Wednesday, August 24, 2005
Israeli in S. Africa sues neighbor over Nazi graffiti
Israeli in S. Africa sues neighbor over Nazi graffiti
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EDWIN NAIDU, THE JERUSALEM POST Aug. 24, 2005
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An Israeli-born textile businessman is challenging his South African neighbor in the country's recently-established Equality Court over paintings of a swastika, a German war decoration and writings he said were anti-Semitic and offensive.
Yaron Fishman, a Jew who moved to South Africa 17 years ago, said his neighbor, Gerald Barkhuizen, painted the graffiti on the fence outside his property in White River, in Mpumalanga. The incident took place last month, following a petty dispute over a dog kennel.
Fishman, who moved to Mpumalanga a year ago after living in Cape Town, has filed a notice to take the matter before the Equality Court in what would be the first "hate speech" case to come before the body, which is empowered to rule on any form of discrimination in South Africa. The papers are being finalized and are expected to be served to Barkhuizen within a week.
South Africa's Equality Law (also known as the Promotion of Equality and Prevention of Unfair Discrimination Act), which prohibits hate speech, came into effect in 2000 and was amended two years later.
Jody Kollapen, the chairperson of the South African Human Rights Commission, confirmed that the commission would represent Fishman in the case. "Barkhuizen said the paintings are art, but Fishman believes they were directed at him because of his identity. Therefore, we believe the court should hear the matter and consider it within the context of the Equality Laws."
Fishman said the graffiti was drawn on the fence surrounding Barkhuizen's property, facing the public, and was an insult that exceeded Barkhuizen's right to freely express himself. The anti-Semitic images included a swastika and an iron cross (a German war decoration) and also included the phrase "offensive bastard" in Hebrew and Greek.
Fishman said the incident took place after he asked Barkhuizen to move a dog kennel that was on the border of his property. "The slogan appeared the next morning after we had begun cutting bushes to start building a wall," he said.
"Seeing those signs came as quite a shock because they were so extreme and full of malice," Fishman said, noting that he had previously enjoyed good relations with his neighbor.
Fishman said he wanted the matter resolved soon, before his father, a Holocaust survivor, arrived from Europe to stay with him. "Knowing what he experienced during the Holocaust, I would hate for him to be humiliated again," he said.
"My hope is that this case will become popular and contribute to a better South Africa," Fishman said.
His neighbor, however, believes he is being wrongly persecuted for his works of art.
Barkhuizen, who has moved out of his house reportedly because of death threats, said he had no ill feelings toward Fishman. "I am an artist. It is my house and I have every right to draw murals of freedom struggles and wars," he said. He has received numerous threats since the case surfaced.
"I am an anti-war person," he said. "I would like all governments on Earth to be peaceful." However, he added, he was not happy with his neighbor for helping spread a number of "untruths," including that he was racist.
"I am no liar. I paint murals, and I am not anti-Jewish. I am just enjoying my right to be free to paint," he said.
Barkhuizen said the paintings were a demonstration of his view of the world. "I don't go to public walls or government building walls. I paint on my own property's walls," he said.
"If I write that Osama bin Laden is a spiteful bastard, is that wrong? After all, he was responsible for 9/11," said Barkhuizen.
"He [Fishman] can do what he likes on his walls. As a South African I can do what I like on my walls, and he can take me to court should he wish," he said.
Kollapen said freedom of expression was not an unqualified right. "In the South African context, the right to dignity and equality is worthy of equal treatment and protection, if not more," he said.
David Saks, associate director of the South African Jewish Board of Deputies, said Fishman was quite justified in believing that the graffiti was aimed at offending him.
"Not only Jews suffered at the hands of the Nazis during World War II, but Jews were certainly Nazism's most high-profile victims and were the only people singled out for systematic destruction simply because of who they were. It is for this reason that people wishing to give offense to Jews the world over commonly resort to using Nazi imagery," he said.
Saks added that, during eight years at the South African Jewish Board of Deputies, he found Nazi references to be the most common form of anti-Jewish harassment.
"It strains credibility to claim that the placing of Nazi symbols, accompanied by insulting slogans – in part in Hebrew, in full view of Fishman – have nothing to do with his Jewish background," Saks added.
An Israeli-born textile businessman is challenging his South African neighbor in the country's recently-established Equality Court over paintings of a swastika, a German war decoration and writings he said were anti-Semitic and offensive.
Yaron Fishman, a Jew who moved to South Africa 17 years ago, said his neighbor, Gerald Barkhuizen, painted the graffiti on the fence outside his property in White River, in Mpumalanga. The incident took place last month, following a petty dispute over a dog kennel.
Fishman, who moved to Mpumalanga a year ago after living in Cape Town, has filed a notice to take the matter before the Equality Court in what would be the first 'hate speech' case to come before the body, which is empowered to rule on any form of discrimination in South Africa. The papers are being finalized and are expected to be served to Barkhuizen within a week.
