ve a distressed funding scheme for companies which we avail funds to firms at very low interest,” he said. “By availing funds cheaply, this will result in goods being available in the shops and this will benefit the ordinary men in the street.” – Deputy Industry Minister Phineas Chihota, quoted in The Mail & Guardian (SA), 26 August.
ACROBAT, Haywards Heath, UK
They want dictatorships
EDITOR – The recent endorsement of the Zimbabwe regime by the SADC heads of State in Lusaka is indicative of the whole problem in Africa today.
The reason, surely, why the African continent is the poorest continent on Earth (and getting poorer) is because African leaders do not appear to be willing to face real African problems.
The complete lack of any forthright response by the SADC Heads of State sends a ringing message throughout the world: African leaders would rather not have good governance, democracy, the rule of law, individual freedoms, human rights, economic prosperity for the masses, and the like.
Rather they want the old system, like in Zimbabwe, where the Chief is the Prime Minister, the President, the lawmaker, the judge, the spiritual leader, the landowner and the one who decides all things in the nation.
Millions in Zimbabwe acknowledge that only God can save Zimbabwe now; but as Christians we need to do His will by resisting the evil that is destroying so much. There is one thing more terrible in the life of a nation than the all-consuming pursuit of power, and that is the all-consuming acquiescence to power.
BEN FREETH, Zimbabwe
Blame all who voted Zanu
EDITOR – The betrayal by the ruling party Zanu (PF) of its citizens has caused havoc.
I don’t blame Mugabe alone: I blame those who cast their votes in support of Zanu (PF). If they cast their votes right we should have avoided such slavery.
Mugabe’s impressive skills bedazzled not only Zimbabweans but even the Scottish, who named him the African Messiah. He is not that; he is a serpent.
Zimbabweans, mishandled by the vile leadership of uncle Bob, has ended up causing dozens of people to cross the Limpopo River. They are trying to persuade the world to intervene, to resolve the political and economical issues of Zimbabwe.
As I am writing this letter I’m still a slave. I hope someone out there can rescue me. My tears are flowing non-stop. Right now I don’t care what Zanu (PF) says. I want to see them out of power.
AD, STUDENT JOURNALIST, Zimbabwe
Can Mbeki ignore truth?
EDITOR – The bid to be supported by SADC has failed. We have been completely ignored and dumped but we won’t despair.” Kasilahli ithemba Thabo” Hatirasi chivimbo, we won’t sit back.
Can Thabo Mbeki turn a deaf ear to our plight forever? He sees it all, he hears it all, can he pretend he is not aware of the families suffering next door?
Thabo is not in any way scared of Robert Mugabe. We still need his strength and support. We still need his openness. The President of South Africa knows what is happening in Zimbabwe, our bewildered mourning country.
We continue to submit our plight for mediation efforts, it might take long, we wait.
Meanwhile we have to rally behind all those who are suffering for our liberation, varying from activists, civic groups, youth representatives, women representatives from all walks of life. If we contribute in different efforts we will get there!
SITHOKOZILE K, Milton Keynes Branch, Zimbabwe
Mwanawasa made a U-turn
EDITOR – The Zambian president Mwanawasa had passion for the Zimbabwean people until the corrupt African leaders threatened him. The man reversed his well-received statements that ” Zimbabwe is a sinking Titanic”. Praise to you then, Mwanawasa and shame on you today for joining Robert Mugabe.
Remember Robert Mugabe is in the same orbit that the former dictator of Zambia Kaunda lived. Be careful, Mr President, not to join the criminal gang of Robert Mugabe and Thabo Mbeki.
Mr Mwanawasa, I thought you had the insight that led you to hear the sounds of the shattering and the falling of Mugabe’s evil ideology? Please, Mr President, stand up for the liberal democratic systems that can help Zimbabwe and the region. Whether you like it or not, the world is gravitating towards saving the people of Zimbabwe.
Wake up Zimbabwe. The crisis is in your own country. There are a million reasons for the crisis, but one of the greatest problems is the inability of Zimbabweans to stand up for themselves.
NICHOLAS MADA, Zimbabwean activist based in the US, email nmada@msn.com
Tribal feud is root of evil
EDITOR – So much has been said and is being said about Zimbabwe regarding the absence of the rule of law, election flaws, gross violations of human rights, need for constitutional reforms, regime change, economic meltdown, etc without scrutinising the root causes of the multiple problems.
