Cathy Buckle's Weekly Letter from Zimbabwe

NO GOING BACK !

Dear Family and Friends,

We were disappointed but not surprised when Prime Minister
Tsvangirai's planned address to Parliament on the 13th May was
cancelled. By then the deadline given by the MDC to resolve
outstanding issues in the very unequal power sharing had passed but,
surprise, surprise, nothing happened. Ultimatums and deadlines still
don't work against Zimbabwe's old order - everyone knows that, or
almost everyone it seems!

Then we were told that Prime Minister Tsvangirai would make a
statement on Friday the 15th May announcing what's to be done about
Provincial Governors, Foreign

Ambassadors, the Reserve Bank Governor and Attorney General, all of
whom were appointed unilaterally by Mr Mugabe. That statement also
didn't happen and so we are left to speculate and remain stuck in
no-man's land as the struggle for real power continues.

Even as the stalemate continues everyone looks at the MDC to DO
SOMETHING but no one looks at Zanu PF to do anything. It's like we
have collectively stopped expecting anything from Zanu PF. Almost
every day Zanu PF wail about sanctions and no one even bothers to
correct them

anymore and say: sanctions are not imposed on Zimbabwe but on
specific, targeted individuals.

'Shall we come home?' is a question some Zimbabweans living in exile
are already asking but so far there's not a sensible answer to give
them. To people who grow food for a living we can only say: farm
seizures are continuing; Title Deeds are still worthless; police
still don't get involved because "it is political." To professionals
we can only say: government teachers, nurses and civil servants earn
just 100 US dollars a month; lawyers get arrested for defending their
clients and people go to prison for months at a time for their
political beliefs; none of the repressive and oppressive legislation
has been repealed and dual citizenship is still outlawed. To everyone
we have to say: there are no jobs; the cost of living is crippling;
there is often no water and electricity and infrastructure is in a
state of near collapse.

Its not all bad though because despite the tragic loss of both his
wife and his grandson in the last three months,

Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai is still saying he's not giving up.
"There's no going back" is the phrase he keeps repeating and it is
the hope that we keep holding on to. Until next week and from under a
wide blue sky, thanks for reading,

love cathy.