Things are failing quickly in Zimbabwe.  The country we spent 17 days visiting last October, is coming apart at the seams. Inflation, riots, crime, censorship, and lack of fuel are all taking their toll.  The government of Emmerson Mnangagwa appears no better than that of Mugabe and may be worse. With the government’s ruthless actions, the people are becoming more and more restless.

We are trying to stay in touch with our friends in Harare, but it is difficult. Internet connectivity to Zim has been cut a couple of times by the government. The same goes for voice communications.  In the emails we have received, they don’t paint a pretty picture.  

Inflation is rampant, particularly for fuel and necessities.  Gas is now over $12 a gallon, if you can find it.  Many people are waiting in line for a day or more, trying to get fuel and hoping the station doesn’t run out, which frequently happens.  Our friends were also cautioned about driving unnecessarily, as cars are sometimes stopped by people who think that if you are driving, you have gas, and therefore you are rich.

Crime has increased at both the small and large level.  Last week, thieves attempted to steal the whole transformer from where our friends get their electricity.  Someone heard them and alerted their new “Neighborhood Crime Watch” and the thieves ran off.  However, all the parts were lying on the ground, with oil everywhere. They must now guard the parts, as the power company hasn’t yet come to fix it.  In the interim, they are without power, except for a generator they run for part of each day, but it’s difficult to find diesel fuel for the generator. They were also without electricity for thirteen days over Christmas, due to stolen copper wires from the transformer to their home.

Here is part of a recent email from them, as I think it conveys the situation better than I can:

“I don’t think I have ever experienced anything like this since arriving here in late 1972.  There was a civil war going on then but I never really felt unsafe.  Perhaps being younger and not having children made me more full of bravado…

Today, for the first time, I feel a little frightened.  It is because the people who are angry today and shouting out slogans and threats such as “no mercy will be shown” are targeting anyone they come across, anyone in a mobile car, anyone on the streets and I gather even people in their homes.  They are targeting some of the wealthier areas and also the poorer ones, like xxx near us.  They sent out messages which have been passed around on Whatsapp yesterday telling everyone to keep their children at home as they don’t want them to be hurt and they say they are going to attack the xxx School today, along with other places.  They say they are furious with the government and the police and the army and they will not stop until the whole Country is at a standstill.  

Who “they” are we have no idea.  We don’t know who has rallied them together but we have seen quite a lot of videos, sent around yesterday of crowds stoning ordinary vehicles.  One woman sent a video of “my son being stoned”.  I don’t know if he was black or white but it doesn’t seem to make any difference.  If you are driving, it means you have petrol and if you have managed to get petrol, you probably have some American dollars!  Or you have paid for it with a foreign card.  Or you are a member of government.  They will not consider that you might have sat all night and day in a queue and been lucky enough to get to the front before the fuel station ran out.  You would not have a chance to explain!

The steady rain today seems to exacerbate the feeling of doom and gloom but of course this is silly because it is a good thing.  One reason is that we need more rain this season not just for the crops but to replenish the underground water and boreholes that some of us are lucky enough to have.  The other reason is that we are hoping it might deter the demonstrators from getting out of hand and doing unnecessary damage.  So far we have seen that they have burnt down a police station and have set fire to an out-of-town toll gate.  

This morning we saw a video of looting in a high-density township.  Some brave person continued to video while hundreds of people ran to the closed Supermarket and were seen to run back down the street with ploughs and big drums of stuff, maybe soap powder or paint or flour?  It was endless, with people shouting and shoving and screaming.  What good this will do if it is part of a demonstration I don’t know but of course some people are so very poor and starving that they will take any opportunity.  I think this is why we feel nervous as we have more than so many people have. But we are pretty hard up when compared with the people who are milking this Country dry.

I might add that the unruly demonstrations have been superceeded by something much worse in the form of the brutality by the police and army who appear to be indiscriminately breaking into houses and beating and torturing the inhabitants and arresting hundreds.  We have already heard terrible stories, and how some of these people are children and young girls.  The government is excusing this saying the people arrested are the perpetrators of violent demonstrations but most of them are totally innocent.”

Our friends have kept their sense of humor.  They recently read my blog about the three day beef daube (stew) I made, that requires a bottle of wine for the stew.  They commented “We hope you enjoyed your 3-day “stew”!!!  We are now down to the last bottle of red wine and it is definitely NOT going in the cooking”.

Cath and I are so sad at this turn of events. Zimbabwe is a beautiful country and has much to offer. We hope to return there in the future to see our friends, the beauty of the country, and of course the animals.

I fear that under Mnangagwa, things are only going to get worse. He is trying to get help from Putin and additional help from the Chinese, which should concern us. He has also travelled to Davos to appeal to the countries attending the summit there. It would not surprise me to see another coup, but for now, he controls the Army and they are responding to him and his wishes. That’s part of the reason things are getting so ugly. Here in the States we don’t pay much attention to events in African nations, but we should.

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Addendum:

1. Thanks to our friend for letting us extract from their email for this blog. We have kept their name anonymous for security reasons.

2. If you want a more strategic look at Zimbabwe’s issues and how their economy is in shambles, try this link: https://worldview.stratfor.com/article/theres-little-zimbabwe-can-do-reverse-its-economic-rot – it’s a pretty good analysis. Thanks To Marty Hanratty for the link.