Cathy Buckle: Zimbabwe buries democracy in plain sight

By Cathy Buckle.Dear Family and Friends,.Driving behind a commuter kombi (minibus) on a road littered with potholes and humps, the kombi kept cutting in front of me, stopping to pick up more passengers, overtaking me and then cutting me off again. The kombi’s back window was completely covered with a poster supporting Zimbabwe’s Constitutional Amendment Bill Number 3. ‘Building our Future without Interruptions,’ the poster said and I felt a deep ache in my heart. For weeks we have watched as every trick in the book has been used to silence opponents including violence, beatings, intimidation and harassment and then, at the last minute, reducing the submission time from 20 to 10 minutes for opposing MPs to voice their opinions. Zimbabwe’s parliament, which has a two thirds Zanu PF majority, yesterday passed Constitution Amendment Bill Number 3 with 216 votes in favour and 42 against. The Senate will now debate and vote on the Bill before it goes to the President for assent. Trying to clear my head while this process went on, I headed for the wilderness, looking for solace and peace. Walking along the narrow path in the dense thickets along the river, hope begins to return. This is the place where the trees are immense, said to be 500 years old, towering 40-50 to metres high. Even their names are intoxicating: Poison Pod Albizia, Red Mahogany, Apple Leaf Rain tree, Fever tree, Monkey Bread and as I pass each one, I touch their trunks and feel the beauty of Zimbabwe seeping back into my heart. This is the place where vines and creepers coil and curl, twist and bend, looping into branches and hanging in thick ropes. It’s the place where you have to step over big exposed roots and walk around spectacular prop roots. You have to duck your head to miss low hanging branches and I stop to look at a giant Sycamore Fig tree growing half in and half out of the river. A little Vervet monkey is hanging precariously from a thin leafy branch just a few centimetres above the water, desperate to reach that one yummy berry that it can see. The branch bends more, the monkey is almost upside down now and then with a long stretch and a quick snatch it gets the berry, pops it into its mouth and climbs back to safety. Ahead on the path is a pile of buffalo droppings and my eyes are peeled now and my heart rushes at the sound of rustling but it’s just a big leguaan (water monitor) skittering down into the safety of the water.Little black and white spotted feathers litter the ground here and I reach an impenetrable thicket and look up. What must live there in those dark thick branches adorned with thick creeping vines, I wonder, and then I look down at my feet and see a tail lying in the leaves. Thick and fluffy, about 30 centimetres long, it is newly fallen there, but how or at whose hand or teeth is unknown. Look but don’t touch, I think. Further along I bend down to pick up what I think is a plastic bag only to discover it’s actually a fat, inside out snake skin.Things out here in the wilderness are not at first what they seem and I watch a fearsome column of big black ants, six across, marching in a long line across the path. Life in Zimbabwe is like the ants on the trail: follow, obey, don’t step out of line or you too may end up being a tail lying in the leaves. Don’t let democracy interrupt the future of the already rich and powerful. .Read more:.Kenneth Kgwadi on Zim’s constitutional amendment: Time to rethink how power works, not just who gets it.When time comes for me to leave the wilderness it’s hard to say goodbye to the guardians of this place, men and women working so hard for so little, far from their families, often in dangerous situations. They are ever smiling, ever thankful and I give what little I can, encouraging them to keep believing in the good, keep protecting Zimbabwe’s wild places. It’s a touching farewell. “Come back soon,” they say and I swallow a lump in my throat as I head out into the approaching dawn. The following day a message comes on my phone asking if I had a safe trip home and thanking me for staying at their camp. This is the real heart of Zimbabwe.There is no charge for this Letter From Zimbabwe but if you would like to support my writing and donate please visit my website.Until next time, thanks for reading this Letter From Zimbabwe now in its 26th year, and my books about life in Zimbabwe, a country in waiting.Ndini shamwari yenyu (I am your friend)Love Cathy 19th June 2026. Copyright © Cathy Buckle https://cathybuckle.co.zw/ Please visit my website to see all my Books, Photobooks and Calendars https://cathybuckle.co.zw/ .Sign up for your early morning brew of the BizNews Insider to keep you up to speed with the content that matters. The newsletter will land in your inbox every morning on weekdays. Register here.Support South Africa's bastion of independent journalism, offering balanced insights on investments, business, and the political economy, by joining BizNews Premium. Register here.If you prefer WhatsApp for updates, sign up to the BizNews channel here.

Cathy Buckle: Zimbabwe buries democracy in plain sight

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