Zim: This from mags Kriel – PAVEMENT BLOCKERS AND SHOP LIFTERS

Original Post Date: 2008-05-09 Time: 00:00:00  Posted By: JoAn

Submitted by Clive:

PAVEMENT BLOCKERS AND SHOP LIFTERS

Such fun we had in our tiny cell,…… 20 “pavement blockers” , shoplifters, ladies of thenight …. and one small wannabee journalist !! As I was pushed into the pitch dark cell at 10 p.m. at night…. I heard thehiss “makiwa” !!! I slid silently down into a diminutive space on the concrete floor next tothe foul smellingtoilet, and tried desperately to get my eyes used to the terrifyingdarkness…. . then a softhand reached over and shook my knee “Welcome Makiwa” what are you here for ? When I mentioned my “Crime” there was an instant excited hullabaloo andspace was madefor me further away from the stench of the toilet…. Little did I know that the din was keeping fellow Journalist JonathanClayton awake in thecell next door !! My Cell Mates were delightful if excitable, some of them had spent severalnights on thecold concrete floor and were dressed accordingly. There were 21 of us in acell measuring5 meters by 3 meters and we had 4 blankets between us !! April nights in Zimbabwe can be extremely chilly to say the least. When thedawneventually broke, I noticed that most of the ladies were wearing theirclothes turned insideout – a simple explanation if you are a “pavement blocker ? ” Once your fine has been paid in the morning, you turn your clothes the rightway round,and go straight back to work as clean as a whistle . One is allowed just two articles of clothing, no bra, no knickers, no shoesand no socks !What was more alarming was that were were not allowed toilet paper or watereither !! Just a top article and a bottom article. HeeHoo had brought me a warm jacketand a tracksuit bottom, but my feet froze ……. the ladies were much cleverer than I,a warm top and avoluminous wrap around skirt that can serve as a blanket is much moresensible and a tipI will remember !! Now a “pavement blocker” , I learned amidst much mirth, is a forex dealer….. but onecannot be convicted as a forex dealer as the Reserve Bank of the countryoften buys forexfrom these very same ladies, and of course then it is not a crime !!!! It was a long, long freezing night where only ten of us could lie down andthe other elevenwould sit, however we all swopped at most civilized intervals. It remindedme of thatkiddies song I used to sing to my babes….. There were ten in a bedAnd the little one said”Roll over, roll over”So they all rolled overAnd one fell out However we kept each other warm, except that Memory on my left had pneumoniaandMercy on my right had what sounded suspiciously like Tuberculosis !! Morning was a joyous affair, the guards chased us out most rudely at 6 am tocount usand then chased us in again until 8 when food arrived. Now the only food onegets in aZimbabwe prison is what the relatives bring, and so if you have no one youget no food, itis as simple as that !! However I had already decided not to drink or eat as this would necessitatethe use of theloo which was open to all to view and also I had nothing on my feet and thearea aroundthe loo was awash !! At eight they let us out again into a small sunny pen along with the inmatesfrom the nextdoor cells, and I met fellow Journo Jono Clayton from the London Times, aswell as an axemurderer from the cell at the end !! Through the wire I saw the sweetest sight….. at the gate to the CentralBulawayo PoliceStation was HeeHoo, surrounded by a throng of folk, craning his neck to seeif his wifehad survived the night , waving a plastic bag of food excitedly. No one went without,… the Haves shared with the Have Nots …. Jonathan Clayton was most popular as his goody bag contained the items hehad boughtat the Johannesburg duty free shop and contained delicacies which his fellowinmatescertainly did not appreciate, possibly caviar and smoked salmon !! We were allowed to visit a tap near the over flowing dust bins in thecourtyard forablutions, after breakfast ….. and then we were instructed to throw abucket of water atour lavatories and to hang our four blankets in the sun for ten minutes(lice apparently donot like the sun ! ) Pushed rudely back into the cells, if I had thought the night long, I foundout the dayswere just as long…. Although I had company the sweet girls soon tired ofspeaking inEnglish and I am ashamed to say my Shona and Ndebele is pretty sketchy. Butas the daywore on and people came and went I learnt a lot about prison life … thelonger one’sincarceration, the further one is allowed away from the stinky toilet !! By Noon I was sitting on top of the concrete bed the very furthest corner ofthe cell. likethe queen of the Bastille !! Most of my friends had been remanded andreleased except forthe two “ladies of the Night” who were by now standing on the toilet lookingout of thetiny barred aperture hoping to pick up some custom !! By lunchtime my darling friends had arranged a feeding roster and Hee Hoowas bringingin tantalizing treats and delicious cups of hot steaming tea !! And so itcontinued for thenext four days …. my favorite meals were the salmon fish cakes that PhillMacdee cookedpersonally and a tray of food, including a tiny vase of flowers and her bestsilverware, sentin my MacMish complete with a delicately fragrant butternut soup !! 5 Days and 4 nights melted into long sessions of interrogation (with nolawyer allowed tobe present), where the men from the CIO (Central Intelligence Organization)and the scarymen from Presidents Office joined forces with the much nicer local Law andOrderdetectives, to ascertain that I was not after all, really Emma Hurd from SkyNews…. !! The second, third and fourth nights HeeHoo successfully negotiated aPrivate En Suite Cellat Sauerstown Police Station for me where I was kept in solitary confinementbut onlybecause there were no other women in the cells ….. The poor male felons onthe otherside of my cell wall would bang messages on the wall to comfort me, my fistswere prettysore after a couple of days !! Such bliss, the cell was the same size but much cleaner although theblankets were stiffwith dirt, and there was a gap of about four inches broken off the bottom ofthe door ….. Numerous ants came in to visit me, the droves of mosquitoes were convincedthat myblood was the best thing they had tasted this year and and I could lie onthe floor and lookout into the court yard for entertainment. HeeHoo attempted to bring me books, loo paper and water but all wererefused….. I did not dare go to sleep sleep in case a snake or a rat or worse came into eat me whilemy eyes were closed !! Solitary confinement is actually pretty scary andwhen one of themale guards called me “Sweetie” I nearly had a heart attack …. HeeHoo did manage to negotiate my very own blanket for the last two nights!! And so I languished happily on my concrete floor while HeeHoo took over therunning ofthe house, not having to think about meals for four days was bliss !! Poor HeeHoo however was not having such a delightfully enforced rest, hemovedmountains literally to keep everyone else in our lives safe and secure. Somehow, as only HeeHoo can do, he managed to safeguard the lives of severalvulnerablepeople and got them into safety and away from the claws of this strange,manic, dementedsociety in which we are forced to live at this time in Zimbabwe. How can I ever forget the love, warmth, prayers and support the whole worldhas shownme and my family over the past horrid 4 weeks. Watch out for the unabridged version of this missal after we have gone totrial ….. andhopefully these spurious charges have been dropped. God Bless you all and thank you so much for caring for the brave andselfless folk who aretrying so hard to save our country.