I am beaten up as Mugabe’s police attack women’s march

I witness scenes of savagery as our police assault peaceful women demonstrators

Women demonstrating peacefully on the streets of Bulawayo on Saturday were brutally beaten up by police. I saw several women knocked to the ground by police batons, then dragged screaming to police vehicles. More than 50 women later needed medical attention for their injuries.

Over 1,000  women, members and supporters of Women Of Zimbabwe Arise (WOZA) had gathered to mark International Women’s Day, and to march through the streets under the slogan 'Stand Up For Your Child', distributing leaflets urging people to vote in the elections on March 29.

As the march neared the offices of the Chronicle, where it was due to disperse, a police officer approached a WOZA leader, Jenni Williams - easily identified because she is white - and told her to get the people off the road.

There was some confusion, and then abruptly the police drew batons and began attacking women. Two young women holding a banner at the back of the procession were beaten up, and the crowd panicked and ran,

In the rush an elderly lady fell to the ground and was trampled. The police at once jumped on her, beat her until she screamed, then dragged her away, still screaming, to a police vehicle.

A member from Pumula, Eva Tanyanyiwa, was knocked unconscious by a police baton, then pulled away and arrested. Jenni Williams went to protest, and was herself arrested, as was her co-leader of WOZA, Magodonga Mahlangu.

I then approached a senior police officer, and asked why the police were attacking the march. He said that the protest was illegal and had to be stopped.

I saw no more of the march because, as I was reading the leaflet distributed by WOZA, I was myself knocked to the ground from a blow to the head by a baton-wielding policeman, and beaten again around the back and ribs as I ran to escape.

I heard later that the arrested women were released after a short while so that they could take Eva Tanyanyiwa for medical treatment, for what the police described as a "fall in the road".

Comments

[Larry Farren]

Once an African.

Yes! We are facing another election. So are the Americans, and we wonder who will win that. It’s a tight race just for the Democratic presidential nomination. Then, of course, there is another cliff-hanger to decide the victor in the election itself. That is very hard to predict.

We don’t have that problem in Zimbabwe! Here you don’t have to throw the bones too often to see into that zone of the future! You can save several million dollars (Zim) on fees for Madam Zenda and her crystal ball. The result has always been predictable. Those doing the counting and the controlling of the voting have the final word.

I read in the press that we are not going to have perspex, see-through boxes to hold the votes this time round. But wait a moment… I see another article that says that we are, there are plenty of see-through boxes for our transparent elections.

Never mind the cost. We’ll just print some more cash…

We used to wonder whether the state security agents deliberately released conflicting statements on security issues deliberately to mystify us. It was either that or they were desperately confused themselves. I tend to believe the latter. Imagine their dire situation – they have only ZANU to sell. That is hardly the ideal product to offer to a country sickened with it unto death! Talk about a public relations man’s nightmare! No wonder Jonathan Moyo went mad and they had to shoot him. (Metaphorically speaking, of course - he was one of the lucky ones.)

It looks very much as though Barack Obama may be the first president of the world’s sole remaining superpower with black African blood. A few years ago I had hoped that it might be Colin Powell. He would have been a great president, with stature and gravitas. It is possible that, as his detractors claim, Mr. Omaba lacks those qualities, and his youth and lack of experience, with only two years in the Senate behind him, might be held against him.

If he makes it to the top in November, he will change the world. I hope he does, and that he is a great success. Many of America’s most ardent critics will then have to adjust their position. They will be dealing with a president who will embody the best of both worlds. His influence will be immense, particularly on Africa.

He will have the power to transform the condition of our country utterly.

How will he react to Zimbabwe? He would like, I am sure, to be able to welcome us back into full diplomatic relations with his powerful and generous country.

But what if he is confronted with a President Mugabe, twice his age but freshly elected for yet another term? Will he welcome as a brother the man responsible for Gukurahundi?

Will he shake the hand that, in January 1980, long before there was any dissident problem, signed the requisition for the North Koreans to train the 5th Brigade to “combat malcontents”. He later unleashed it to intimidate legitimate opposition to his tyranny in a reign of terror that lasted five years. (was?) It murdered between twenty and thirty thousand unarmed people (estimates vary, and most of the bodies were hidden in mine shafts and mass graves), and raped and tortured countless others.

Will Obama applaud the architect of Marambatsvina, whose henchmen have routinely murdered hundreds more to win elections for him? The man who ruined millions of lives, whose chaotic and self-serving rule has made a basket case out of a country which should be the pearl of Africa? This is the dictator who said of the innocents murdered by 5th Brigade: “We eradicate them. We don’t differentiate when we fight because we can’t tell who is a dissident and who is not.”

