Zimbabwe - A letter from the diaspora

GOING HOME: The year is 2004 and Caleb Dube, the former detective with the Zimbabwe Republic Police has been in exile in the United Kingdom for two years. A letter arrives from his old friend and colleague, Moses Musindo, alerting Dube to the fact that his former teacher and friend, Father Hugh Malloy, is in great danger. Friendship demands no less and Caleb Dube goes home to his native land. With no help from a partisan police force, Dube and Musindo set out to investigate. In the course of their enquiries deep in the rural areas, the two men meet a host of unforgettable characters, including Sami the AIDS orphan and Sami's friend, Tatenda, the hunter. The two boys are an indispensable part of the investigation and the search leads them to an old adversary of Dube's who holds the key to the mystery of the missing priest.
Click here to find out more or buy online

Countdown is a political detective story. It is fiction but the background is accurate and verifiable. Set in 2001/2 and the start of the land invasions, the book shows how the politicisation of the police force has led directly to the breakdown of law and order. In this hostile environment, two honest cops attempt to investigate a murder. Click here to find out more or buy online

28th August 2009

Dear Friends.
The BBC World Service last night showed an interview with Moeletsi Mbeki, the brother of the former president of South Africa, and an independent-minded man who has shown in his speeches and writings that he is not bound by rigid partisan political thinking. He was asked in the interview whether he thought anything would come out of President Zuma's visit to Zimbabwe. In sharp contrast to the naive optimism being expressed by some commentators inside Zimbabwe, Moeletsi Mbeki replied, with reasoned argument, that he thought very little would come out of Zuma's visit to resolve the stalemate in the Zimbabwean political situation. As evidence of this he cited Zuma's own political credentials. As a Liberation fighter, as was Mugabe, Zuma has not demonstrated that he differs in any way from the 'Liberationist' stance taken by SADC and the AU , both of which organizations have failed to raise their voices to condemn Zimbabwe's blatantly rigged elections and human rights abuses. As Mbeki pointed out, South African observers were there in Zimbabwe and saw for themselves the rigging and intimidation but still declared the elections 'free and fair'. In addition, the ANC itself has also not spoken out clearly to condemn the continuing violations of the GPA by Zanu PF. In effect, Mbeki argued that President Zuma's visit to Zimbabwe was unlikely to bring about any real change in Robert Mugabe's behaviour. Like his predecessor, Zuma is bound by the 'Old Boy' network that continues to protect Africa's dictators. Only two African leaders, Moeletsi Mbeki pointed out, have actively condemned Mugabe's blatant rigging of elections. Mbeki might also have pointed out that Zuma has only a short period left before he hands over the Chair of SADC to Angola, another ally of Robert Mugabe.
It was interesting in the light of Meoletsi Mbeki's comments to read what President Zuma said at the banquet held for him by President Mugabe at State House last night. Zuma spoke of 'positive developments' foretelling 'good things' for Zimbabwe, a suitably vague comment which could be taken to mean just what his listeners wanted to hear! "We are all encouraged" Zuma went on, "by how the three parties put their differences aside in the service of the country…The remaining issues are not insurmountable and can be overcome." Perhaps it was too much to expect that Zuma would spell out the specifics at such a 'ceremonial' occasion but the fact that he had already had a private meeting with Robert Mugabe before the banquet rather suggests that Mugabe still has the dominant voice.
As for 'putting their differences aside' as President Zuma put it, we had two different speakers from the Zanu PF side this week who both articulated the real state of affairs, six months after the GPA was signed. Patrick Chinamasa the Zanu PF Minister of Justice who had earlier led the walkout of Zanu PF ministers at the retreat held for members of the Unity government said prior to Zuma's visit, "Our position is very clear. We hope our principal, President Robert Mugabe tells President Zuma that the outstanding issues are sanctions and external interference." Chinamasa went on to dismiss the issues of the Governorship of the Reserve Bank and the office of Attorney General saying, " they are nowhere in the GPA… There is continued interference in our private affairs."
It was Didymus Mutasa, the one remaining old war-horse and close ally of Robert Mugabe, speaking to Zanu PF parliamentarians the day before President Zuma arrived in the country, who spelt out in no uncertain terms the 'hardliners'stance. Mutasa's words hardly suggest that differences have been set aside 'for the good of the country'. "Cde Mugabe is the head of government," he said, "He is the one who chairs our cabinet. He is the one who tells us all, including the Prime Minister, what should be done." With breath-taking disregard for accuracy, Mutasa went on to claim that "the MDC was responsible for the poverty and starvation currently taking place in Zimbabwe" all of this he alleged was a result of sanctions which the MDC has invited. He reminded the Zanu PF parliamentarians that they should never forget that "the MDC want nothing less than regime change." That last statement is perhaps the most accurate in Didymus Mutasa's wild ramblings. To get rid of Mugabe was after all why the people voted for the MDC in the last election and why they are increasingly disillusioned with this Government of National Unity's failure on so many fronts: to restore the rule of law, to take forward the constitutional process and to bring about media reform. One report in the Zimbabwe Independent concerning this last point clearly shows how fed up ordinary people are with the continued use by Zanu PF of the media to further their own propaganda and continue the deification of Robert Mugabe. Some 200 ordinary citizens attended a Public Meeting called by the Media Committee of parliament to sound out public opinion on the conduct of the state-controlled media in Zimbabwe. It was a school girl in a bright red jersey who had the crowd on their feet, applauding and cheering when she said, "If I go to America to study medicine I will never come back. The media made me hate my country." That young school girl spoke for so many of us inside the country and outside in the diaspora. Is it likely that President Zuma and other African leaders will read her words and think again about their support for the 'Liberation Hero' who has led his country to the brink of annihilation?
Yours in the (continuing) struggle PH.




