Exiled white Zimbabweans disgusted over a White Anti Sanctions committe !

  I can only tell the story of life in Zimbabwe from my perspective and my snapshot this week is of the good, the absurd , the annoying and the utterly shameful.

The good helps to maintain sanity and on an early morning trip to Harare a long crested eagle sits on a telephone pole just as the sun breaks over the horizon. The feathers on the eagles head provide a majestic silhouette in the golden dawn while a swirl of mist hugs the ground, curling along the twists and turns of an unseen river. The ripening summer grass is heavy with gold, purple and white seed heads, gently swaying and bowing in the dawn breeze. I pass a man riding a bicycle with a broken bicycle tied onto his carrier rack while above him many thousands of red footed kestrels sit side by side on the electricity cables, waiting for the day when it’s time to leave on their winter migration to Asia.

In the capital city bureaucracy consumes every task, testing the patience of a saint. Not being able to make a simple payment to the tax authorities despite their lines of tellers and cashiers because the Zimbabwe Revenue Authority don’t accept money. All payments have to be made into one specific bank and the deposit slips then taken back to the tax authorities to be stamped. Is this because they don’t trust their staff you wonder? It gets worse though because when you find that one specific bank that accepts tax payments, it takes half an hour to make a simple cash deposit. That’s because all deposits have to be double checked and the deposit slip counter signed by the Accountant. Is that because they don’t trust their staff you wonder, as you trudge back to the tax offices again?

Then comes the downright annoying as born, raised and permanently resident Zimbabweans have to queue at Immigration offices for an annual ‘resident’ stamp in their passports. This is because we are classified as ‘Aliens’ if our ancestors weren’t born here, despite our new constitution which stipulates that every born Zimbabwean is automatically a citizen.

And then, after enduring all this, there comes the utterly shameful. A group of 3,000 people who are predominantly white Zimbabweans, have formed a lobby group called Zimbabweans Against Sanctions. They are calling for the lifting of all targeted sanctions against Zanu PF individuals by the EU and US. There are only two individuals left on the EU targeted sanctions list, namely President Robert Mugabe and his wife Grace, along with one company, the Zimbabwe Defence Industries.

The white lobby group say they approve of the compulsory 51% indigenous shareholding of all companies and they blame targeted sanctions for the collapse of Zimbabwe’s economy. Their Chairman, Matthew Smith, says targeted sanctions should be lifted because: ‘the truth about Zimbabwe needs to be heard … and needs to be told from our perspective, especially as white Zimbabweans on whose behalf these damaging sanctions were supposedly imposed.’

It’s ironic that a predominantly white lobby group thinks sanctions were imposed because six thousand white people had their farms seized and not because twelve million Zimbabweans lost everything in our country’s decade long collapse. Denying that their motive is to protect their own businesses from being seized by Zanu PF, Matthew Smith said he was making this call now because: ‘the time just feels right.’

What a shame for Zimbabwe that the time didn’t feel right for these white people to speak out when half a million or more farm workers and their families were rendered homeless and destitute in land invasions; when at least 850,000 people were left bereft and desperate after government bulldozers destroyed their homes and livelihoods in Operation Murambatsvina; when at least 4,000 people died from cholera in 2008; or when countless hundreds of thousands of black Zimbabweans were the victims of political violence in the 2002, 2005 and 2008 elections.

It’s also ironic that retired Zimbabwean cricketer Heath Streak is one of the lobby group’s prominent members despite the black armband ‘death of democracy’ protests and subsequent exile from Zimbabwe of his colleagues, and our country’s most famous cricketers, Henry Olonga and Andy Flower.

Where were the voices of these 3,000 white Zimbabweans when millions of Zimbabweans, black, white and brown, were going to bed hungry, crawling under razor wire border fences, running from violence, hiding from persecutors, being beaten, burnt, raped and tortured.

This Zimbabwean is ashamed. Until next time, thanks for reading, love cathy.

This is an extract from Cathy Burke. She is the is a blogger and editor of The Zimbabwean online news source!

 

Joshua Nkomo took abuse for fighting for Strive Masiyiwa!

I am a fan of one Zimbabwe' leading international entrepreneurs and philanthropist Strive Masiyiwa who is featured on Forbes Magazine as one of the richest people in the Africa today. However, my memory is still fresh about the days back in the late 90s when Strive Masiyiwa was still little known and the and the late Dr Joshua Nkomo went through verbal abuse "from powers that be "for fighting for him. They tried to intimidate Nkomo, but the old man could not be moved. He said " Yekelani umfana lowo athathe icontract nguye owaqalayo" Then Senior Minister Joyce Mujuru even suggested that Nkomo was old, and senile and did not know anything.

 All this was just for standing up for Strive. This angered a lot Ndebele citizens myself included and being a young pen activist, I took to the new papers Letters to the editor column to express my disgust. Confidential the Minister Mujuru apologized for senile remarks, hardly a week later. (Do not forget that this comes self exaggerated person take it with a pinch of salt) Point here is that before there was Strive ,there was a Joshua Nkomo. Kudos to Strive on such an outstanding achievement.

Things I shouldn't say on social network!

The other day I went to pick up my six year old son at the bus. (I must mention that I do usually have an opportunity to pick him up because of my weird work schedule) His mother usually does the honors, other than helping him with homework and so on. On days when I have a chance to pick the young man up, just to relieve her. I do it with joy. I have made it a point to try and ask him the test question. So how was school? He as usual will tell me about his day. Some times good and at times not so good. Mostly general. I try to be attentive so that I don't not miss anything. In case there is something affecting him at school. That is the only way to find out. I am twenty first century father. Some of these things I do would have been a taboo in my father's time. All I remember my father doing was to read that Report. Buyisa ireport leyo! Akubuyise I report leyo. He would yell. Where is the report? He would stop at nothing when he wanted the report. He was like a broken record until the document is released . Once in a while, he would check the school books. Mandla can you please bring in your books! 

Opening his glasses he would go through them one by one. Why are you having so much red pen? I ballpoint ebomvu leyi hatshi Mandla. You must improve in math! Isamu azivuki la. Kumele utaditshe. That is the closest he did to my schooling work. Most important was the school Report! So as I was driving my son home which hardly a a five minutes drive. I found out that he and his friend had a Super Bow bet. They bet five dollars. The winner would take ten dollars. He put his money on the Denver Broncos while the friend put his five bucks on Seattle Sea Hawks. I listen to the whole story unravel without any judgements and just asking questions to make sure that what. I hearing is correct, knowing that I will let his mom know when we get home. (Every where are there authorities) Mom acts prompt and spells out the laws of the family . To cut the long story short he could have lost five dollars this morning to a wise and discerning young boy at school. Bronco lost big yesterday.
 Morale of the story listen to your child! Most worrying to me was the fact that our family line has a history of gambling. I prefer that he does not inherit that one. Notice that as proud father I did not mention his name in case the story goes viral. Sorry Peyton Manning and the whole Denver team. As a matter of fact when my son was born about six yrs ago. Manning did a great job of fund raising for the Study Vincent children hospital to lower the cost whole was still with the Indianapolis Colts. In a way I can understand why my son is connected to him. My last baby was born after Manning had left Indy. I can tell you the hospital was different. No more free stuff like diapers and baby clothes and blankets. I would put my money on Manning too if I had the guts to bet.