Actually, the problems are as old as old Zimbabwe it self. It’s tribalism – between the Shona and the Ndebele, sown and cultivated by Mugabe since he assumed office.
At the so-called independence in 1980, Mugabe and his lieutenants – who initially had stood up to fight gross human rights abuses, constitutional repression and inequality by the Ian Smith colonial government – committed in daylight gross abuses on Matabeleland people, which claimed more lives than those lost in the liberation war.
No one seemed concerned then. Instead, the British even conferred on him degrees for his brutality on fellow blacks.
People of Matabeleland started fleeing the ‘independent’ country then to seek refuge in Botswana and South Africa, mostly. Abuses in Matabeleland escalated until Joshua Nkomo agreed under duress to sign the Unity Accord in 1987 to stop the suffering of the Ndebele that Mugabe saw as the defeat of the Ndebele.
After that, the Ndebele suffering only changed form. Denial of equal employment opportunities, cultural and language suffocation, loss of freedoms of speech and association became rampant. Talking about one’s rights is interpreted as tribalism by the aggressors.
Sadly too, no one on earth except the Ndebele themselves ever condemned that. Mugabe was praised by his people, the Shona, and labelled a hero for purging the Ndebele.
About 20 years down the line, an opposition party, MDC, arose and had its support base in Matabeleland. This party was a threat enough to Mugabe because even some Shona joined in..
In spite of his bloodthirsty massacres of the Ndebele at independence and years later until today, Mugabe and his Zanu PF have never won any election in Matabeleland-flawed or not and he shall never ever win.
If his existence as the head of Zimbabwe is through the ballot boxes, then it is the Shona who voted for him. So, the Shona are the ones to remove him from power if they too are genuinely fed up of his misgovernance.
Otherwise, we can only stop the suffering by reverting to pre-colonial boundaries as redrawn by Allan Wilson in 1890. Matabeleland and Mashonaland (Zimbabwe) were very different states that were bundled together to form Rhodesia in 1894 and so they should permanently divorce along the pre-colonial boundaries to ease the suffering bedevilling Zimbabwe today.
ANDREA SIBANDA, Matabeleland Freedom Party, Johannesburg, SA
Give snoops an earful!
EDITOR – The signing into law of an Act that allows State-security agents to snoop on our communication is a direct assault on democracy and must be challenged by all progressive forces.
I am shocked that the President could stoop so low as to expose his own fears about the electorate. Decent dictators all over the world would at least allow criticisms in an attempt to create an impression of a functioning democracy.
When a dictatorship runs out of ideas, it directs its anger onto the people that brought it into office in the first place. This country will experience more arrests and harassment related to communication.
But people must not be afraid because truth remains on their side. We must continue to say what we please via our phones and emails. If the regime wants to use this as evidence in court, then the better. The world must appreciate that we are under siege from this rogue regime.
The people of Zimbabwe must be saying to each other, “the struggle must go on” despite the risks. The time has come for citizens to join hands and reject intimidation of this magnitude.
Since the objective of the Interceptions of Communication Act is to listen to what we say on the phone and in emails, I am urging the Cabinet of Robert Mugabe to bring these instruments into their offices and hear what the electorate is saying about them.
They will hear some good advice – resign now because you have failed to lead Zimbabwe.
PRECIOUS SHUMBA, Information Officer, Combined Harare Residents Association
AU leaders laud tyrants
EDITOR – No one should be shocked or surprised at SADC leaders giving a standing ovation to our loony leader, Bob Mugabe, at their Lusaka gathering. The French have a saying – the more things change, the more they are the same.
Another loony, Uganda’s unlamented tyrant Idi Amin, when elected chairman of the Organisation of African Unity, was cheered from the rafters by African leaders in Kampala. They thought Idi was marvellous though he killed half a million Ugandans.
President Museveni, who took over Uganda, when he was elected OAU chairman remonstrated with his audience of leaders, asking them, “How could you possibly have elected this man as your chairman?” This time, they were silent.
Those who cheered Mugabe were praising someone who brought nothing but hunger, misery, unemployment, disease and malnutrition to millions, and ordered the destruction of their homes because they voted for the opposition.
Four million have managed to escape elsewhere and many more must be planning their departure from ‘Mugabe’s democracy’.
His PR people blame sanctions for sending Zim down the tubes. Sanctions are directed only at the leader and his entourage, not the economy that they (without any help) destroyed.
