Cathy Buckle's Weekly Letter From Zimbabwe !

To stay safe, stay silent!

Saturday 14th June 2008.

Dear Family and Friends,

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. 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."

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.

This is the face of Zimbabwe a fortnight before elections: one man silences twenty. We see but we stay quiet.

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.

This is the face of Zimbabwe where election observers have begun arriving but are only allowed to watch from 8 am to 5pm.

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.

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?

Until next time, love cathy