South Africa's Equality Law (also known as the Promotion of Equality and Prevention of Unfair Discrimination Act), which prohibits hate speech, came into effect in 2000 and was amended two years later.
Jody Kollapen, the chairperson of the South African Human Rights Commission, confirmed that the commission would represent Fishman in the case. 'Barkhuizen said the paintings are art, but Fishman believes they were directed at him because of his identity. Therefore, we believe the court should hear the matter and consider it within the context of the Equality Laws.'
Fishman said the graffiti was drawn on the fence surrounding Barkhuizen's property, facing the public, a"
Mugabe: Outstaying His Welcome
: "27 March 2005
Mugabe: Outstaying His Welcome
By Gwynne Dyer
Like the late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat and Cuba's Fidel
Castro, President Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe is a revolutionary who would
have served his people best by dying a long time ago. Instead, at the age
of 81, he is now deliberately starving people who refuse to vote for his
Zanu-PF party in the parliamentary elections on 31 March. Perhaps no one
individual can claim the credit for ruining a whole country, but Mugabe
would certainly lead the contenders."
Mugabe: Outstaying His Welcome
By Gwynne Dyer
Like the late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat and Cuba's Fidel
Castro, President Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe is a revolutionary who would
have served his people best by dying a long time ago. Instead, at the age
of 81, he is now deliberately starving people who refuse to vote for his
Zanu-PF party in the parliamentary elections on 31 March. Perhaps no one
individual can claim the credit for ruining a whole country, but Mugabe
would certainly lead the contenders."
Sunday, August 14, 2005
Counting Mugabe’s troubles
Comment from The Mail & Guardian (SA), 12 August
Counting Mugabe’s troubles
Eric W Bloch
Zimbabwe’s government has for years pronounced that "Zimbabwe can go it alone!", and, if necessary, would do so, and would be as successful as Malaysia had been in the late 1990s. But, to quote trite but relevant clichés, eventually chickens come home to roost and, as a result, the Zimbabwean leadership has had to swallow the bitter pill of crawling on hands and knees to solicit assistance from others to enable Zimbabwe to extract itself from the economic quagmire to which it has been reduced. The economy has been devastated, contracting by more than a third in the past five years. Almost three-quarters of the employable population are unemployed, an estimated 78% of the populace barely survives at levels below the poverty line, while almost half the population is suffering malnutrition, their incomes being below the food line. Zimbabwe’s balance of payments has been so negative that available foreign currency exchange does not even meet half of its import and other current foreign exchange outgoings, let alone service external debt. More than three million Zimbabweans have left the country to seek employment or other income-generating activities in neighbouring countries and further afield, including the United Kingdom, US and Australia. The immense "brain drain" has further hindered any endeavours to restore the economy to even the lowest levels of economic growth. All these ills were severely compounded by the extent to which government has brought about the decimation of the agricultural sector, which had, for over a century, been the economy’s foundation. Consequently, Zimbabwe is faced with a need to import two-thirds of the nation’s requirements of maize, which is the staple diet of most of the populace, and to import more than half the national need for flour. Then the ills afflicting Zimbabwe were exacerbated by the grossly ill-conceived "Operation Murambatsvina". In the process more than 700 000 were rendered homeless, at the height of winter, and deprived of any income-producing opportunities they had. So parlous has Zimbabwean circumstance become that the government has been forced to swallow its pride. It appealed to South Africa for a loan of $1-billion. All indications are that South Africa was sympathetic to the appeal but, not unreasonably, applied certain conditions, as is normal with any loan. That there should be conditions was too great a blow to the Zimbabwe government’s pride, so, instead of accepting the loan, Robert Mugabe and a large entourage set off to visit Zimbabwe’s special friend, China. To their reportedly great dismay, China was not forthcoming with the $1-billion loan. Instead, it entered into some investment agreements, sold Zimbabwe 60 buses, advanced $6-million for food imports and bestowed an honorary professorship upon Mugabe. Zimbabwe was reduced to only one possibility: to appeal to South Africa again. Although a loan agreement has yet to be signed, and its details made public, informed sources suggest that the loan is only half of that Zimbabwe sought. A loan of $500-million has apparently been agreed to. With diplomatic "double-speak", it is claimed to be unconditional, but it appears that the funding is to become available on a phased basis, aligned to appropriate Zimbabwean actions targeted towards achieving political and economic stability. The first payment will be between $150-million and $160-million, to be applied to reducing Zimbabwe’s arrears with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), which amounts to approximately $300-million. It is expected that such a reduction of the arrears will motivate the IMF board of directors, when it meets on September 9, not to recommend the termination of Zimbabwe’s IMF membership, but to allow the present suspension of membership to continue. The remaining $340-million to $350-million will then be applied to importation of critically needed fuel to an estimated value of about $150-million, and the balance on agricultural inputs for the 2005/06 season, including fertilisers, chemicals, insecticides and seeds (to the extent that present stocks do not suffice). With the Zimbabwean dollars raised from the purchase of fuel and other imports, approximately Z$6,5-trillion will then partially fund "Operation Garikai" (Operation Rebuilding). Although the $500-million loan will give Zimbabwe a substantial interim booost, and the allegedly non-existent loan conditions may bring about a slow-down of further economic decline, or even some limited economic recovery, it is not enough for Zimbabwe’s crucial needs. At least $200-million is needed for food inputs, unless Zimbabwe accepts support from the World Food Programme (which has been offered subject to food distribution being effected wholly by independent non-governmental organisations which would not use the food distribution as a political tool). Yet another $100-million is needed for essential healthcare requisites, including anti-retrovirals, and $200-million more to fund critical and immediate import needs of commerce and industry, mining and other economic sectors.Although the act of lending Zimbabwe $500-million is one of neighbourly generosity, it is also one which recognises humanitarian need and indirectly conveys significant benefits to South Africa. Without political and economic stability in Zimbabwe, South Africa faces potential upheaval and unrest on its borders and a further massive influx of illegal "economic refugees".
