Opinion / Columnist
Zanu PF goes mad – Zimbabwe Vigil Diary
20 Jan 2019 at 09:08hrs | Views
'Whom the gods would destroy they first make mad', goes the old adage. It seems to be coming true in our new 'reformed' Zimbabwe so warmly welcomed last year by the UK government. The UK is not smiling now as reports come in of brutal repression of widespread discontent.
The Zimbabwean security services seem to have gone mad if we can believe accounts talking of eyes being gouged out and fingers chopped off, doors being smashed in and whole families beaten, road blocks . . .
And it is not only the army and police who are crazy if you read the paranoid allegations by Zanu PF that a 'superpower' – apparently the United States -is behind the unrest.
The sad truth is that there is now little interest in Zimbabwe in the outside world. After a week of dramatic developments in Zimbabwe the UK Times today devoted only one paragraph to the situation – and that was on page 46 and rather ill-informed.
The UK Foreign Office told us this week they were too busy to have a meeting with us to discuss the perilous situation. So we tried to draw attention to the crisis at a Vigil outside the Embassy today attended by about 200 Zimbabweans from all over the country. The main theme was Zimbabwe 'open not for business but for repression'.
Despite the clampdown on communications, here are some of the reports the Vigil has received in the last couple of days. The first is from human rights campaigner Ben Freeth who attended the opening of the phony trial of Pastor Evan Mawarire.
Veteran observer Cathy Buckle speaks in her latest letter of life as seen from a smaller town.
Another report is from someone who wishes to remain anonymous. He says Zanu PF knows what it's doing: total terror. 'After all, you cannot be the cure when in fact you are the problem'
The Zimbabwean security services seem to have gone mad if we can believe accounts talking of eyes being gouged out and fingers chopped off, doors being smashed in and whole families beaten, road blocks . . .
And it is not only the army and police who are crazy if you read the paranoid allegations by Zanu PF that a 'superpower' – apparently the United States -is behind the unrest.
The sad truth is that there is now little interest in Zimbabwe in the outside world. After a week of dramatic developments in Zimbabwe the UK Times today devoted only one paragraph to the situation – and that was on page 46 and rather ill-informed.
The UK Foreign Office told us this week they were too busy to have a meeting with us to discuss the perilous situation. So we tried to draw attention to the crisis at a Vigil outside the Embassy today attended by about 200 Zimbabweans from all over the country. The main theme was Zimbabwe 'open not for business but for repression'.
Despite the clampdown on communications, here are some of the reports the Vigil has received in the last couple of days. The first is from human rights campaigner Ben Freeth who attended the opening of the phony trial of Pastor Evan Mawarire.
Veteran observer Cathy Buckle speaks in her latest letter of life as seen from a smaller town.
Another report is from someone who wishes to remain anonymous. He says Zanu PF knows what it's doing: total terror. 'After all, you cannot be the cure when in fact you are the problem'
Source - ZimVigil
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