Dear friends,
The official Zimbabwe Television station (ZTV) tonight paraded some 20 people, all fairly young men whom it described as army deserters responsible for a wave of violence, chaos and mayhem in Zimbabwe's urban areas during the past two weeks.
To those unfamiliar with the Zimbabwean situation, our kith and kin went through hell after the opposition MDC called for a temporary halt to a bout of mass action which began of 18 March 2003. After this strategic retreat, all meant to neaten-up certain flaws in the process, the Mugabe regime got some breathing space and moved in like a wounded Scottish terrier, clearing up anything in the way, brutalising anybody suspected of having anything to do with the mass action.
Any way, back to ZTV tonight. The station said the men were hired by the opposition MDC to steal ammunition, munitions, dynamites and other arms of war from state armouries in order to perpetrate acts of sabotage, intimidate Zimbabwe's desperate populace and pursue destabilisation objectives in the name of the MDC. According to ZTV, these elements were hired by a Mr Sox of the MDC to desert the army. Sox is indeed a security officer in the MDC. This man is very unlucky. He was arrested and tortured twice in the past six months. He is on bail for a murder charge. The state says he killed or participated in some way in the death of a Mbare warlord, Ali Khan Manjengwa, a charge he denies. This time around, he has not been arrested. He heard his name mentioned on ZTV and is worried that they are now coming for him and that they can finish him off.
Sorry, back to the news clip on ZTV. For what of a better word or phrase, this is all rubbish. It is rubbish for the following reasons:
1. The majority of the people who were beaten -up, harassed and brutalised by the so-called army deserters are MDC supporters. Many badly manhandled. ( At one one Chitungwiza night club, revellers were asked to have sex with each other randomly. Those who failed to fake an erection or some state of preparedness (for sex) were badly beaten. No condoms were allowed. Those who witnessed the event said all those caught in this unfortunate incident did something, never mind the intensity).
The Avenues Clinic, just a week ago, looked like a military hospital in a nation at war. A number of wards were full of people with broken limbs, larcerations, bruises, swollen body parts and other biological inconveniences normally associated with beatings involving booted feet, blunt instruments and clenched fists.
Morgan Tsvangirai visited them at the hospital, including an elderly woman who eloquently told her story which is difficult to publish. The army guys arrived and shoved a beer bottle into her vagina and demanded her gyrate, African sexual style while one soldier held on to that bottle. She was even asked to reach orgasm or risk death.
If the group so paraded today were MDC hired guns, they wouldn't have dared to operate in areas where the party enjoys unfettered political support. The command, if it was an MDC one, would have directed them to areas known to have the largest numbers of Zanu PF supporters.
2. We have a SADC mission coming into the country either on Wednesday or Thursday, primarily to hear views of all Zimbabweans on the situation at home. This regime knows that it has already lost the propaganda war. It is trying, in a very desperate way, to sway regional opinion in its favour when there are no more cards to pull. Excuse me colleagues and friends, but please this must be said and I can say now, it is becoming impossible every the minute to sell the land issue, even to the senior Zanu PF maniacs. Yes, Mugabe has 11 million hectares of land under his control, all reduced to a wasteland today.There are no known preparations for the winter crop. Much of the land lay fallow in the last season. So land is no longer a propaganda tool. Period.
Mugabe can't use the race card any longer. It is a tired story, associated with the nationalistic fervour of the 60s and 70s. It has failed to help him galvanise the necessary support of today's voter as evidenced by last week's MDC victories in Highfield and Kuwadzana.
Zimbabweans now look to the future and are concerned about the quality of life and the prosperity of their children (if any), not the social historical backlogs and public service imbalances raised by Zanu PF at every opportunity to prop up a failed dictator who is desperately trying to cling onto power.
As Zimbabweans, we know our history. We know what we went through under colonial rule. But today that is not the problem. We know what the problem is.
Highfield and Kuwadzana told Mugabe what the problem is. The people there are fed up with him because he doesn't listen: in February 2000, they rejected him in a Constitutional referendum; in June 200, they rejected his party and him in the parliamentary election; in March 2002, they rejected him and his party in the election of municipal councillors; in March 2002, they rejected him in the election of an executive mayor for the City of Harare; in March 2002, they rejected him in the Presidential election (see election results), AND in March 2003, they rejected him in the parliamentary by-elections.
Surely what does the world want Zimbabweans to do with this idiot. He can't see or read the message!
3. Paul Themba Nyathi, the fiery MDC spokesman was arrested today. This government knows that the party has not yet identified its voice since his arrest this morning. They have chosen to put together a sloppy propaganda package on ZTV tonight knowing fully well that the MDC will take its time in developing a counter because of the absence of the party spokesman.
4. Back to the paraded "MDC army deseters". The normal thing, in a genuine democracy, is to arrest suspected criminals. A government does not parade a criminal on television before charging him/her.
It is very strange that a government would choose to take suspects to a TV station first before dragging them to a court of law. This is what happened in the case of President Tsvangirai, Renson Gasela and Prof Ncube currently in court for treason.
A police officer with 25 years experience (State witness) failed to answer a question as to why he decided to keep that case (Tsvangirai et al) for two and half months before opening a docket for the trio, given the seriousness of the charge.
He failed further to answer a question as to whether it was normal police behaviour to keep case of this nature for such a long time. He failed to state whether this was to the benefit of the accused person or not. He refused to say who benefited from this supposed ineptitude, although it was clear that Tsvangirai was a presidential aspirant fighting a naked, senile dictator at the time.
He failed to answer a follow-up question on why the matter was aired by SBS Australian television and ZTV before a docket was opened, again given the seriousness of the case. The officer could only say he was waiting for further instructions from his seniors. Who were these seniors, his answer: "I can't remember".
As to whether he was surprised that a vital piece of evidence (i.e. the Ben Menashe tape) which he thought he was keeping in safe custody suddenly found itself at ZTV and became the subject of all sorts of debate and comment before he could effect an arrest on MT, RG and WN, the officer could only say: "Yes, I was surprised."
Please, God forbid, we can't continue to live in a society like this!
It is too late for anybody to wish to MDC away. Right now, close to 2 000 people have been arrested, thousands brutalised, millions left hungry and thousands left to die in places we still call public hospitals but are, in reality, terminal stations because of the shortages of drugs and staff.
Those arrested in the past two weeks are nowhere near the centre of action. We have plus minus 15 000 street committees countrywide, with an average executive membership of 20 activists, all geared to engage the regime in peaceful mass action of all forms. There is no way this regime can get all of them. The action is definitely coming. In fact, the current crop of political prisoners is far away from the the nodal points of real activism. I need not say more.
Mail in Zimbabwe is often interfered with and originators persecuted. If you receive this note, please confirm receipt as soon as possible so that I know it has reached you. If you don't respond, I will assume you never got it and you may never know what will become of me. I thank you.
Have a good day.
T. William Bango
Presidential spokesman, MDC
|
|
You can make a difference
|
|
 |
Make a donation |
|
Support Zimbabwe at an event |
|
Lobby your local Government member |
|
Become a member of the ZIC |
|
