[This is written by a Roman Catholic Priest in Zimbabwe. It appears as if the Blacks are resigned to their fate. That”s bad news. What that country needs urgently is a revolution against Mugabe.

Thank God the USA condemned this mega-destruction. But do you know… isn”t it bizarre that nobody else is speaking out against it? No calls for sanctions? No calls for bombing? That”s bad… it shows that high up… around the world… either people don”t care… or they even believe that Mugabe is the best man to rule that country. Jan]

It is amazing with what equanimity people accept what government has done to them.

“Hapana zvokuita (“There is nothing one can do”), say people as you ask them about the destruction of their property. Or that is what they say out loud. Whispering in my ear a woman said, “They did it because they lost the election” (meaning in Mbare).

It took a mentally deranged woman to shout it out loud. Sitting on the rubble of her destroyed cottage she kept shouting, “&asi handiwirirane naMugabe (“but I don”t agree with Mugabe”).

The police tell people “Get out”. Council officials go round and tell people still sleeping next to their destroyed homes, “We do not want to see you here any more”.

Where are they supposed to go? A certain organisation wants to help with transport to the rural areas. More and more women with small children who suffer severely from the cold at night beg for the money to get on the bus and travel to Gokwe or Mutoko, Birchenough Bridge or Tsholotsho.

The black plastic sheeting we were distributing offers little protection.

I keep saying in my little homilies and anywhere else to anyone who cares to listen, “Violence and oppression seem overwhelming. But the violent will not win. They will have to answer for what they have done.

The Kingdom of God brings the reign of justice, love and compassion.

With Christ the victor we will win, eventually. In the meantime we are asked to share what we have in love and compassion.”

A Catholic woman from a parish in the northern (more affluent) suburbs collected money among her fellow sodality members to help us help the hardest hit, $ 1.5 million so far. We are most grateful. I was able to hand the money straight on to a couple of mothers with small children who wanted to return to their rural homes near Bulawayo. I hope they got there -travelling is a hazardous business if you carry luggage; there are plenty of thieves around to pounce on you- and were well received.

But will they have anything to eat there in those drought-stricken parts of Zimbabwe?

Source: AllAfrica.Com
URL: http://allafrica.com/stories/200506170706.htm…br>