many others who have cursed this continent.

As I write this, the SADC summit is coming to an end and all its delegates will return to their respective countries, congratulating themselves on a job well done and knowing that Rule One of the Africa club has not been broken. Nobody has pointed fingers at anybody else, in case they get fingers pointed back at them. The status quo will remain and the people of Zimbabwe will continue to suffer – not that anybody gives a damn about them.

They will then rest on their laurels until the next meeting of the SADC circus; it’s a pity the clowns are no longer amusing!

PN CUTTING, By email

Mugabe plays Survivor

EDITOR – It is most offensive that while Zimbabwe continues to burn, the international community and the African leadership are silent. Have the people of Zimbabwe become people of a lesser god?!

I thank people like Kate Hoey, Desmond Tutu and Eleanor Sisulu, who continually remind us that a terrible situation remains out of control in Zimbabwe.

SADC leaders in Lusaka, Zambia, have said they will put Zim high up on the agenda. They must be direct and not make useless utterances that always come to naught.

The whole useless bunch of the SADC leadership must know by now that Mugabe’s game is called Survivor – he always manages to Outwit, Outlast, Outplay all who try to confront him on the rape, torture, killings and starvation of Zimbabweans, who are subjected to atrocities at the hands of this madman and his drug-crazed lieutenants, whose fulltime job is to maim as many thinking people as possible.

SADC must in no uncertain terms pull up Robert Mugabe, to order his illegal government that it cannot continue to rape, torture, kill and starve Zimbabweans on a daily basis.

We must continue the struggle, to fight for justice, freedom, transparency, gender equality and free and fair elections, where the people of Zimbabwe will vote for a new dispensation.

ANON, Zimbabwe

Chinamasa ‘grows’ Zim

EDITOR – The ever-confident (and intellectually devious?) Patrick Anthony Chinamasa has said that he has redistributed 11 million of the 60 million hectares that his Zanu (PF) has reclaimed.

This is probably a good indication of Zanu’s ability to stay in cloud cuckoo land.

Zimbabwe has an area of 150 333 square miles – which amounts to roughly 39 million hectares.

We congratulate Zanu on increasing Zimbabwe’s acreage by 50% at the Zambia conference. Patrick deserves the Nobel Prize for imagination and fairy stories.

We also note that Zanu has exported a vast majority of its agricultural skills around the world to allow them to implement their planned genocide through starvation. Zanu can now rest assured that the world is sending their children back to them so that they may witness their fathers raping the country of their birth.

These children can then write about what their fathers did to the country.

Agriculturalist, Australia

Farmers were involved

EDITOR – I refer to the letter from Barrabus Verwoed (The Zimbabwean,16 August). Point taken concerning reference to the Matabeleland massacres and the deafening silence that followed.

However, I take issue with some of Mr Verwoed’s other remarks. It was in fact the white farmers that initially contributed to the newly formed and financially bereft opposition MDC. Further, at a time when the ruling Zanu (PF) party had lost all credibility and popularity in the urban areas, it was the white farmers in the rural areas that facilitated the voting of their considerable numbers of employees and dependents.

A risky tryst with democracy indeed, as the ruling party realised with considerable alacrity and alarm that the same popular support for the MDC’s Morgan Tsvangirai in the urban areas could so easily become endemic in the countryside. Shortly afterwards, a vindictive government introduced the fast track and often-violent land- eviction exercise that decimated large-scale commercial agriculture.

Where was Barabbus Verwoed during those trying times? With a name like that, my guess is that he was down south, busy testifying at the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.

??????, Zimbabwe

A humanitarian crisis

EDITOR – I totally agree with the letter from JJ Upton ‘Farmers, help refugees’. I was also dismayed to see the Zimbabweans being rounded up and handed over to the police.

Where are the refugee camps? These need to be set up immediately to provide basic food and shelter for those fleeing starvation in their own country. Both the UK and SA must wake up to the humanitarian crisis in Zimbabwe, and act swiftly. We can all play a small part by writing to our MPs and urging them to press for action. Time is
running out now.
J Condon, United Kingdom

Why, Thabo Mbeki, why?

EDITOR – I feel, as an exiled Zimbabwean who is married to a South African living in Pretoria, that Thabo Mbeki is either just plain stupid or has an ulterior motive for the way in which he has handled the Zimbabwe crisis.

Why, oh why has he been so silent in his condemnation while Mugabe is ruining Zimbabwe and the SADC region in general? He has said nothing.

Rubbing salt into the wound are the words from his Minister of Home Affairs, Mapisa-Nquakula, claiming that the ‘undocumented immigrants’ (refugees, my dear Minister) are fleeing into South Africa because the drought has ruined farming in Zimbabwe. With all respect Mrs Minister, there’s no food because the farms were stolen and given to Zanu (PF) cronies, and now lie idle. The refugees leaving Zimbabwe are fleeing an unjust and brutal regime.

