Opinion / Letters
Open letter to Dr. Angela Merkel: Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany
25 Jul 2016 at 16:31hrs | Views
Your Excellency, Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany,
Dear Dr. Merkel,
A citizen born in Zimbabwe, I am very much concerned about the brutal and barbaric beatings of our women, men and children in Zimbabwe protests, protests that resulted because of the failure of the government to deliver social and economic justice for all. During the time of "#Zimbabwe shut down" my friend Ms. Linda Masarira and some women and children have been incarcerated in notorious Zimbabwean prisons for demonstrating peacefully at Africa Square in Harare since the beginning of June 2016.
I am very concerned because the Chikurubi prison conditions in Zimbabwe are extremely subhuman and Linda has young children to look after. Her long stay in prison can jeopardise the welfare of her children adversely, Linda is a single parent and she depends on vending to look after her children. Her incarceration means that her means to subsist have been terminated and her children are put up to substitute guardians.
It is over a year now that we have been trying to make peaceful protects; passive resistance in Zimbabwe to rid ourselves of Mugabe regime and our objectives have been very clear and eloquent but were received with absolute brutality.
Reasons for the total boycott: passive resistance: "Women and children are experiencing abject poverty in Zimbabwe. The number of children suffering from malnutrition has risen to levels not recorded in the country's history.
Families headed by women are now very common and experience higher levels of poverty than those headed by men. Most Zimbabwean children are not getting even basic primary education. Educational structures have collapsed. Reintroduction of school fees has made primary education almost unattainable for most children, who cannot pay fees in foreign currency.
The number of street children in all large towns in Zimbabwe has risen to unprecedented levels. The hardships of life mean mothers and fathers have become less sensitive to the basic needs of their own offspring. A nation with a street population of the magnitude we have in Zimbabwe cannot prosper, because the nation has lost one of its most vital resources: the children who are the future.
People with mental handicaps have sharply risen and are not given the help they need. People suffering from HIV/AIDS in Zimbabwe are advised to have sex with very young girls and sometimes with babies, to rid themselves of the disease."
Young girls: as young as 13 to 14 years are sent for early marriages to alleviate hunger in most rural areas. Boys are now preferred to go to schools than boys because of bare poverty in woman headed homes. Girls will still forfeit schools if they are on monthly periods because they do not have simple sanitary pads.
Food insecurities in most parts of Matabeleland and Midlands are not addresses by the government, it's done selectively, given to those they think they support Zanu PF. The systematic killings that happened in the early 1980s where by 20,000 people of Mathebeleland and Midlands perished, the brutal execution of the farm invasions of the year 2000, the Murambatsvina of 2005, and the brutal killings of the 2008 elections time that saw thousand lose their lives using the killing code: Mavotera papi?
Further the First Lady of the land: Grace Mugabe has amassed wealth using diamond returns and has multiple farms, and she has of late made 200 families homeless in Manzou area just to put animals in the area. This should irk us all dear women and girls to do something; we cannot watch this crazy bioscope on our midst and look on. We are not protected by this government at all, our young women and girls are raped, and every 90 minutes, a young girl or young woman is sexually assaulted by sick men who think they can cure AIDS by raping virgins, thereby infecting them further with the deadly virus.
This Zanu government is patriarchal; you know how Vice President Mujuru was ripped of her post as Vice President. This is evidence of how women are used, abused and dumped when they do not need those women anymore. (I am not condoning past serious faults in former Vice President Joyce Mujuru, I am looking at her as a woman, and how she got used and abused by men in her party)
There is no water, no electricity in most towns and cities of Zimbabwe, if at all very unreliable. If there was water, raw sewage will be running right inside the most densely populated townships in all cities of Zimbabwe, and children will be playing in the mud sewage! Unemployment is running at 90% of the working group margin. Companies are relocating to their countries because their Zim-asset is unsustainable to make business.
Flood victims are left on their own and unattended by the government, instead whatever donations that are done in their name, the goods and money are looted by disgraceful officials without shame! Hundreds of young people have drowned or attacked by crocodiles and got eaten by trying to cross the Limpopo River seeking better life in South Africa as cheap laborers. The economy can shut down anytime now as the government has not clue.
We are tired and angry and something must be done to alleviate suffering in our land. The situation in Zimbabwe cannot go on like this. We wish ourselves a good government that will guarantee us good living conditions for all citizens without fear of tribalism and racialism.
Honorable Chancellor Merkel, I appeal to you as a woman, I know you cannot solve all our problems in Zimbabwe but I kindly ask you to assist us in having Ms. Linda Masarira and other women together with children to be released from prison.
Linda Masarira has been brutally assaulted by the criminal police in Harare, attached is her demonstrations and her appearance before the Mare magistrate for the trumped up charges against her. I am very concerned about her health that may deteriorate due to barbaric conditions in prisons. I kindly ask you to Ma'am to assist me in my utter most desperation to have my friend released from prison.
