Zimbabwe, mid-January, 2019
I am reluctant to put "politics" on here, but sometimes it is important.
News is just leaking out from Zimbabwe of what slaughter is going on there.
All communication with the outside world has been suspended, and the internet & mobile telephone networks have beeen shut down. Foreign reporters have been ejected.However, one brave reporter has managed to send these two reports. One hopes that she fled the country in order to file these reports.
In April 1980, the US President Carter and his Ambassador to the United Nations, Andrew Young exerted heavy pressure on the British Government, resulting in the handing over of the country to the terrorists who had been waging war in the country. The leader was Robert Mugabe of the Shona tribe, who then carried on his warfare against the Ndebele tribe, slaughtering perhaps 50,000 - the numbers are unknown.
This slaughter was orchestrated by the Minister of State Security, Emmerson Mnangagwa, and carried out by the army's Fifth Brigade, who had been trained by North Korea. They were commanded by Brigadier Constantino Chiwenga
There was a coup d'etate in November 2017, and Mnangagwa became President. Conditions in the country continued to deteriorate. Mnangagwa is currently on a month-long begging tour to Russia, etc., having hired an aeroplane for the purpose, at £70,000 an hour. In exchange for aid, he is offering land and military bases.
Meanwhile, in his absence, Constantino Chiwenga, now Vice President, is in charge. He increased fuel prices to the highest in the world, in an impoverished country. This resulted in massive protests, which have been brutally suppressed. It may be that this is another coup d'etate.
However,as one Zimbabwean explained, it is not solely about fuel prices:
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Dharmika Pragji wrote -
I have been reading and watching various media and am disappointed, highly, of the way they are portraying the situation in Zimbabwe.
The reports focus too much on the hike in fuel prices as the Causal factor of the protests and stay away. Yet though it was certainly a trigger, it is just one of the various Contributing factors that have led to this volatile situation.
Prior to this we have had our savings be converted from USD value to Zimbabwean Bond value. Despite us being assured that this rate was 1 to 1 to the USD, one could only physically exchange their money to USD in cash at the rate of 1 to 3, and then when fuel prices went up it changed to 1 to 9.
This means that if anyone wanted to use their money out of the country we would have to divide it by the exorbitant rate of the day.. essentially our money became a third of its value. We then had businesses hiking their prices up, from basic food and groceries to school fees to medical fees and medicine, basic Internet fees, airtime, electronics and other goods and services or alternatively changing to USD entirely.
If someone was earning $600 they would now only have $200 to support their entire family. Imagine now being told after waiting in fuel queues over a period about 3 months, from 6 hours up to 48 hours, that not only do you have to pay triple the price for fuel just to get to drop your children off at school and to get to work.. But that the salary that was cut down to a third of its value, is now going to be a 9th of its value.
Note that Zimbabweans cannot go to an ATM to withdraw cash. We cannot legally change money whether through transfer or otherwise to USD despite goods and basic commodities being charged in USD. Businesses are having to shut down because they cannot restock. People cannot get to work because they cannot afford fuel or public transport. Parents are having to pull their kids out of school because they can't afford school fees. People are now having to move out of their homes because prices of rent are being charged in USD or tripled. Those needing medical attention for themselves or children cannot afford the USD prices, or the medication is unavailable because pharmacies and medical facilities cannot afford to source them, and medical aid has ceased to have any value in most cases. Prior to the stay away and fuel increase, doctors and teachers were striking because of their horrendous wage value and conditions..
So BBC et al this is not a fuel crisis. And it's not about any political party causing mayhem.
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All elections in Zimbabwe since that 1980 one have been rigged. The attitude of those in power since 1980 is, "WE won th war! If you oppose us, you are our enemy still. We shall NEVER give up power".
You are invited / encouraged to pass this on. the URL (address of this WebPage), that you can send out for people to find this, is
http://www.spanglefish.com/Miscellany/index.asp?pageid=694394