Which brings me back to why Mr Mbeki is staying so silent? I’m starting to wonder if it isn’t because Mugabe has some ‘dirt’ on Mbeki from the ‘struggle’ era that he has threatened to disclose, that will ruin his reputation. Perhaps Mugabe is blackmailing him into keeping silent, or perhaps Mbeki plans to seize white-owned land in South Africa too? Whatever the reason, Mr Mbeki, I suggest you tell us soon -otherwise you threaten your precious NEPAD programme, not to mention foreign investment inflows in the future.

W JAMES, Pretoria, SA

Blame British government

EDITOR – I agree with the letter from John Simons. Anyone who has read ‘The Great Betrayal’ by Ian Smith will realise that we were sold out by the British government, especially Harold Wilson. Ian Smith was not the villain in the party.

Mrs P McSharry, Cape Town

Help dumped workers

EDITOR – On behalf of former Zimpost workers who were illegally dumped from their jobs three years ago, I am trying to let the international community and our brother’s abroad know about the suffering we are incurring here.

Zimpost workers’ labour case was politicised. The workers won the case three times, but the government never implemented the outcome from the courts because we are supporters of the MDC.

As I write, my kids have no food, shelter or clothes and are not going to school; no chance for medication. I tried to get local assistance but in vain, since I am well known as a member of the Zimpost Workers at Marandera Branch, Mash East, which is a Zanu (PF) stronghold. The workers’ union is affiliated to ZCTU, which supports the MDC. We ask for international assistance in cash or kind, to start a Poultry Project or any other projects we might depend upon.

Your Brothers Back Home, Marandera

… Anyone who wishes to help may contact the Editor, for contact details. –Ed.

On MDC anti-hero list?

EDITOR – I wonder who compiled the list of MDC heroes of a new Zimbabwe. (The Zimbabwean, 9-15 August). Dumiso Dabengwa is an interesting inclusion.

On page 423 of her new book ‘Through the Darkness’, Judy Todd mentions how former loved ones and Chimurenga heroes have changed over the years (allegedly because of the influence of Robert Mugabe) and writes on page 423: “The once respected and loved leader, Dumiso Dabengwa, went as far as to meet a group of war veterans arriving in Bulawayo and toyi-toyied with them through the streets as they went on their loudly proclaimed mission to torch the MDC offices”.

If that’s the sort of thing that makes you an MDC hero, what do you have to do to become an MDC anti-hero?

TREVOR GRUNDY, Kent, UK

Mugabe, mass murderer

EDITOR – I feel sorry for you my fellow African brothers and sisters; every time I watch news from Zimbabwe, I feel the pain you are enduring right now. Food shortages and a total economic melt down, what a crisis.

What baffles me is the fact that Mugabe himself cannot admit to failure, he has mastered the blame game, he always blames Britain and America for his misrule. Real sanctions were given to Smith by Britain after the UDI, but he thrived under those sanctions.

Mugabe, it’s no longer a secret that you kill anyone who crosses your path, you are a serial killer. If your life could be turned into a film, it will sell as the best horror by a serial killer ‘robby’. The deaths of Tongogara, Pamire, Nyagumbo, Cain Nkala Moven Mahachi, Border Gezi, to name a few

The recent slaughter of the brigadiers confirms it. While your only support now is the guys from CIO, let me remind you that “a great kingdom is conquered from within”. You might consider opposition parties as your real enemies but the reality is, your fellow cabinet ministers and other Zanu (PF) structures no longer need you but cannot voice their opinions because they might also die from the deadly pandemic of car accidents. The only person who can tell you the reality without fear of victimisation is Chatunga. Just ask him how he feels about your governance, you will get the shock of your entire 83 years .

Tatadza, By email

Get Zanu thugs deported

EDITOR – I wrote an email to the Australian minister for foreign affairs, the Hon Alexander Downer MP, to have that Zanu (PF) thug, Reason Wafawarowa, deported – and it has yielded positive results.

I hope this will encourage Zimbabweans to report all other Mugabe criminals in the diaspora to the relevant authorities. Write to or fax Australia immigration with any names of such criminals.

I have also posted a petition I wrote encouraging Zimbabweans to come forward with names of Zanu p(PF) criminals in Britain, so they can also be reported to the relevant authorities. http://www.petitiononline.com/Viomak/petition.html
See also www.wonai.com/viomak, www.viomakcharitymusic.com

VIO, By email

Ndlovu fears free Press

EDITOR – Sikhanyiso Ndlovu’s keenness to team up with Mahoso for the independent-media onslaught beggars belief. We are left to worry that he has become just another one of Mugabe’s lapdogs.

Private media are treated as sworn enemies rather than as watchdogs of society. Even when news coverage is based on facts, and statements are quoted verbatim, it would appear Ndlovu takes the laager notion that any report not by the state media is false, when the opposite is actually true.

Should the self-regulating media be cowed to see no evil and hear no evil, to soothe the thieving, genocidal elements in Zanu (PF) at the expense of the suffering majority? Absolutely not!

We know that Ndlovu earned himself immense virtue and dignity, not least he founded the ZDECO colleges and battled by all necessary means to empower and uplift the lives of people in Bulawayo.

And as such we fervently hoped to see him continue setting good examples and remain a pivotal role player among progressive forces in our country, but alas!

JZ, By email

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