Cathy Buckle's Weekly Letter From Zimbabwe !

A bad deal?
Saturday 22nd September 2007.

Dear Family and Friends,

The eyes of the world have been on Zimbabwe for the past week and it is heartening to know that we are not alone and humbling to think that people care about our plight. In fact, everything about life in Zimbabwe is pretty humbling these days.

As the weeks pass and conditions deteriorate ever further, it is hard to understand how people are surviving and beyond belief that we have not erupted into food riots and violence. When you see schools still desperately struggling to maintain standards and continuing to educate our children and institutions scavenging for food for their residents, it is truly humbling. After three months of price controls the food situation in the country is perilous and even those who were able to stock their pantries and cupboards are now in trouble. In a main supermarket in my home town this week there was air freshener, window cleaner, some vegetables, Indonesian toothpaste and imported cornflakes from South Africa - one single packet costing more than half of a teachers monthly salary. There was also milk being sold from a bulk tank to people who bring their own bottles and the queue went through the empty shop, out the door and along the pavement. The line broke up suddenly before 10am when the milk ran out and the huge shop was suddenly completely empty - nothing left to sell, no more customers. This situation was a mirror image of conditions at three other major supermarkets in the town and so we look desperately into another week of struggle, praying for relief.

The voices of ruling party MP's have finally begun to be raised and although its taken far too long for them to speak out, perhaps their criticisms will lead to desperately needed change. An un-named Zanu PF MP was blunt in stating the obvious this week: "We are likely to lose next year's elections if they don't revise their policies," he said. "There is nothing on the shelves; people are going for days without bread, cooking oil, even sugar and soft drinks," he fumed. Other ruling party MPs who broke the silence over this government imposed starvation said: "they should go back to the drawing board; companies are closing down and people are losing jobs. This nonsense should stop and we are listening to what the people are saying."

While the nightmare of finding food, carrying water and cooking outside on open fires continues, there have been major political developments as the opposition and ruling parties voted together this week to amend our Constitution for the 18th time. The move has been met by many with scepticism, disbelief and suspicion. People are saying the opposition have betrayed their supporters and sold out. Others are waiting to see what this really means; hoping against hope that whatever concessions have been made now will have been in exchange for longer term gains.

Two things have stood out for me this week. One is the words of South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu who said: "Africans must hang their heads in shame for having allowed such a desperate situation to continue almost without anybody doing anything to try and stop it." The second is a small quote I heard during the bombing of Lebanon last year, it seems particularly apt now: "A bad deal is better than war." Perhaps that is where we are now?

Until next week, thanks for reading,

love cathy.