Counting Mugabe’s troubles
Eric W Bloch
Zimbabwe’s government has for years pronounced that "Zimbabwe can go it alone!", and, if necessary, would do so, and would be as successful as Malaysia had been in the late 1990s. But, to quote trite but relevant clichés, eventually chickens come home to roost and, as a result, the Zimbabwean leadership has had to swallow the bitter pill of crawling on hands and knees to solicit assistance from others to enable Zimbabwe to extract itself from the economic quagmire to which it has been reduced. The economy has been devastated, contracting by more than a third in the past five years. Almost three-quarters of the employable population are unemployed, an estimated 78% of the populace barely survives at levels below the poverty line, while almost half the population is suffering malnutrition, their incomes being below the food line. Zimbabwe’s balance of payments has been so negative that available foreign currency exchange does not even meet half of its import and other current foreign exchange outgoings, let alone service external debt. More than three million Zimbabweans have left the country to seek employment or other income-generating activities in neighbouring countries and further afield, including the United Kingdom, US and Australia. The immense "brain drain" has further hindered any endeavours to restore the economy to even the lowest levels of economic growth. All these ills were severely compounded by the extent to which government has brought about the decimation of the agricultural sector, which had, for over a century, been the economy’s foundation. Consequently, Zimbabwe is faced with a need to import two-thirds of the nation’s requirements of maize, which is the staple diet of most of the populace, and to import more than half the national need for flour. Then the ills afflicting Zimbabwe were exacerbated by the grossly ill-conceived "Operation Murambatsvina". In the process more than 700 000 were rendered homeless, at the height of winter, and deprived of any income-producing opportunities they had. So parlous has Zimbabwean circumstance become that the government has been forced to swallow its pride. It appealed to South Africa for a loan of $1-billion. All indications are that South Africa was sympathetic to the appeal but, not unreasonably, applied certain conditions, as is normal with any loan. That there should be conditions was too great a blow to the Zimbabwe government’s pride, so, instead of accepting the loan, Robert Mugabe and a large entourage set off to visit Zimbabwe’s special friend, China. To their reportedly great dismay, China was not forthcoming with the $1-billion loan. Instead, it entered into some investment agreements, sold Zimbabwe 60 buses, advanced $6-million for food imports and bestowed an honorary professorship upon Mugabe. Zimbabwe was reduced to only one possibility: to appeal to South Africa again. Although a loan agreement has yet to be signed, and its details made public, informed sources suggest that the loan is only half of that Zimbabwe sought. A loan of $500-million has apparently been agreed to. With diplomatic "double-speak", it is claimed to be unconditional, but it appears that the funding is to become available on a phased basis, aligned to appropriate Zimbabwean actions targeted towards achieving political and economic stability. The first payment will be between $150-million and $160-million, to be applied to reducing Zimbabwe’s arrears with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), which amounts to approximately $300-million. It is expected that such a reduction of the arrears will motivate the IMF board of directors, when it meets on September 9, not to recommend the termination of Zimbabwe’s IMF membership, but to allow the present suspension of membership to continue. The remaining $340-million to $350-million will then be applied to importation of critically needed fuel to an estimated value of about $150-million, and the balance on agricultural inputs for the 2005/06 season, including fertilisers, chemicals, insecticides and seeds (to the extent that present stocks do not suffice). With the Zimbabwean dollars raised from the purchase of fuel and other imports, approximately Z$6,5-trillion will then partially fund "Operation Garikai" (Operation Rebuilding). Although the $500-million loan will give Zimbabwe a substantial interim booost, and the allegedly non-existent loan conditions may bring about a slow-down of further economic decline, or even some limited economic recovery, it is not enough for Zimbabwe’s crucial needs. At least $200-million is needed for food inputs, unless Zimbabwe accepts support from the World Food Programme (which has been offered subject to food distribution being effected wholly by independent non-governmental organisations which would not use the food distribution as a political tool). Yet another $100-million is needed for essential healthcare requisites, including anti-retrovirals, and $200-million more to fund critical and immediate import needs of commerce and industry, mining and other economic sectors.Although the act of lending Zimbabwe $500-million is one of neighbourly generosity, it is also one which recognises humanitarian need and indirectly conveys significant benefits to South Africa. Without political and economic stability in Zimbabwe, South Africa faces potential upheaval and unrest on its borders and a further massive influx of illegal "economic refugees".