With nothing happening in Zimbabwe to allow for optimism, the MDC should tell facilitator President Mbeki that unless and until there’s a semblance of democracy and human rights – and the independent Daily News again hits the streets – they will ignore the coming ‘elections’ rather than give the Mugabe regime any legitimacy.
Meanwhile, Welshman and Arthur, wake up and wise up and rejoin Morgan immediately. Our country is too important. We desperately need unity of purpose and action and cannot afford the luxury of infighting. Only Mugabe benefits – the rest of us don’t.
LEBOGANG M., Zimbabwe
Extend ‘Vlok amnesty’
EDITOR – The virtual amnesty granted to Adriaan Vlok, Van der Merwe and company last week leaves everyone I have spoken to quite astounded. What was the point of the exercise?
In this day and age, giving Vlok a suspended sentence is absolutely meaningless, although I certainly do not mean he should have gone to jail. Does anyone really expect him to go back to annihilating opponents of the apartheid regime when his five-year term for good behaviour expires? The war of liberation is over, for crying out loud.
There was absolutely no justifiable reason for the State to go through that meaningless waste of time and resources. Are the Court Rolls throughout South Africa not backlogged with awaiting trial prisoners, who would have longed for their day in court?
Many people now wait with bated breath in anticipation of reciprocal prosecutions for anti-apartheid leaders, who authorized the killing of activists inside South Africa and in liberation-movement training camps abroad.
Surely this is a can of worms that serves no one? And for there to be any semblance of fair play and the ‘nation building’ we hear about, then surely people like former security policeman Eugene de Kock, and others from across the political spectrum, should also be given a chance of ‘virtual amnesty’, just as has been afforded Vlok and company?
De Kock has been jailed since 1994. There are many guilty people who have not spent a second in custody.
The decision taken with Vlok by the National Director of Public Prosecutions and Frank Chikane, the victim, and other politicians, was indeed magnanimous and a true indication that South Africans can rise above their past, and look to the future with confidence and pride. But this resolution has to be across the board for it to carry any meaningful significance.
There are people in jail who need their cases looked at objectively. Dr Frank Chikane has said this matter with Vlok is now finished. So let’s finish all the other cases too!
To avoid any mis-conception as to the motives of this letter, I have just spent 20 years in Zimbabwe’s maximum-security prisons for apartheid-era related crimes, so my slate is clean. There is nothing for me to benefit, or indeed fear, with Vlok and whomever else’s prosecution and amnesty. I’ve done my time.
KEVIN JOHN WOODS, Former South African double agent and political prisoner, South Africa
Safeguard your emails
EDITOR – In the interests of safe electronic communications for Zimbabweans, I would like to pass the following expert advice on to your readers. I have consulted a number of professionals in the industry and they recommend that people who want to safeguard their communications should obtain a GMAIL account. When they collect their mail, they should do the following:
1. Use the web browser and go to the address https://www.gmail.com (note https). You must use HTTPS, not http! This will provide safe encrypted communications that the regime cannot intercept. The encryption strength using https is the same that is used for commercial transactions on the web. It is safe.
2. DO NOT USE ANY OF THE USUAL EMAIL CLIENTS OR ANY EMAIL THAT USES PORT 25 as the OUTGOING SMTP, whether it is a local co.zw or not. In fact, stay well away from using any email client – use your browser.
3. Always communicate in a safe place. Internet cafes in Zimbabwe are watched by CIO and other regime snoopers and bootlickers.
4. Always logout and close your browser when you are finished.
5. Another way of doing it is via the use of encrypted software. FireTrust of New Zealand is offering Zimbabweans a 25% discount if they wish to purchase their email encryption product – FireTrust Encrypt. It is very simple and safe to use. When you purchase online, please use the promotional code BKWJ739. This will give you a 25% discount on the full Encrypt price of US$29.95. Ensure you enter the code BKWJ739 in the ‘Promo Code’ box then click ‘Promo Code’. You must click ‘Promo Code’ and then the discount will not be applied. Under ‘Description’ you will view ‘Encrypt (25% discount) @ 22.46/ea.’
6. Skype: Communication using text or speech is also encrypted as this product has it’s own proprietary encryption software. However, with text communications it is essential to delete the history after communications have closed. Skype keeps a record of conversations on your computer and you must delete it or you can set up no history in the Tools>Options>Privacy panel to ensure no history is kept.
