Cathy Buckle's Letter From Zimbabwe.

Dear Family and Friends,

This week, again, everyone outside the country was talking about the possibility of our two main political parties taIking about talks. The Nigerian President appointed the ex Mozambican President to try and get Zimbabwe to talk about talks. The South African government then denied that they were using talks as a condition for financial aid and a few days later said they were not going to talk about talks, or insist on talks or even suggest talks, as it was clear that no one actually wanted to talk anyway. It got more and more confusing by the day!

Mid week some international news stations said that it looked like talks were going to happen and those of us at home groaned, yawned sceptically and waited for the rhetoric which we knew was coming and sure enough followed shortly afterwards. In a couple of angry, hissy, podium banging speeches, it was all over. It is now official, yet again, that there are not going to beany talks between Zanu PF and the MDC. Those of us living in Zimbabwe know that it doesn't actually matter who asks, begs, pleads, cajoles or insists on talks between President Mugabe and Morgan Tsvangirai, they are just not going to happen. President Mugabe continues to insist that the MDC is a British sponsored party containing sellouts and puppets and that he will not talk to them. It is apparently of no consequence that Zanu PF cannot resolve the problems crippling the country, they will be damned if they will let anyone else try, and so we plod on.

I was going to say that after all this talking about mythical talks we would now get back to normal but that would be nonsense because nothing is normal here. New taxes have just been announced to raise money to rebuild the houses that the government just knocked down. Official inflation roseto 254% in July and parliament is about to change the constitution to remove the right of appeal from people whose land is seized. Another change being proposed would give the government the power to refuse passports to some people if it was in the "national interest."

While all this became common knowledge, the Botswana President Festus Mogae defendedthe SADC's inactivity by saying: "The problems of Zimbabwe are not my priority. We consult with Zimbabwe and we advise Zimbabwe in confidence. That's all we do, that's all we can do and that's all we are prepared to do." So, there it is, we are on our own, there will be no talks, noconditions on financial loans and no criticism from African governments.I end on a very sad note with something else that became common knowledge this week. Almost a month after ordinary South African people reached out to Zimbabweans affected by Operation Restore Order, their goodwill is still sitting at the border. Trucks loaded with 37 tons of humanitarian aid including blankets, maize meal, cooking oil and beans are sitting unmoving in the sun at the border as red tape, bureaucracy and officialdom prevent it from being allowed into Zimbabwe. I believe that when the trucks were filled and sealed on the 1st of August, they were blessed by the South African Anglican Archbishop but even divine intervention has not helped and so the poorest of Zimbabwe's poor continue to suffer in silence.

Until next week, with love, cathy. Copyright cathy buckle 20 August 2005 http://africantears.netfirms.com/ My books "African Tears" and"Beyond Tears" are available from: orders@africabookcentre.com ; http://www.africabookcentre.com/ ; http://www.amazon.co.uk/ ; in Australia and NewZealand: johnmreed@johnreedbooks.com.au ; Africa: http://www.exclusivebooks.com/