Zimbabweans must judge the truth for themselves

Outside Looking In: A letter from the diaspora

By Pauline Henson

At his 89th birthday celebrations, Robert Mugabe accused the MDC of lying about the level of violence and the number of deaths in the country. 

The MDC were lying, the president alleged, because they want to give a false impression of the situation in Zimbabwe to gain the rest of the world’s sympathy.

So who are we to believe, Robert Mugabe or the MDC? Mugabe and Zanu PF tell us that there is only sporadic violence in the country and it is not caused by their followers; the MDC on the other hand says that violence is increasing in the run-up to the referendum and the elections later this year.

The death of Christpowers Maisiri is a case in point. The MDC have blamed the fire in the twelve year old’s bedroom on a fire bomb hurled into the room from the outside. The boy’s parents have even named the suspects who, incidentally, have fled the area. The police, on the other hand say there was no foul play.

The fire was caused, they claim, by an overturned paraffin lamp and a highly flammable bag of AN fertiliser in the boy’s bedroom. ‘Well, that’s possible,’ is one’s first reaction, ‘that could be true. Such incidents are not uncommon in the rural areas.’

Then we heard Christpowers’ mother’s version of the incident and her account has the ring of factual truth. The fire did not start inside the room but from outside, from the top of the thatched roof where the flames were first seen.

Christpowers’ mother gave her first-hand account of the incident to the police but, she says, they totally ignored her evidence. For ordinary people, the credibility of her account is beyond question; she was there, she saw the tragedy with her own eyes.

What possible reason would she have to lie about the death of her own son? Are we supposed to believe that she would lie about such a deeply traumatic event as the death of her own child for political advantage?

Judging the truth, or half-truth, from the lie is something Zimbabweans have to do on a daily basis. With a state controlled media which consistently misleads the public with its one-sided version of events, the public has to decide on the factual truth of every story.

The problem is further compounded when the police themselves are politically biased. As the pre-election climate heats up, the police are busy making sure that the opposition are hindered as much as possible from running their campaign.

While Zanu PF youths are allowed to move freely from door to door in a recruitment drive, this week we have seen the police arresting MDC people for “perpetrating acts of violence” at a road block and police in full riot gear breaking up a Tsvangirai rally claiming that the MDC had not obtained police permission.

‘Not so’ claimed the MDC, ‘we did apply.’ It was “a communications breakdown” the police responded, the request for permission had apparently been submitted to the wrong official!

The seizure of radios continued this week with another independent station closed down and 180 radios seized. It would be interesting to know where all these confiscated radios are being stored; with 80% unemployment, the temptation to help oneself might prove too much for some desperate unemployed person.

Even employed people can barely survive; this week the wives of NRZ workers staged a demonstration in Bulawayo, their husbands have not been paid in full for 8 months. Perhaps Mr Mugabe thinks that is just another MDC distortion of the truth – or that is what he would have us believe.

Zimbabweans must judge the truth for themselves.

Yours in the (continuing) struggle, Pauline Henson