This will keep you safe if the computer is stolen by CIO operatives. (Don’t laugh, they have a track record of stealing computers from ordinary citizens).
LIBERATION IT SPECIALIST, Cape Town, SA
Questions for crash witness
EDITOR – The emergence of a witness to the aftermath of Brigadier General Gunda’s accident, if not to the crash itself, affords me the opportunity of satisfying my curiosity regarding some details.
EK Samaz (Letters, 23-29 August) reports on the military police ambulance, the army trucks, the helicopter and onlookers, but makes no mention of the train, which one would have expected to have stopped. In which direction was the train travelling, and from which direction did the car approach? Did EK Samaz note the number(s) of the locomotive(s), a single unit or a pair? For how long was rail traffic delayed? Has the National Railways of Zimbabwe made any statement on the matter?
(Perhaps NRZ could be approached for a statement if not already provided).
RICHARD CLATWORTHY, East Yorks, UK
SA should help refugees
EDITOR – Watching Zimbabwe on TV and reading your article about the asylum seekers trying their luck in SA, I am disgusted with the South Africans for not trying to help them.
We get rid of Hussein in Iraq and build camps outside the Sudan and supply food and water, but not to the Zimbabweans. Why, why, why?
I am a Motswana and the mess is upsetting my country. I was in Zimbabwe; it was marvellous, but then I was chased out and took up residence in Botswana.
Why the change could not have taken place like it did in SA, I will never know. I love Mandela for what he did. Keep having a go at Prime Minister Gordon Brown and America’s George Bush as often as possible.
JAMES GINN, Nottingham, UK
Water crisis in Zimbabwe
EDITOR – The ministry of water resources and development has had as its responsibility, the construction of water conservation facilities in the country. In fulfilling that mandate, over the years, many dams were built. The dams were built either for irrigation or for portable water supplies, including making sure that towns and cities never ran out of water. During periods of drought, the government always tried to rise to the occasion.
I can give three examples of proactive action by the government in the past. During the 1991/2 drought, the government moved in Bulawayo and drilled many boreholes in the Nyamandlovu aquifer and connected the water to the city.
In Chegutu, when the town was running out of water, a canal was built which enabled water to be pumped from Darwendale into Serui River and then the water flowed down to the reservoir serving Chegutu.
In Mutare, water was pumped from Pungwe River to Smallbridge dam in order supply the city. These measures were taken by a government that at that time was a caring government.
In its wisdom, the government decided to abrogate its responsibility by handing over the water conservation and maintenance to ZINWA. One would probably understand if the matter ended there. The function of Zinwa is to build and maintain dams. Local authorities that are big, would then buy water from Zinwa. Small water consumers were always supplied by the ministry of water and later by Zinwa.
Rural people experience huge transport problems going to pay for water at Zinwa. For example, people in Lower Gweru, because they fall under the Shangani Catchment area, had to go to Bulawayo to pay for water when there are Zinwa offices in Gweru!
The government has now decided that the suffering of people must increase by directing that Zinwa must take over the distribution and selling of water in all cities. Harare city council, like a sheep to the slaughter, meekly agreed to hand over. Gweru also agreed without raising an eyebrow. Only Bulawayo and Masvingo resisted.
What has happened to the water supply in Harare and Gweru? Is there any improvement at all? In Harare the situation is worse with Zinwa; as for Gweru, it is pathetic because restaurant customers cannot use toilets as there would be no water. The toilets would be blocked. In short, Zinwa has been an unmitigated failure.
The water problem of Bulawayo is well known and documented. Like Masvingo, they are refusing to hand over water supply to an organization that has a history of failure.
The Chronicle of 23 August had a report that the minister responsible for Zinwa, Eng. Munacho Mutezo, said government would not intervene in the water crisis of Bulawayo until the council agreed to handover to Zinwa.
Zinwa is supposed to maintain the boreholes drilled in 1992 but has failed. There is water in Mtshabezi dam, which Zinwa should ensure it made available to the people – but no. Now we have a minister of a government that used to care, showing the true intentions of his government. Dzawira mutswanda. Some chief used to say that “ngwena haidye chebamba, chayo chinoza neronga”
There can never be a clearer message to the people of Harare, Gweru, Masvingo and Bulawayo than that provided by the honorable minister.
RENSON GASELA, Secretary for Lands and Agriculture, MDC, Zimbabwe