- Dear Family and Friends,
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- Every time the man insulted and complained in his ugly,
raised voice, I could feel droplets of his spit on my neck. He was standing
so close behind me that I felt distinctly uncomfortable. There must have
been about twenty of us waiting in the queue at the supermarket but no
one commented or said a word about the abusive tirade. The owners of this
sort of behaviour are well known to us all and to stay safe we stay quiet.
"Hey Manager," he shouted, "someone send for the manager.
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- Why must I wait like this? I don't expect to have to
wait." The more the man ranted the quieter it got in the shop. Two
security guards standing at the exit doors did not come forward, instead
they retreated out of sight and the shower of spit on my neck increased.
"Hey, bring more tellers! Come on, I'm tired of waiting. Hey, you,
how much is that chocolate? No, not the local one, the imported one. What
about the newspaper, the imported one? How much? Hey, hurry up."
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- The owner of the abusive behaviour was a man of perhaps
thirty. His head was shaven and he wore a thick gold chain around his neck.
In his hand, on obvious display, he flicked a thick bundle of money. Under
his loose, open-necked shirt we could all see the T shirt he wore with
the face of Mr Mugabe on it.
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- This is the face of Zimbabwe a fortnight before elections:
one man silences twenty. We see but we stay quiet.
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- Two men arrived on foot at a farm this week and they
were carrying Zanu PF posters. As they began putting up the posters on
the walls of outbuildings a worker tried to object - this is private property
after all. "You are not allowed to complain," came the response.
"Or maybe you are MDC?" The worker did not respond and the posters
of Mr Mugabe were plastered on the walls of private property.
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- This is the face of Zimbabwe where election observers
have begun arriving but are only allowed to watch from 8 am to 5pm.
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- A friend was at the hospital when the latest victim of
political violence arrived. The victim was in his early sixties and accused
of being an MDC supporter. Both his arms and one leg were broken , his
skull was fractured and the injuries too severe to be treated at the local
hospital.
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- This is the face of Zimbabwe where only 400 election
observers will watch 12 million Zimbabweans on the 27th of June. 400 election
observers to watch 9231 polling stations. One observer for every 23 polling
stations - it is a mockery, an insult to a tired, broken, hungry and frightened
population. Is this really the best Africa can do?
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-
- Until next time,
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- love cathy,
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- Copyright cathy buckle
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- 14th June 2008. www.cathybuckle.com
-
- My books: "African Tears" and "Beyond
Tears" are available in South Africa from: <mailto:books@clarkesbooks.co.za>books@clarkesbooks.co.za
and in the UK from: <mailto:orders@africabookcentre.com>orders@africabookcentre.com
To subscribe/unsubscribe to this newsletter, please write to: <mailto:cbuckle@mango.zw>cbuckle@mango.zw
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