Saturday, August 06, 2005
Eyewitness in Zimbabwe
EYEWITNESS IN ZIMBABWE
July 31 August 4, 2005 by Lucy Y. Steinitz*
Flying into Harare s spanking-new airport, you can see vast stretches
of broken rubble where entire neighborhoods once stood. I visited Zimbabwe
last week for work (on behalf of the World Council of Churches, for
their Regional Reference Group on the Ecumenical HIV/AIDS Initiative
for Africa, which I chair). This was my first trip back to Harare
(Zimbabwes capital) since our family lived there in 1994. But
tragically, in many ways this is a different Zimbabwe than we knew and
loved eleven years ago.
THE DIRTY CLEAN-UP
The UN estimates that Robert Mugabes recent Project Murambatsvina
(Shona for clean up trash campaign) cost 700,000 people their homes
and forced 300,000 children out of school. Deaths have not been
accurately counted, but must surely include people who died from the
resultant loss in food, medicine, or shelter during Zimbabwe’s cold
winter-weather. By way of example, one home-based care volunteer I met
told me of a woman she knew who had been forced out of the room she had
been renting and told to go back where she came from. Some days later
the woman reached the rural area where she had been born, only to have
the local chief chase her away again, saying that there was no food to
eat and that the land was already crowded with others who had gotten
there first. Eventually, the woman made her way back to the Harare,
where she pleaded with her former landlord to let her have her old room
back. Im not allowed, cried the landlord, fearful of what would
happen to him if the police found out. Weak with hunger, the woman
simply laid down on the street, a few feet from her former residence.
Two days later, with just the clothes she wore to protect her from the
nighttime cold, she died of pneumonia.
A representative from the International Organization for Migration, Dr
Islene Araujo, reminded our group that since 2000, Zimbabwes land
reform policies have already displaced 800,000 people. The current
campaign comes on top of that upheaval. Since we came to this country
to address AIDS-related issues, however, we focused on this aspect more
than others. It is overwhelming: according to the UN, at least 80,000
of the people who have recently been forced from their homes are
estimated to be HIV+. Moreover, this government-induced tsunami (as
some local people now refer to the disaster) has disrupted virtually
every conceivable network of social support that was developed by or
for people living with HIV: medication-distribution systems,
condom-distribution networks, organizations doing volunteer home-based
care, income-generating groups, and so on.
The end-effect is mass-murder. Lacking a place to live and regular
nutrition, literally thousands of HIV+ Zimbabweans have been forced to
stop treatment for their HIV. As a result, many will die. Even if calm
is restored and people are able to start their anti-retroviral
treatments once again, they will now be required to use a different and
far more expensive drug regimen which is far less sustainable. These
are also the conditions that foster drug-resistant forms of the HIV
virus, which pose a great threat to the entire Southern African region.
And with an estimated 30% of all Zimbabweans now living outside the
country (often as illegal refugees, mostly in surrounding countries),
this can happen a lot faster than I had previously thought.
EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT
We heard about this first-hand. When we visited one of the worst
affected areas, two women told us that their local Catholic-run clinic
had been bulldozed, leaving them without any anti-retroviral drugs
and to obtain drugs elsewhere they will now have to travel a long distance
and start the process all over again. Similarly, Dominican Sister
Sipiwe Mugadza told us of a couple she had been counseling some months
ago to help them prepare for an HIV-test, accept their illness, and
then start treatment. Finally, they were ready but then the demolition
started. Sister Sipiwei has been looking for the couple ever since,
but they disappeared without a trace. Others also told us of health workers
who have been trying to locate their AIDS-patients in order to continue
their medical treatment, but they cannot find them anymore.
Our group drove out to a field at the edge of town, which had once been
the residential neighborhood of Hatcliff-Extension, housing over 6000
people plus shops, a clinic, and so on. From a distance, all we could
see of the former township were some homemade tents of cardboard and
discarded metal, looking like oversized anthills fit for animals rather
than for human habitat. And yet, the people were moving back to the
area, in most cases because they had nowhere else to go.