21st August 2009

Dear Friends.
To the surprise of many Africa watchers, Frederick Chiluba, the former President of Zambia was found 'Not Guilty' by a Zambian court this week on a charge of embezzling public funds. He was the first African leader to be prosecuted in his own country. Earlier in his six-year long battle to clear his name, Chiluba had lost a civil case in a London court which had clearly revealed some very shady arms deals involving millions of dollars. The trial in Zambia was a criminal trial and had he been found guilty Chiluba could have been sent to gaol. That did not happen but it was surely not for lack of evidence. The offices for Zambia's Anti-Corruption Taskforce are now home to Chiluba's collection of 100 pairs of hand-made shoes, monogrammed shirts, tailor-made suits with matching silk ties and handkerchiefs, all stored in metal trunks. The UK's Independent run a piece by Ian Birrell titled 'Big men, bankers and the stench of corruption' which gave some fascinating insights into Chiluba's lifestyle. While the vast majority of the Zambian population was living on less than a dollar a day, and Chiluba himself was earning £52.000 a year as President, he would think nothing of jetting off to Switzerland and spending as much as £300.000 in his favourite clothes store.

Unlike much of the British coverage of Africa and its dictators however, Birrell's purpose was not to show that Africa is by nature corrupt and unable to govern itself. Rather, Birrell's intention was to show that African corruption cannot succeed without the direct connivance of western companies and banks. Birrell claims that African dictators and despots would not be able to make away with their ill-gotten gains were it not for the greed of foreign banks and governments which cheerfully accept vast sums of money from African leaders, no questions asked. As examples of this, Birrell gives several cases where foreign banks and governments have failed to co-operate when attempts are made to refund monies after the dictators have fallen from power. It was the British government who hindered the return of Abacha's looted wealth in Nigeria. The Swiss went even further and refused to return the money despite a Court ruling that the money should be repatriated. Kenya too has suffered from Britain's reluctance to return stolen funds. In short, Birrell maintains that Africa's looted millions reveal the hypocrisy of the west which preaches the doctrine of fighting poverty in Africa while at the same time positively assisting Africa's Big Men to salt away their ill-gotten gains in foreign banks. Bankers lawyers and accountants in Europ and America are effectively living off immoral earnings, Birrell claims.

Of course, Birrell's otherwise excellent piece makes no mention of Zimbabwe which has become almost a non-country in discussions about Africa. It is as if Zimbabwe has somehow ceased to exist as an African entity. Even the Kenyan Nobel prize winner Wangari Mathaai, whose book The Challenge for Africa I have just read, makes almost no mention of Zimbabwe preferring to concentrate instead on the evils of colonialism and the terrible legacy it has left behind. Robert Mugabe's claim that Britain is intent on re-colonising Zimbabwe has no basis in reality as he should know if he understood the myriad problems facing the UK government. What Mugabe and his cronies want is for sanctions to be lifted so that they can access their funds stashed away in foreign banks. So while NGO's spend millions fighting hunger and disease in Africa as a whole and Zimbabwe in particular, foreign banks are making huge profits at the African people's expense.

The sanctions imposed against Zimbabwe are directed at specific individuals in Zanu PF. They were not instigated at the behest of the MDC and for Mugabe to claim as he does, that it is the responsibility of the MDC in terms of the GPA to have sanctions lifted is nothing less than political chicanery. For once the MDC, too often seen as doing little more than placating Mugabe's inflated ego, hit right back with Nelson Chamisa saying at last weekend's rally in Mutare, "Sanctions are a matter between Zanu PF and those who imposed them. Zanu PF should be grateful that they are in power despite the fact that they were rejected by the people in March last year." Zimbabwe needs more hard-hitting speeches like Chamisa's. It is one thing to join Zanu PF in a so-called Unity Government but the MDC and all its officials should be speaking with one voice in reminding Mugabe and the former ruling party that they are not there through the democratic choice of the people and that it is Zanu PF's misgovernance and downright corruption, not sanctions, that has brought the country to its knees. In a significant comment by an unnamed Zanu PF official this week we get a strong clue to the real electoral intentions of Mugabe and his cronies "I wish we could continue for the next ten years with this inclusive government" he said, "to get the country out of the mess it is in." Ten more years of incompetence and corruption, ten more years for the Zanu PF fat cats and others who have joined the gravy train to salt away their illegal diamonds and assorted plunder gained from shady deals; it does not bear thinking of!
Yours in the (continuing) struggle PH.

