OUTSIDE LOOKING IN A letter from the diaspora

Five MDC officials were seriously injured, one man died in Mbare after a brutal beating with iron bars and nine more MDC members were arrested for causing violence. In the northern suburbs white citizens were denied the right to contribute by war vets who said foreigners were not entitled to speak. A total of 45 meetings were disrupted in Harare and the Copac exercise has now been suspended in the city – so much for genuine democratic consultation.

There was chaos in Bulawayo too with war veterans disrupting meetings, claiming that the new constitution must enshrine Mugabe as president for life and war veterans must be allocated seats in any new parliament because they won the countrys freedom through blood. While all this mayhem was unfolding in Harare and Bulawayo, the police stood by and did nothing.

I believe the time has come for the ZRP to declare war against unruly elements. said Police Commissioner Chihuri this week. He was talking about the killing of a senior policeman in Bulawayo but his definition of unruly elements is well-known to include anyone opposed to Zanu PF.

On Monday, International Peace Day, 600 Woza women and men marched peacefully through the streets of Harare to the House of Assembly to protest police failure to protect communities. 73 Woza members were arrested and held in filthy prison cells until Wednesday when they were finally released. At least ten Woza members required medical treatment and one man was severely assaulted while in prison.

And where was Robert Mugabe while all this was going on? Air Zimbabwe had managed to find a crew to fly him and his 80- strong delegation to New York where on Tuesday he addressed the UN Assembly. He had nothing new to say and certainly nothing about the chaos prevailing back in Zimbabwe. It is western sanctions that are causing his countrys troubles, Mugabe claimed in the same tired old refrain repeated every year. From New York Mugabe will fly on to Ecudor where he is to receive an honorary doctorate; even as evidence of Mugabes sinister deal with the Chinese diamonds for arms is revealed, his supporters at home and abroad still refuse to see that his time is up and that violence and bloodshed are all he has to offer.

There was an intriguing little intervention this week when Richard Branson the billionaire head of Virgin Atlantic called on the world to invest in Zimbabwe as a safe haven for their money. Zanu PFs reaction to Bransons call was to dismiss it as an attempt to counter the power of China. Zimbabwe does not need investments disguised as philanthropic work. The international community has now realised that the jewel we call Zimbabwe having discovered the largest deposit of diamonds is now able to lift itself out of poverty that the west helped to create in the first place. No evidence yet that the diamonds are lifting us out of poverty and as for Zimbabwe being a jewel, read Basildon Petas description of his return to his hometown of Chitungwiza after nine years in exile: raw sewerage running in the streets, no electricity, no water, schools with no books and no teachers and hospitals described by Chitungwiza residents as mortuaries where people go, not to get well but to die. A jewel indeed!

When Mugabe gets back from his trip Morgan Tsvangirai says he wants urgent meetings with him to discuss the collapse of Copac and Zanu PFs use of violence and the military to disrupt the process. The MDC joined the Unity government in the firm belief that our adversaries would see reason, says Tsvangirai. Seeing reason is not a characteristic one associates with bullies and thugs; the collapse of Copac is proof of that.

Yours in the (continuing) struggle PH. aka Pauline Henson.