In order to enter the area ourselves, we first had to seek permission;
this is because our hosts (Christian Care, an arm of the Zimbabwean
Council of Churches) must tread carefully with the government
authorities in order to retain their own role as an approved
organization that has permission to distribute food, blankets, and
otherassistance. Still, we approached this former neighborhood from the
back, as we had been warned that there might be trouble from some
government supporters who would not appreciate our visit.
Significantly, the government-authorities we did find were guarding a distribution
point where sheets of asbestos roofing had been delivered and were now
being allocated, three and four to a family. What was this all about?
we wondered. Reverend Forbes Matonga, executive director of Christian
Care, explained that most of the residents had been living in this
neighborhood for fifteen years, before the government declared the
settlement illegal and forced everyone out. Some residents moved-in
with relatives in the rural areas, while others got hoarded onto trucks like
cattle and dropped off at a transit camp (Caledonia Farm) which was, in
fact, nothing but an open field.
HOW MUCH MORE CAN THE PEOPLE TAKE?
With the arrival of the special UN envoy Anna Tibauijuka some weeks ago
to investigate the governments clean up campaign, Caledonia Farm has
became an embarrassment to the government and has now been closed off
to
all visitors. At the same time, those former residents who wanted to
return to Hatcliff Extension (which we visited) were suddenly declared
legal and given documents to prove their status. But the residents told
us that they had always had documents to prove their legal status
even
BEFORE their homes were bulldozed to the ground. So what good is a new
piece of paper?” they asked. To call this an exercise in futility
obscures the deeper, insidious impact of Mugabes strategy. It breaks
the spirit of people, obliterates political opposition and the freedom
of speech, makes them dependent on government handouts, and generates a
constant fear of worse things to come.
The end effect is that this is a war not against poverty but against
the poor. Hatcliff Extension, the neighborhood we visited, has always
been badly-off. But now the conditions here have gone from bad to
worse
there is literally NOTHING here. The infrastructure is completely
gone no more streets, nor sewage, nor water-pipes, nor electricity. At
night, it is horrific: dark and cold, with temperatures dropping to
near-freezing (this being winter in Zimbabwe). To obtain wood for a
cooking fire, people have to walk miles away, into a distant forest.
For food, they must beg. As one woman said, the worst part is that they
have taken our dignity. The only certainty that the people have is
that there is no certainty at all.
We also drove to the high-density township of Mbare in the heart of
Harare. I remember this neighborhood from 1994, when our family came to
the Mbare Market in order to buy fresh fruits and vegetables, and even
furniture for our rented apartment. But this would no longer be
possible. Street vendors are now forbidden to operate; the government
claims this clogs the streets and creates a bad impression. (The real
reason, others argue, is that the government wants to make way for
cheap
Chinese imports in exchange for Chinese assistance and government
pay-offs.) Visiting here last week, we were struck by the irony of the
government calling their campaign [clean up trash]. In fact, we
witnessed huge piles of trash and rubble everywhere, largely left over
from the housing extensions that the government forced the local people
to dismantle, brick by brick, under the guise of their being illegal
structures. Yes, you got this right: under the threat of death, local
residents had to physically tear down their own homes that they had
painstakingly built of the past ten and twenty years. They might as
well have been digging their own graves. Now people are huddled ten
and
twenty to a room, the perfect conditions for tuberculosis, pneumonia,
and other contagious diseases to spread.
Everyone is affected. This country is so cash-strapped that it can
take days on a queue to buy petrol for your car, and power outages have
become a regular part of daily life. By the end of the year, the
inflation level may well reach 1000%. Prices have so many zeros
attached to them (a coke costs 17,000 Zimbabwean dollars), that I stopped
keeping track. According to Sister Patricia Walsh (one of Mugabe s most
courageous detractors), Zimbabwe s crisis should become a warning bell
to other countries in Southern Africa and beyond. Just as new
drug-resistant forms of HIV are likely to spread across Zimbabwe’s
borders as a result of this disaster, she said, so too are the
effects of Zimbabwes economic meltdown.The rest of us must be prepared to
act.
One industry that is booming is gallows-humor. As I shared a
candlelight dinner with a friend at her home, my friend popped the
question: What did Zimbabweans use before they had candles? Answer:
Electricity.
Here is another. Queen Elizabeth, George Bush, and Robert Mugabe meet
in Hell. Queen Elizabeth asks the Devil if she can phone England to
see how things are getting on without her. The Devil agrees and afterwards
charges her a million dollars for the call. Then George Bush asks to
phone the USA, and he is also charged a million dollars. After Robert
Mugabe asks for the same privilege and is given permission to phone
Zimbabwe, he is only charged one dollar. Why does Comrade Mugabe only
have to pay one dollar? asks Queen Elizabeth and George Bush. The
Devil smiles. Calling Zimbabwe is cheap because it is a local call,
he answers.