I attache some articles relating to her recent incarceration and her court ruling at Mbare magistrate court in Harare. I hope to hear from your soon Ma'am
Yours faithfully
Nomazulu Thata
Dear Dr. Merkel,
A citizen born in Zimbabwe, I am very much concerned about the brutal and barbaric beatings of our women, men and children in Zimbabwe protests, protests that resulted because of the failure of the government to deliver social and economic justice for all. During the time of "#Zimbabwe shut down" my friend Ms. Linda Masarira and some women and children have been incarcerated in notorious Zimbabwean prisons for demonstrating peacefully at Africa Square in Harare since the beginning of June 2016.
I am very concerned because the Chikurubi prison conditions in Zimbabwe are extremely subhuman and Linda has young children to look after. Her long stay in prison can jeopardise the welfare of her children adversely, Linda is a single parent and she depends on vending to look after her children. Her incarceration means that her means to subsist have been terminated and her children are put up to substitute guardians.
It is over a year now that we have been trying to make peaceful protects; passive resistance in Zimbabwe to rid ourselves of Mugabe regime and our objectives have been very clear and eloquent but were received with absolute brutality.
Reasons for the total boycott: passive resistance: "Women and children are experiencing abject poverty in Zimbabwe. The number of children suffering from malnutrition has risen to levels not recorded in the country's history.
Families headed by women are now very common and experience higher levels of poverty than those headed by men. Most Zimbabwean children are not getting even basic primary education. Educational structures have collapsed. Reintroduction of school fees has made primary education almost unattainable for most children, who cannot pay fees in foreign currency.
The number of street children in all large towns in Zimbabwe has risen to unprecedented levels. The hardships of life mean mothers and fathers have become less sensitive to the basic needs of their own offspring. A nation with a street population of the magnitude we have in Zimbabwe cannot prosper, because the nation has lost one of its most vital resources: the children who are the future.
People with mental handicaps have sharply risen and are not given the help they need. People suffering from HIV/AIDS in Zimbabwe are advised to have sex with very young girls and sometimes with babies, to rid themselves of the disease."
Young girls: as young as 13 to 14 years are sent for early marriages to alleviate hunger in most rural areas. Boys are now preferred to go to schools than boys because of bare poverty in woman headed homes. Girls will still forfeit schools if they are on monthly periods because they do not have simple sanitary pads.
Food insecurities in most parts of Matabeleland and Midlands are not addresses by the government, it's done selectively, given to those they think they support Zanu PF. The systematic killings that happened in the early 1980s where by 20,000 people of Mathebeleland and Midlands perished, the brutal execution of the farm invasions of the year 2000, the Murambatsvina of 2005, and the brutal killings of the 2008 elections time that saw thousand lose their lives using the killing code: Mavotera papi?
This Zanu government is patriarchal; you know how Vice President Mujuru was ripped of her post as Vice President. This is evidence of how women are used, abused and dumped when they do not need those women anymore. (I am not condoning past serious faults in former Vice President Joyce Mujuru, I am looking at her as a woman, and how she got used and abused by men in her party)
There is no water, no electricity in most towns and cities of Zimbabwe, if at all very unreliable. If there was water, raw sewage will be running right inside the most densely populated townships in all cities of Zimbabwe, and children will be playing in the mud sewage! Unemployment is running at 90% of the working group margin. Companies are relocating to their countries because their Zim-asset is unsustainable to make business.
Flood victims are left on their own and unattended by the government, instead whatever donations that are done in their name, the goods and money are looted by disgraceful officials without shame! Hundreds of young people have drowned or attacked by crocodiles and got eaten by trying to cross the Limpopo River seeking better life in South Africa as cheap laborers. The economy can shut down anytime now as the government has not clue.
We are tired and angry and something must be done to alleviate suffering in our land. The situation in Zimbabwe cannot go on like this. We wish ourselves a good government that will guarantee us good living conditions for all citizens without fear of tribalism and racialism.
Honorable Chancellor Merkel, I appeal to you as a woman, I know you cannot solve all our problems in Zimbabwe but I kindly ask you to assist us in having Ms. Linda Masarira and other women together with children to be released from prison.
Linda Masarira has been brutally assaulted by the criminal police in Harare, attached is her demonstrations and her appearance before the Mare magistrate for the trumped up charges against her. I am very concerned about her health that may deteriorate due to barbaric conditions in prisons. I kindly ask you to Ma'am to assist me in my utter most desperation to have my friend released from prison.
I attache some articles relating to her recent incarceration and her court ruling at Mbare magistrate court in Harare. I hope to hear from your soon Ma'am
Yours faithfully
Nomazulu Thata
Source - Nomazulu Thata
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