7 August 2009

Dear Friends.
It is common to all cultures to honour the dead. There was one death in the UK this week that united the British nation in respect for Harry Patch, the 111 year-old last remaining survivor of the horrors of the 'War to end all wars': World War 1. Watched by thousands of ordinary people he was buried in the ancient Wells Cathedral in Somerset. At his own request, the theme of Harry Patch's funeral service was Peace and Reconciliation.
I was reminded of our own three days of National Healing in Zimbabwe and the sad fact that very little peace or reconciliation seems to have come out of that. But it was another event in the UK that reminded me even more strongly of the necessity for people to come together in genuine - and I stress genuine- reconciliation and true repentance if there is to be forgiveness for the crimes of the past. This case involved one very different individual, a convicted criminal, Ronnie Biggs, the Great Train Robber who has been in prison for the past thirty years. He is an old man now, in fact he will be 80 years old tomorrow and some weeks ago he was finally granted parole by the prison authorities. In stepped the British Home Secretary, one Jack Straw, and reversed the parole order on the grounds that Ronnie Biggs had not shown 'true repentance' for his crime and still represented a threat to society. It was hard to see how a sick 80-year old man could be a threat to anyone, though it has to be admitted that it's not unknown for African octogenarians to constitute a considerable threat to the lives and liberty of their fellow citizens! Today, Jack Straw reversed his decision, 'on compassionate grounds' he said and Ronnie Biggs will be a free man as he celebrates his 80th birthday tomorrow. He has had three strokes and is currently in hospital suffering from pneumonia so the celebrations are likely to be somewhat muted, I'd say.
In Zimbabwe this week, another octogenarian, the Vice President Joseph Msika died and will no doubt be yet another 'Hero' for burial in Heroes Acre. Not much repentance for past crimes there either; none of the obituaries I have read seem to have much good to say for the late Joseph Msika; his 'foam-flecked' rhetoric as it was described being for the most part nothing but racist ranting with such expressions as 'Whites are not human' being among the more memorable. I remember writing a piece for the Daily News at the time wondering whether Msika had actually confused the two words, 'human' and 'humane' but whatever he meant, his intention was clearly to stir up racial hatred. And no doubt, another octogenarian will have more of the same to say when he addresses the faithful at Msika's burial ceremony in Heroes Acre. We are all too familiar with Robert Mugabe's hate-filled rhetoric. attacking whites, the west and all his other imagined enemies at national occasions. What we can be certain of is that he will have little to say about genuine peace and reconciliation. I hear that the Herald and the ZBC/TV are being urged - or is it ordered - to use his full titles when mentioning the Great Man. Perhaps they think that will make us respect and honour him more?
I thought about that as I watched the video of Harry Patch when he visited the war graves in France. There he sat, this frail old man in his wheelchair, head bowed, surrounded by the graves of thousands slaughtered in the 'War to end all wars.' The old man had just one simple question "What did they die for?" he asked and I wondered. Does the 86 year old Robert Mugabe, the Supreme Leader as they would have us call him, never ask himself the same question? The 20-30 thousand Ndebele victims of Gukuruhundi, the 70 thousand innocent victims of Murambatsvina whose lives were virtually destroyed, the ongoing starvation caused by his so-called Land Reform and the brutality still being meted out against all his perceived enemies. What are they dying for? We all know the answer: to keep Robert Mugabe in power. But I wonder too, if each time he presides at yet another funeral of one of his own contemporaries, the 86 year-old Mugabe is not reminded of his own mortality. The Great Hero of the Liberation Struggle will also die one day, in spite of all his cunning, not even he cannot escape the Grim Reaper. And what will his epitaph be? In Shona culture the 'friend of the corpse', the sawhira is there to make the people smile as they remember the deceased, to ease the pain of their loss. What sawhira, I wonder, will give testimony to Robert Mugabe's goodness and humanity, to his true heroism?
More reminders of human mortality from another continent and in another culture but very relevant. In one particularly moving moment at Harry Patch's funeral, an old friend turned and addressed the old man's flag-draped coffin directly and spoke the simple words, "An ordinary man who showed us true heroism. At long last, Harry, you can rest in peace." Cultures are not so different, I think.
Yours in the (continuing) struggle PH.