FINDING HOPE
Where is the hope, you ask? Against enormous odds, I found great acts
of courage amongst the Zimbabwean people I met, especially amongst those
who had already lost practically everything. By way of example, let me
introduce you to Florence Ndlovu, a widow, who has been HIV-positive
for the past 18 years. She showed me the photograph of the house she had
been building, bit by bit, whenever her savings allowed. It was a
large structure, with at least six rooms. But Florence had the misfortune of
building her house in a neighborhood that the government had decided
was full of illegal shacks and should be torn down. So hers was
bulldozed
to the ground, too. What now? Eventually, Florence said, she found
alternate housing but it is just a single room in which 13 people now
sleep, huddled together like sardines on mats on the floor. Well,
she
added, we started out as eleven, but then I ran across one of my
former
counseling clients, who is also HIV-positive, who was living on the
street with her daughter. So I said they could join us. But our
situation is really terrible. One of the children I took in has a skin
rash. At night, she shares a single blanket with another one of the
children, and yesterday I noticed that the second child has now gotten
the same skin rash. In all the years since I found out Im
HIV-positive,
I have never felt so hopeless. But you keep on going, because
otherwise
there is no future.
I also came away inspired by my visits to the Mashambanzou Care Trust,
a Catholic-run hospice and outreach project that serves 4000 HIV-infected
patients and their orphaned children weekly, and to The Centre, a
holistic nutrition-and-support organization by and for people living
with HIV and AIDS. Remarkably, I even found hope (or, at the very
least, commitment) within Zimbabwe s dwindling white community
(although I am leaving out their names here, not to put anyone at risk). Church
worker John Anderson probably summed it up most succinctly: Im proud
to be a Zimbabwean, he explained. This is where I was born and this
is where I will die. If I left, what could I do to help my fellow
human
being? I wouldnt be any good anywhere else, anyway.
Finally, I asked the people we met what they wanted us as visitors
to do. All had basically the same message: We want our voices heard,
Sister Sipiwe said prophetically. Tell others what you have seen and
learned. Ultimately the truth will set us free
Please feel free to pass this on to others. Some names have been
changed to protect the identity of the individuals involved.
* Lucy Y Steinitz, PhD. Tel: 264-81-270-6528. Home email:
Steinitz@mweb.com.na
July 31 August 4, 2005 by Lucy Y. Steinitz*
Flying into Harare s spanking-new airport, you can see vast stretches
of broken rubble where entire neighborhoods once stood. I visited Zimbabwe
last week for work (on behalf of the World Council of Churches, for
their Regional Reference Group on the Ecumenical HIV/AIDS Initiative
for Africa, which I chair). This was my first trip back to Harare
(Zimbabwes capital) since our family lived there in 1994. But
tragically, in many ways this is a different Zimbabwe than we knew and
loved eleven years ago.
THE DIRTY CLEAN-UP
The UN estimates that Robert Mugabes recent Project Murambatsvina
(Shona for clean up trash campaign) cost 700,000 people their homes
and forced 300,000 children out of school. Deaths have not been
accurately counted, but must surely include people who died from the
resultant loss in food, medicine, or shelter during Zimbabwe’s cold
winter-weather. By way of example, one home-based care volunteer I met
told me of a woman she knew who had been forced out of the room she had
been renting and told to go back where she came from. Some days later
the woman reached the rural area where she had been born, only to have
the local chief chase her away again, saying that there was no food to
eat and that the land was already crowded with others who had gotten
there first. Eventually, the woman made her way back to the Harare,
where she pleaded with her former landlord to let her have her old room
back. Im not allowed, cried the landlord, fearful of what would
happen to him if the police found out. Weak with hunger, the woman
simply laid down on the street, a few feet from her former residence.
Two days later, with just the clothes she wore to protect her from the
nighttime cold, she died of pneumonia.
A representative from the International Organization for Migration, Dr
Islene Araujo, reminded our group that since 2000, Zimbabwes land
reform policies have already displaced 800,000 people. The current
campaign comes on top of that upheaval. Since we came to this country
to address AIDS-related issues, however, we focused on this aspect more
than others. It is overwhelming: according to the UN, at least 80,000
of the people who have recently been forced from their homes are
estimated to be HIV+. Moreover, this government-induced tsunami (as
some local people now refer to the disaster) has disrupted virtually
every conceivable network of social support that was developed by or
for people living with HIV: medication-distribution systems,
condom-distribution networks, organizations doing volunteer home-based
care, income-generating groups, and so on.
The end-effect is mass-murder. Lacking a place to live and regular
nutrition, literally thousands of HIV+ Zimbabweans have been forced to
stop treatment for their HIV. As a result, many will die. Even if calm
is restored and people are able to start their anti-retroviral
treatments once again, they will now be required to use a different and
far more expensive drug regimen which is far less sustainable. These
are also the conditions that foster drug-resistant forms of the HIV
virus, which pose a great threat to the entire Southern African region.
