From zimbabwe

Dear Family and Friends,
Zimbabwe has been engulfed in a macabre and tragic frenzy this week andfrankly, it beggars belief. Across the country what has been called a"Taskforce" has been unleashed by the government to force shop owners andbusinesses to cut their prices by 50%. The price cut enforcers are army men incamouflage clothes, police in uniform and large numbers of youth militia.They gofrom shop to shop and simply pick on items they want reduced : SLASH THAT PRICE,is the phrase we are hearing again and again and then products have to be soldfor less than they were purchased for. Shop owners who refuse to cut the pricesface arrest and having their goods seized. Some have been assaulted, others hadtheir premises trashed and windows smashed.The result of it all, inevitably, is rapid collapse and many goods and foodshave now become completely unavailable including all the staples which werealready difficult to find such as flour, oil, sugar, salt and maize meal.Joining the list now are most other normal household products in daily use suchas soap, candles, matches, milk, eggs, margarine, rice, bread and the list growslonger by the hour and day. As the prices are ordered down hordes of people withbagfuls of money swarm behind and buy up all the stocks. Shops are displayingsigns announcing that only one of each item may be purchased but entire gangsare moving around in dozens and just cleaning everything out.This week in my home town, all types of meat have become completely unavailableas butchers were ordered to sell for less than half the price they had paid toabattoirs. One supermarket in the centre of the town was empty of all goods bymid week, another two were not far behind - both saying they expected to be outof business in the next few days - a week at most. In both of these outletsthere were aisle after aisle of completely empty shelves. It was heartbreakingto see pensioners and desperately poor people looking for bargains but findingnone and then looking for basics and finding none of those either.Outside a major wholesaler, groups of young men stood around waiting for the"militia taskforce" to arrive so that they could buy up everything as the priceswere slashed. The car park was nearly full of luxury vehicles - pajero's, twincabs, SUV's. even a Lexus - all filled with men talking incessantly oncellphones and women in tight jeans and artificial hair - their vehicles alreadybulging with 'slashed price' goods, many pulling trailers also stuffed tooverflowing.I went to one almost empty supermarket and stopped near a young policeman in apick up truck without number plates that was loaded to the hilt with 'slashedprice' goods. It was a bitterly cold morning and a barefoot and slightlyretarded man was sitting on the tar shaking and shivering with cold. Hestretched his hands up to the policeman and said: "Chingwa" (Bread). Thepoliceman ignored him and turned away, calling out cheerfully to another youngpoliceman, also in uniform, who was staggering out with more booty. Again theshivering and barefoot man asked for bread but they both ignored him. I couldnot stop tears filling my eyes and although I had virtually nothing left I bentdown and folded a note into his hand; he clapped his hands in thanks and as Istood up I caught the eye of the young policeman. There was no compassion orempathy there, just arrogance. For a moment I remembered how it felt after thefarmers and their workers had been thrown off and someone had helped me when Iwas utterly desperate. He had said to me: There but for the grace of God go I.Now there are so many more in that place of need.All week as the situation has deteriorated people have been comparing what ishappening now to shops and businesses with what happened to farms. A huge crisisseems just a few days or perhaps a couple of weeks away, as stocks dwindle,warehouses empty and we simply run out of food. As I write this letter thegovernment are continuing to applaud the price cuts and say they will take overthe businesses that close down.Please keep the plight of ordinary Zimbabweans, particularly the old, sick,handicapped, frail and unemployed in your prayers in this most shockingsituation.

Until next week,
with love,
cathy