Writings From A Sister In Africa
"Love All As they Are YouSelf"
Subject: Fw: Life in Zimbabwe Date: 27 Feb 2003
This was written by Cathy Buckle, author of "African Tears" and "Beyond Tears", she lives in Zimbabwe.
22 Jan 2003
Dear Family and Friends,
I, along with 11 million others living in Zimbabwe, was desperately searching either for food or petrol. There was none of the latter so I spent my Friday morning trudging from shop to shop and after three hours gratefully clutched 2 loaves of bread I had finally tracked down for 4 times the official price. I know I should not buy food on the black market but principles pale into insignificance when you have a hungry child to feed.
This is the face of life in Zimbabwe today and yet the English Cricket Board are still debating whether or not it is right to come and play cricket here and are worrying about who will pay them compensation if they don't come.
I wonder if the ICC know that it is illegal for 5 or more people to hold a meeting in Zimbabwe without police permission? I wonder if they care while they stay in our 5 star hotels, we can't even buy food on the black market without first producing cards proving we support the ruling party. I am sure that both the ICC and the cricket players themselves know all of this but they say they are purely a sporting body and not a political one. It was OK for them to boycott sport in apartheid South Africa and Ian Smith's Rhodesia but not in Zimbabwe now. White people oppressing blacks was wrong, now it is black people oppressing black people, it is apparently OK. The ICC have shown who the real racists are here. Their hypocrisy and racism is disgusting and nauseating.
The South African Minister of Labour visited Zimbabwe and declared that South Africa had a lot to learn from us. If I was a South African I'd either be picketing parliament right now or packing my bags. We have: 175% inflation; 70% unemployment; Zimbabwe has completely run out of petrol so if one hears of any to be had (probably unpaid for from SA) 5 kilometre queues form and there is no bread, milk, maize, sugar, flour or cooking oil to buy. One dozen eggs cost R66.00 and 4 loo rolls cost R70 now. 6.8 million Zimbabweans are facing starvation, 2 million of our citizens have been forced to leave the country, one person dies every 5 minutes from aids related malnutrition, inflation is at 175% and yet the world is in an uproar about 6 cricket matches. Cricket doesn't really seem appropriate does it?
State House is next door to the grounds where the World Cup Cricket matches are to be played. One of my friends was on the way to the cricket grounds, took a wrong turn and did a U turn near State House. His car was surrounded by armed men, everything was pulled out of his car, he was interrogated, taken behind a wall where he was knocked down and kicked in his head. 5hrs later he got home exhausted in shock and his ear drum had ruptured. I finally tracked down some very expensive vegetable seeds in a butchery but my shock at their price was overshadowed by the sight in front of me. Sitting in a supermarket trolley was a cow's head - eyes, ears, horns and fur intact. I made a point of expressing my disgust to the owner of the shop who simply shrugged his shoulders. Zimbabwe has slipped into a contagious epidemic of moral decline where no one cares, no one complains and everyone just shrugs their shoulders.
There is no gas which means there are month long backlogs of bodies waiting to be cremated at the morgues where gas fired ovens are used. The chronic shortage of fuel means there are very few delivery vehicles. The supermarket shelves are getting emptier by the day. In our small town this month our only commercial veterinary surgery closes down, our only private dentist has closed, two of our private doctors have announced that they are leaving, one headmaster has already left and another leaves before winter. A 100 year old town is on its very last legs.
I thank you for helping me spread the word about my two books: African Tears and Beyond Tears, which are both, still the only eye witness accounts to have been written about Zimbabwe's horrors since 2000. I hope I am able to send this letter now and that you are able to receive it because Zimbabwe's entire email system collapsed this week.
With love,
Cathy
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To find out more about Cathy's books go at http://www.google.ca/search?q=African+Tears+by+Cathy+Buckle&ie=ISO-8859-1&hl =en&btnG=Google+Search&meta=
Beyond Tears and African Tears can be ordered from http://africantears.netfirms.com/beyondtears.htm
Or from Amazon.com below
African Tears: The Zimbabwe Land Invasions - Catherine Buckle http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/1919874275/ African Tears is an incredibly well written and absorbing book which reads straight from the heart of Cathy Buckle.
Zimbabwe - Beyond Tears (11-30-2) http://www.rense.com/general32/zism.htm
Zimbabwe News - Letters from Cathy Buckle and lots more! http://africantears.netfirms.com/ (...) Democracy, as understood by the "free" world, no longer exists in Zimbabwe. Huge swathes of the countryside have been turned into "no go" areas by the ruling party's thugs who are now known as "war veterans". This means that no news, other than Government spin doctoring, comes forth. When the ugly truth finally does come out, the world will be horrified. The truth is that there is absolutely no rule of law. The elections which were held in March 2002 were rigged by the ruling party. Currently, ZanuPF are illegitimately "ruling" the country. Human rights abuses have continued unabated. Cathy Buckle is just one of the people who have the courage and conviction to let the world know what she sees and experiences on a daily basis. The reality is that while you read this, crimes against humanity are in progress and very little, if anything, is being done to stop this madness. State sponsored terror and anarchy continues unabated.....
(...) On 8th August 2002, 93% of Zimbabwe's commercial farmers have been ordered (by an illegal regime) to leave their farms, their homes and their livelihoods. The downstream impact is that 1,500,000 people (men, women and children) will become unemployed economic refugees with nowhere to go. The ramifications of this madness are going to affect the well-being and food security of Southern Africa for years to come. The worst is still to come. Famine is now entrenched and most African leaders must shoulder blame because they have remained silent.
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ON FEB 28 I ALSO RECEIVED THE FOLLOWING FROM CATHY BUCKLE WHO WROTE (in part):
Dear Jean
(...) I am an ordinary woman, a single mum, an author and freelance writer struggling to survive after not receiving any of the royalties or serializations payments due from Covos Books, the original publishers of my first book - African Tears. Both books ("African Tears" or "Beyond Tears") are now published and handled entirely by Jonathan Ball Publishers in South Africa. Copies are freely available in South Africa, have just arrived in Australia, are due in the UK shortly and can be ordered from the South African websites: http://www.exclusivebooks.com and http://www.kalahari.net
If there is anything you would like to know about me please ask me directly. I write a weekly letter from Zimbabwe and this and archive copies can be found on my website: http://africantears.netfirms.com
My situation (because of my outspokenness) in Zimbabwe is extremely fragile. I am so grateful for your desire to help expose the dire situation here but please ask me for facts so as not to jeopardize my safety.
Thank you,
Cathy Buckle, in Zimbabwe.
NOTE from Jean: If any of you would like to offer any kind of assistance to Cathy to help her bring to the attention of the world the tragic situation experienced by millions of her Zimbabwean brothers and sisters -- *ours* as well! -- please feel free to get in touch with her directly at "Cathy Buckle"
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