And with an estimated 30% of all Zimbabweans now living outside the
country (often as illegal refugees, mostly in surrounding countries),
this can happen a lot faster than I had previously thought.
EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT
We heard about this first-hand. When we visited one of the worst
affected areas, two women told us that their local Catholic-run clinic
had been bulldozed, leaving them without any anti-retroviral drugs
and to obtain drugs elsewhere they will now have to travel a long distance
and start the process all over again. Similarly, Dominican Sister
Sipiwe Mugadza told us of a couple she had been counseling some months
ago to help them prepare for an HIV-test, accept their illness, and
then start treatment. Finally, they were ready but then the demolition
started. Sister Sipiwei has been looking for the couple ever since,
but they disappeared without a trace. Others also told us of health workers
who have been trying to locate their AIDS-patients in order to continue
their medical treatment, but they cannot find them anymore.
Our group drove out to a field at the edge of town, which had once been
the residential neighborhood of Hatcliff-Extension, housing over 6000
people plus shops, a clinic, and so on. From a distance, all we could
see of the former township were some homemade tents of cardboard and
discarded metal, looking like oversized anthills fit for animals rather
than for human habitat. And yet, the people were moving back to the
area, in most cases because they had nowhere else to go.
In order to enter the area ourselves, we first had to seek permission;
this is because our hosts (Christian Care, an arm of the Zimbabwean
Council of Churches) must tread carefully with the government
authorities in order to retain their own role as an approved
organization that has permission to distribute food, blankets, and
otherassistance. Still, we approached this former neighborhood from the
back, as we had been warned that there might be trouble from some
government supporters who would not appreciate our visit.
Significantly, the government-authorities we did find were guarding a distribution
point where sheets of asbestos roofing had been delivered and were now
being allocated, three and four to a family. What was this all about?
we wondered. Reverend Forbes Matonga, executive director of Christian
Care, explained that most of the residents had been living in this
neighborhood for fifteen years, before the government declared the
settlement illegal and forced everyone out. Some residents moved-in
with relatives in the rural areas, while others got hoarded onto trucks like
cattle and dropped off at a transit camp (Caledonia Farm) which was, in
fact, nothing but an open field.
HOW MUCH MORE CAN THE PEOPLE TAKE?
With the arrival of the special UN envoy Anna Tibauijuka some weeks ago
to investigate the governments clean up campaign, Caledonia Farm has
became an embarrassment to the government and has now been closed off
to
all visitors. At the same time, those former residents who wanted to
return to Hatcliff Extension (which we visited) were suddenly declared
legal and given documents to prove their status. But the residents told
us that they had always had documents to prove their legal status
even
BEFORE their homes were bulldozed to the ground. So what good is a new
piece of paper?” they asked. To call this an exercise in futility
obscures the deeper, insidious impact of Mugabes strategy. It breaks
the spirit of people, obliterates political opposition and the freedom
of speech, makes them dependent on government handouts, and generates a
constant fear of worse things to come.
The end effect is that this is a war not against poverty but against
the poor. Hatcliff Extension, the neighborhood we visited, has always
been badly-off. But now the conditions here have gone from bad to
worse
there is literally NOTHING here. The infrastructure is completely
gone no more streets, nor sewage, nor water-pipes, nor electricity. At
night, it is horrific: dark and cold, with temperatures dropping to
near-freezing (this being winter in Zimbabwe). To obtain wood for a
cooking fire, people have to walk miles away, into a distant forest.
For food, they must beg. As one woman said, the worst part is that they
have taken our dignity. The only certainty that the people have is
that there is no certainty at all.
We also drove to the high-density township of Mbare in the heart of
Harare. I remember this neighborhood from 1994, when our family came to
the Mbare Market in order to buy fresh fruits and vegetables, and even
furniture for our rented apartment. But this would no longer be
possible. Street vendors are now forbidden to operate; the government
claims this clogs the streets and creates a bad impression. (The real
reason, others argue, is that the government wants to make way for
cheap
Chinese imports in exchange for Chinese assistance and government
pay-offs.) Visiting here last week, we were struck by the irony of the
government calling their campaign [clean up trash]. In fact, we
witnessed huge piles of trash and rubble everywhere, largely left over
from the housing extensions that the government forced the local people
to dismantle, brick by brick, under the guise of their being illegal
structures. Yes, you got this right: under the threat of death, local
residents had to physically tear down their own homes that they had
painstakingly built of the past ten and twenty years. They might as
well have been digging their own graves. Now people are huddled ten
and
twenty to a room, the perfect conditions for tuberculosis, pneumonia,
and other contagious diseases to spread.