Or will Barak Obama prefer to retain sanctions until sanity and the rule of law is restored to our country?

Let’s not put Mr. Obama to that test. Let’s elect a leader who will serve the people, not bludgeon them to death.

In Zimbabwe, too, it is time for change.

Larry Farren
(Now in Ireland)

[arthur weinberg]

My deepest sympathies. I used to visit your country when it was Northen, Southern and the rest of the Federation. One pound South African was one pound Rhodesian. My advice, don't hold your breath. Dear Robert controls the Army, the police etc. unless Britain sends in troops to take over you cannot win. It is sad, but the truth. I wish you all well and the best of luck . . . I have lived in Africa for 77 years,I had family in Salisbury and Bulawayo. All ran away. (I do not blame them) We have nearly 4 million refuges (or illegal immigrants) living in the Republic. I cannot argue with anybody for wishing to flee Zimbawe. My deepest sumpathies to them all . . . Cheers

PS The saddest part is the ANC still supports Robert Mugabe because he helped them during their war to gain freedom from Apartheid and Mugabe is now ten times worse than the Apartheid Government. Mugabe is far more racist than the Nats ever were.

Arthur Weinberg

[McPaul]

It appears the predominant mind set in Africa centers around medieval feudalism and no amount of education or exposure to western concepts seem eradicate it. Mugabe, Mbeki, Zuma etc are just products of this African viewpoint and the cause for it's continuation.
The world is changing rapidly, maybe the Chinese who are moving into the continent in large numbers will become the new masters and bring Africa eventually into the twenty first century.

[Larry Farren]

Once an African.

Outside the northern sun shines brightly, but it is cold for us from Zimbabwe. It is one of the things that are very different here.

There are others. There are no shortages; the shops are full, and the costs don’t change. The main price variance you come across is in the special offers you see everywhere. Clothing and other commodities have been on sale most of the time since Christmas. Shop windows and newspapers are full of offers of discounts, some of them ridiculously generous.

To see wide ranges of goods in clothing shops written down by 30% or even 70% is common. Smaller items are often sold at the rate of three for the price of two. Furniture like lounge and dining suites being sold at half price are common. This is a far cry from inflation measured in thousands of percentage points.

A real shocker for me, who could not find a new car anywhere last year, is the deal where you can buy a new car of a quality Japanese make from a dealer now and trade it in for a new model at exactly the same value in a year’s time. Or you can pay half now and the other half in two years time. They are serious about this.

In this other world there is a huge furore in the press. A senior minister has been taken to task because his local party office lent 30 000 Euros ( US$40 000) to his girl-friend in the early 1990s. Though the money has been paid back with interest, so there was no loss to party funds, and the lady was a senior employee in the constituency office, everyone thinks that the loan was unwarranted. He may have to resign. The party’s assertion that it is normal for it to assist its employees in emergencies (the employee’s aged relatives were facing eviction from their home and the employee wanted to buy it for them) and the fact that there was no loss to the party, is seen as being irrelevant.

Could this happen back in Zim? Do those guys ever pay anything back?

We live a hundred miles from Dublin, but still in the city commuter belt. Many live here and travel every week-day to the capital. This would be expensive if they had to use their cars, but they don’t have to. They travel up and down cheaply by train or `bus, nearly half the width of the country, every day. The buses and trains run on time. They don’t run out of fuel.

We often read in the press about Zimbabwe, though I feel that the locals can’t believe how it is there. They think we’ve got to be pulling their legs. We had a parliamentary election here last year, just after we arrived from Africa. Representatives of the different parties visited people in their houses, bearing salutations and requests for support from their friends (not their masters or their chefs) who were standing for election.

We had great fun watching the different politicians, from five parties, debating their positions on TV programmes. A good time was had by all, and they argued their various positions, often heatedly, with good will and in accordance with the rules of debate, or pretty close.

There was no blustering, no frenzied piggy-backing on the glories and horrors of ancient wars (though we’ve had our share of those) – it was today that mattered - no fist-shaking, no threatening, no incitement to violence, calling on people to go forth and “kill the weeds in their gardens”. This can cause the death of dozens in Zim.

None of the parties involved sought to control the supply of food to the people, and to shut it off if they did not vote “correctly”, to starve them. If they had suggested such a thing, the studio audience would have laughed at them. Here the people rule.

It’s all so civilised

They would think that the situation in Zimbabwe, where millions live in fear of a few bloated and paranoid party hacks, ridiculous.

Come to think of it, it is ridiculous.

Larry Farren

[Mini Boden]

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