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| Africa Subsaharan |
| Zimbob's Zanu-PF gravy train leaves villagers in awe |
| 2006-12-25 |
| Goromonzi, Zimbabwe - 21 December 2006 02:59 From a vantage point among the dilapidated grass-thatched huts in the Yafele village, one could not help but marvel at the massive show of grandeur at the nearby Goromonzi High school. From chauffer-driven Mercedes Benz saloons to the latest SUVs from Japan, they were all part of the grand show of affluence that disturbed the tranquil environs of this rural setting. Villagers going about their daily chores were searched at random by grim-faced security personnel and the notorious “Green Bombers” (the government’s North Korean-style youth brigade). So tight was the security at the venue of last weeks’ conference of President Robert Mugabe’s ruling Zanu-PF party that even fruit vendors were required to obtain special clearance from the party's security personnel to be allowed into the school grounds. Those who tried to circumvent the tough security measures by selling fruits from just outside the school gates were quickly rounded up, detained and questioned. For the ordinary folks of Yafele and Chimanikire villages just outside the school gates, the conference was a massive show of affluence by "foreign" people who had no knowledge of their daily lives of poverty and starvation. That the conference may have had little to do with ordinary people could not have been highlighted any better than the spectacle of Zanu-PF delegates tucking into scrumptious food during the meeting, while not far from the conference venue, at Majuru rural shopping centre, scores of hungry mothers waited for hours on end for food handouts to take their starving children. By the time the Zanu-PF officials left Goromonzi in their glitzy cars and luxurious buses after about three days of deliberations on the "people's welfare", there was still no joy for the hungry mothers at Majuru. "We are not sure whether the maize will eventually come but we are sleeping in the council hall [at the shopping centre] hoping that it will be delivered soon,” said 79-year old Margaret Chinzara. Balance at the link. |
| Posted by:Besoeker |