Everyone is affected. This country is so cash-strapped that it can
take days on a queue to buy petrol for your car, and power outages have
become a regular part of daily life. By the end of the year, the
inflation level may well reach 1000%. Prices have so many zeros
attached to them (a coke costs 17,000 Zimbabwean dollars), that I stopped
keeping track. According to Sister Patricia Walsh (one of Mugabe s most
courageous detractors), Zimbabwe s crisis should become a warning bell
to other countries in Southern Africa and beyond. Just as new
drug-resistant forms of HIV are likely to spread across Zimbabwe’s
borders as a result of this disaster, she said, so too are the
effects of Zimbabwes economic meltdown.The rest of us must be prepared to
act.
One industry that is booming is gallows-humor. As I shared a
candlelight dinner with a friend at her home, my friend popped the
question: What did Zimbabweans use before they had candles? Answer:
Electricity.
Here is another. Queen Elizabeth, George Bush, and Robert Mugabe meet
in Hell. Queen Elizabeth asks the Devil if she can phone England to
see how things are getting on without her. The Devil agrees and afterwards
charges her a million dollars for the call. Then George Bush asks to
phone the USA, and he is also charged a million dollars. After Robert
Mugabe asks for the same privilege and is given permission to phone
Zimbabwe, he is only charged one dollar. Why does Comrade Mugabe only
have to pay one dollar? asks Queen Elizabeth and George Bush. The
Devil smiles. Calling Zimbabwe is cheap because it is a local call,
he answers.
FINDING HOPE
Where is the hope, you ask? Against enormous odds, I found great acts
of courage amongst the Zimbabwean people I met, especially amongst those
who had already lost practically everything. By way of example, let me
introduce you to Florence Ndlovu, a widow, who has been HIV-positive
for the past 18 years. She showed me the photograph of the house she had
been building, bit by bit, whenever her savings allowed. It was a
large structure, with at least six rooms. But Florence had the misfortune of
building her house in a neighborhood that the government had decided
was full of illegal shacks and should be torn down. So hers was
bulldozed
to the ground, too. What now? Eventually, Florence said, she found
alternate housing but it is just a single room in which 13 people now
sleep, huddled together like sardines on mats on the floor. Well,
she
added, we started out as eleven, but then I ran across one of my
former
counseling clients, who is also HIV-positive, who was living on the
street with her daughter. So I said they could join us. But our
situation is really terrible. One of the children I took in has a skin
rash. At night, she shares a single blanket with another one of the
children, and yesterday I noticed that the second child has now gotten
the same skin rash. In all the years since I found out Im
HIV-positive,
I have never felt so hopeless. But you keep on going, because
otherwise
there is no future.
I also came away inspired by my visits to the Mashambanzou Care Trust,
a Catholic-run hospice and outreach project that serves 4000 HIV-infected
patients and their orphaned children weekly, and to The Centre, a
holistic nutrition-and-support organization by and for people living
with HIV and AIDS. Remarkably, I even found hope (or, at the very
least, commitment) within Zimbabwe s dwindling white community
(although I am leaving out their names here, not to put anyone at risk). Church
worker John Anderson probably summed it up most succinctly: Im proud
to be a Zimbabwean, he explained. This is where I was born and this
is where I will die. If I left, what could I do to help my fellow
human
being? I wouldnt be any good anywhere else, anyway.
Finally, I asked the people we met what they wanted us as visitors
to do. All had basically the same message: We want our voices heard,
Sister Sipiwe said prophetically. Tell others what you have seen and
learned. Ultimately the truth will set us free
Please feel free to pass this on to others. Some names have been
changed to protect the identity of the individuals involved.
* Lucy Y Steinitz, PhD. Tel: 264-81-270-6528. Home email:
Steinitz@mweb.com.na
Friday, August 05, 2005
VOA News - South Africa Encouraging as to Zimbabwe Loan
VOA News - South Africa Encouraging as to Zimbabwe Loan: "South Africa Encouraging as to Zimbabwe Loan By Blessing Zulu
Washington
03 August 2005
Interview with Percy Makombe
Listen to Interview with Percy Makombe
The South African government has confirmed that it is willing in principle to financially assist Zimbabwe, including through the provision of a loan facility to help it address its overdue obligations to the International Monetary Fund.
Spokesman Joel Netshitenzhe said Pretoria is basing the commitment on the premise that assistance should benefit the people of Zimbabwe as a whole �within the context of their program of economic recovery and political normalization,� alluding to ongoing efforts to promote discussions between Zimbawe's government and its opposition."
Washington
03 August 2005
Interview with Percy Makombe
Listen to Interview with Percy Makombe
The South African government has confirmed that it is willing in principle to financially assist Zimbabwe, including through the provision of a loan facility to help it address its overdue obligations to the International Monetary Fund.
Spokesman Joel Netshitenzhe said Pretoria is basing the commitment on the premise that assistance should benefit the people of Zimbabwe as a whole �within the context of their program of economic recovery and political normalization,� alluding to ongoing efforts to promote discussions between Zimbawe's government and its opposition."
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