View more

Whilst Mugabe fiddles about food in Rome, Zimbabwe is burning. With three weeks till the run off, the election violence continues. The images from a petrol bomb attack in Zaka support with the reports we received below, from an MDC supporter in Masvingo Province.

Zaka

Our Zaka command centre was attacked last night by ZANU PF militia who shot 7 of the MDC supporters there and went on to burn there bodies with the fuel that had been supplied them for campaigning purposes. The Zaka police are trying to down play this incident by saying that only three people have been killed.

Chirezi North

The secretary Nelson Mangwayana’s house at Mkwasine Estate was attacked by people brought there in 2 Mistabushi pick ups last night. He was not there and his wife managed to escape with her children, the militia broke windows and took some goods and radio equipment. The family is now homeless and he is unable to go back to work at Mkwasine Estate. Everyone including management of the Mkwasine estate are being forced to go to ZANU meetings where they have to keep pledging there allegiance.

Chiredzi South

At 2.30am I received a message that the chairman for ward 10 Satan who lives at Chilonga has been abducted with 2 youths. His son who saw the abduction said that 2 white pick ups came to the house and at gun point forced him into a vehicle. As they left he Satan managed to shout his farewells to his family. Suspect who directed this are Matemachani, Edson Chauke (otherwise Right Chimbere), Phillimon Magezani and David Knuka.

For another account of events in Zaka, visit this blog:

Six MDC officials, sleeping in their office, were woken by the arrival of an armed gang at 4am. The armed men forced the officials to lie down and shot three people immediately. (I pray to any available God that they were killed outright). Petrol was poured over them all and they were set alight. The man I am talking to managed to tear off his clothes, beat out the flames burning his body and escape. Two men are dead, their bodies unrecognisably burned, and another suspected dead but his body is missing. Two men have burns over large areas of their bodies. They will be lucky to live.

Yesterday the first flush of crimson appeared on the lucky bean trees
a promise of flowering yet to be

yesterday was a rough day

we have been without cash for a week so I went foraging . . .

As I wait at a traffic light
I see a man and woman make their way slowly across the road in front of me
on the mans back he carries a load
a human reduced to nothing but bones
the shaft of a shin bone hangs down at his side
a human, ageless, of unknown gender
reduced to this

I am consumed by pain, and the need to do something
try to get off the road to offer them a lift
am pushed forwards by impatient traffic
tears running
‘I’m, sorry, I’m sorry’ as I drive on

I go to the ATM (no cash available) to try and establish what money there is in our account
in my disarray, I manage to put in the wrong pin code and my card is taken
(at least something still works!)
I rush into the bank to try and regain my card
it is crammed with about 200 customers queuing to cash the maximum cheque they can
(5 billion – today this translates to US$ 5)

I queue along side 2 men in army uniform as an SMS comes through on my cell
‘the police and army are marching through the crowded streets of Mbare Musika
firing guns into the air.’
and find myself staring at their boots
looking for splatters of blood

Why do none of us say anything?
we are so compelled to behave properly

I am in the wrong queue, but am told that I will have to reapply for a card – it could take 2 weeks (in which time my money will be worth nothing)
into another queue (only 30 minutes) – and I persuade the wonderful, patient woman to try and get my card
20 minutes later it appears –with a big smile

Back to the ATM – I have 28 billion
there is an urgency to spend it before tomorrow
with 28 individual swipes on the cash machine I can buy US$ 28 worth of floor polish and some potatoes
BUT – the cash machines aren’t working today – and no one takes cheques
I go home empty handed

Mel has been out trying to sell onions and convert it to soap, oil, sugar and salt to pay workers
but there is no cash for the onions – only a cheque – a wait of 8 days (at which time it has halved and halved again)
Yesterday he worked out that our 1$ coins that used to be worth 1 US$ would now build a 3 metre high wall around the equator to make an equivalent amount.

The air above the vleis and hillsides are filled with prayers
I wonder if they are praying for deliverance
or for the strength and courage to endure?

We hear of someone who is being pursued by the police
the fear of death hangs over him
a sudden urgency to find a safe place, food to survive

News comes of Morgan being arrested for speaking to his electorate at Lupane

These are the early mornings when the shadows lean long on the earth
and at a slow shifting of the sun an unseen spider web is lit with rainbows
invisible magic hidden in the shadows
waiting for a shift in the light

To climb a mountain takes courage and strength, yet to overcome the cliffs of despair takes even greater courage and strength.

When suffering comes, it is time to go on rather than stop;
it is time to accept rather than reject;
it is time for courage rather than weakness;
it is time to look forward rather than back;
it is time to understand rather than question.

In loss, not all is lost, for memories are left to be cherished.
In darkness, light is needed.
In confusion, clarity is needed.
In despair, hope is needed.

- Prem Rawat

Dance your anger and your joys,

Dance the military guns to silence,

Dance oppression and injustice to death,

Dance my people.

- Ken Saro-Wiwa

Likely many Zimbabweans feel stuck and maybe slide into complacency. The current election crisis has left people feeling frozen, like there’s nothing that can be done to bring positive change. Also, issues such as vulnerabilities to HIV, domestic violence, gender inequalities, and others at times carry self-acknowledged complacency often due do a difficult to shake feeling that reality only allows for complacency. A couple things got me thinking about complacency and possible ways to make complacency productive.

First, I saw a Zimbabwean film The Bitter Pill and there’s complacency everywhere in the film. A married couple feels helpless they have not been unable to conceive a child. The frustrated husband goes to Canada. The husband’s best friend, a wealthy entrepreneur, pursues the wife. You feel his complacency – forex is the only way to make money and belief it’s his right and obligation to pursue any women he wants because that’s what men do (particularly wealthy ones). The film portrays a possible reality. After having sex with the entrepreneur, the wife becomes pregnant, and through meeting one of the entrepreneurs other girlfriends, the wife discovers the entrepreneur is HIV-positive. It struck me that HIV is a prominent element in the film. However, as is an accurate reality, HIV is barely discussed. Not only are the characters complacent, but the film itself, given the way HIV is engaged (or rather is not discussed), potentially perpetuates complacency. Thus, the all important question: What’s attached to disseminating the film? In a move to find productivity in complacency, the International Video Fair intends to use the film to facilitate discussion. Importantly, part of discussions will be seeing that silence around HIV may be a common reality, but silence is not the only option.

My second set of thoughts about complacency developed while reading Charles Mungoshi’s Waiting for the Rain. First published in 1975, the book is a timeless classic. Additionally, I found it interesting to think about the complacency of the father-son characters Tongoona and Lucifer; they both are struggling with a feeling that many things remain unsaid. At the same time, the characters are not at all complacent. I’m fascinated by the ways Tongoona and Lucifer are, individually and in conversation, immersed in self-reflection – about life, family, opportunities, change, etc. Perhaps this is a way of reading thought processes as an example of productive complacency. Many things in the world can and do remain unsaid, yet the thought process around why they are difficult to be said is just as crucial to efforts to bring positive change. Delving into Tongoona and Lucifer’s thoughts serves as a reminder that reality has long made many people feel stuck and limited actions, but complacency to the point of being void of thought is not a place many people have ever resided.