Back Online! Experiences.

Hello All,

Apologies for a lengthy delay - many issues have had to be sorted out and, now as they have been done, regular contributions should return!

I have decided today, to try and keep my review of the news to a minimum - after all, there are many already out there. I must say that TBM carries an interesting report about ZANU-PF youths and militia - the erstwhile "veterans" (what an insult to actual veterans!lol) are being arrested - and they are feeling quite wretched about it all! TBM quotes a report in which one criminal is quoted as saying this:

Some of the revanchist youths say they have nowhere to turn to, as the politicians who were mobilising them to perpetrate violence, are nowhere to be found.
"The police are arresting us saying we were breaking the law and nobody had the right to instruct us to do that. Most of my friends have been arrested, while several others have fled homes as they are the target of attack from the relatives of those people that they killed or beat up during the campaigns," said one youth who was operating from a base at Mupandawana growth point.
"We were so foolish as to beat up our neighbours and relatives. Now they are not willing to help us if we have a genuine problem. We feel we have been used."

Hahahahaha! I must admit, I found myself rolling on the floor with tears rolling down my face at this!
The really not funny part of this is that real and good people have paid with their lives. I note the criminal quoted says he feels he has been used - welcome to your beloved comrade Bob's dust republic! (I had thought to call it a "banana republic, but then remembered that there are no bananas. Or anything else!).

Clearly the police are to blame in this situation also. But what is does say, quite loudly, is that the few at the top are the ones who are causing the problem - but the sheep, and in this I include members of the police and army etc, are just too weak to stand up to them. If they all, with one accord, stood their ground and said NO - this rubbish would be over by now. Of course, Mugabe's divide and rule tactic is still the single most effective weapon keeping him and his cronies in power. Opposition to Mugabe must learn to unite - then we would see precisely how small his little band are. But, of course, they have all the money that has been pinched from the people and the country.

and this brings me on to the latest report on Zimbabwe from SA News 24:
Zim rivals 'closer to serious talks'

I truly hope the opposition realises during it's negotiations that South Africa's idiot president does not have long left in office - and that his replacement is likely to change the balance of power significantly. That should give them the strength to get the right outcome from the talks with Mugabe's illegal junta.

You know, Mugabe and co MUST see the writing on the wall, mind you, they have demonstrated an enviable tenacity (which is not hard given the pathetic response from the world leaders!) and when the farm invasions all kicked off the beginning of this dark chapter of Zimbabwe's history, we all thought back then that world would not stand by and let Mugabe get away with it. Again. Like we did during gukuranhundi. Like we did when the so called liberation forces attacked and killed the weak and innocent and shot down passenger aircraft. I wonder when we will all give up the hope and actually do something.

I know that there are many suitably angry members of the forces poised to get rid of these carbuncles, although they have stayed their hand pending positive moves that we are all hanging onto.

I wonder by what legal right and tenant Mugabe feels he and his greedy, genocidal cronies feel they have the right to negotiate about anything to do with the presidency and parliament of the government? I guess none, just the death grip they have on all the instruments of state which they have corrupted to their own ends. This is no longer even remotely about colonisation (if it ever was) or land or anything else other than greed and corruption.

I remember during my earlier years some of the contrasts I saw in Zimbabwe. Like the night (circa 1987) my wonderful Peugeot 404 broke down mid way between Bulawayo and Harare (heading for a hot date!lol). The water pump died. 22:00hrs 10 km's from Battlefields Police.. so, as any policeman would, I managed to limp the car to the police station. When I arrived there, there were several National Army vehicles and quite a number of soldiers overnighting there. These soldiers came over and used a serious amount of mechanical expertise to remove the water pump, make a new gasket out of a chibuku packet, refit the pump and reset the points gap using a hacksaw blade. And they fed me (bearing in mind actually, that I was not in uniform and was just another white guy driving his car) and did everything they could to help me out and get me on my way. I remember that, at the time, we whites were not particularly sure of the army, and I thought a huge request of payment or some such would be forthcoming. But no, all they said to me was please could I organise some donations of some magazines for them to read in their bases when away from home!!

So where are these soldiers? Where are the constable from Ngundu Halt police post who gave me place to sleep and food on New Years' eve the year before when I was hitching to Beit Bridge - or indeed the many, many soldiers who gave me lifts ( as a white hitch hiker) over the years?

Are all the members of the forces bad? Given my personal experiences, which are at odds with most of the stories I ever heard from other whites), I cannot imagine that they are all bad guys who want Mugabe to stay.

In October last year I stopped next to a police Landrover defender ( I was in civvies) and I smiled at the sergeant driving and said, "hows it going?" and he said to me, "ah, we are suffering. Help us to change things!" The lights changed and off we roared..

There have been contrasts and there are not all good guys. I had to arrest two constables one night who were liberally swinging a riot baton amongst the commuters in an ET (also in October) and I remember the return trip from my hot Harare date (of the 404 story) - I was hiking because the car had to wait for a new pump. I got stuck at Kadoma where, naturally, I went to the cop shop. I was given a bench to doss on in the Charge Office. Whilst I was there I recall a farmer calling in because there was a brawl in the farm compound. The fat, lazy sergeant who answered the phone said there no transport and the farmer should sort it out! About 40 minutes later, the farmer called again to say that one of the protagonists had managed to kill the other. The sergeant heaved a sigh of resignation, got off his back side and went to attend the scene - in the vehicle which had been parked outside the charge office all along. It gave me great pleasure to write a report for the officer in charge who had to then attend and was not best pleased that his slumber was interrupted!

I think the unfortunate sergeant received 30 days not to count for pay along with a discharge.

Well, enough reminiscences from me for today! I hope to introduce new feature soon which I will call the real police spokesman. I will review that Mugabe militia loyalist spokesman Wayne Bvudzjena's comments - and make what I think should be a correct police response.

Later.