Critical minerals or a loaf of bread - Cathy Buckle

Key topics:Zimbabwe's vendors face crackdown amid worsening economic crisisUK pursues $1B mineral deals despite Zimbabwe's human rights abusesCitizens struggle daily for food, jobs, and basic survival.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 at 5:30am 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..By Cathy Buckle*.Dear Family and Friends,I woke up early to go outside in the freezing pre-dawn cold to see if I could see the conjunction of Venus and Jupiter low on the north east horizon. It was easy to spot the beautiful Venus, so long my comforter through decades of unbearable times in Zimbabwe and there, below Venus was Jupiter. I watched for a while until the planets slowly faded into the dawn light to the sound of the first bird calls.Later, outside the supermarket, an old man asked me if I could help him with a dollar to buy a loaf of bread. There was an icy wind blowing dust across the car park and we both shivered a little. I pressed a note into his hand and he clapped his hands in thanks. “I can work for you, to pay it back,” he offered, “any kind of job, I don’t mind,” and in that moment I saw the face of Zimbabwe looking back at me. It’s a look of shame and pride, determination and desperation all mixed up into one. According to our National Statistics Agency (Zimstat), Zimbabwe's annual inflation rate, as measured by the local ZiG currency, was 95.8% in July 2025. Alongside that huge number is the fact that 76% of people work in the informal sector. The World Bank says Zimbabwe is home to one of the world’s largest informal economies where three quarters of all employment is informal and the sale of second-hand clothes is the most common trade. (The Standard)Zimbabwe’s latest response to our huge informal economy has been to stamp on it with Big Boots in a new crackdown on street vendors. A few months ago, they chased vendors off the streets saying they weren’t paying tax or licences to government despite the fact Vendors pay vending fees to local councils every single day. This time Local government Minister, Daniel Garwe, says that vendors selling their goods on pavements at night “have brought with it illicit drug and substance dealings which is a threat to health, economy and national security.” Minister Garwe then announced that with immediate effect the importation and selling of second-hand clothing is banned as is street and night vending. In two sentences Minster Garwe stripped away the ability of over 70% of people to buy food for their families, keep their children in school and pay rent at the end of every month. Humanity and empathy have gone out the window. The very people sitting in government supposed to be representing us, have forgotten what it’s like to be us.Despite claims by authorities that the ‘economic environment has significantly improved’ in Zimbabwe, people are literally living from one meal to the next. “If I don’t work for one day, I don’t eat” a vendor said. People have even resorted to using household furniture and appliances such as beds and fridges as collateral for small loans to keep food on the table or pay school fees. It’s being called ‘survival credit’ and lenders are charging between 7 and 25% interest a month. With all these ugly facts to swallow this August 2025, it came as a shock to read that the UK is apparently ‘rekindling diplomatic ties’ with Zimbabwe driven by ‘a global surge in demand of critical minerals.’ Minerals have long been the curse of Zimbabwe: gold, diamonds, chrome, platinum and now lithium. They should all be the building blocks of Zimbabwe, the making of us, the saving of us but instead they’ve fuelled corruption, enriched politically connected individuals and done nothing to uplift ordinary people or communities or even maintain the country’s crumbling public infrastructure.Hearing that the UK is pursuing US$1 billion in minerals deals with Zimbabwe begs the question: Lithium or Human Rights? While the UK and Zimbabwe talk about US$1 billion mineral deals, have they suddenly forgotten 25 years of human rights hell suffered by ordinary people in Zimbabwe? Have they forgotten the three notorious cases that have occurred in the last year alone: the 152 days of ‘pre-trial detention’ of Opposition Senator Jameson Timba and 78 young people in 2024; the 595 days of ‘pre-trial detention’ of opposition MP Job Sikhala in 2023 and 2024 and the 72 days of ‘pre-trial detention’ of journalist Blessed Mhlanga in May 2025. I can still see the look in the eyes of the old man asking for one dollar for a loaf of bread, it’s a world away from one billion dollars for critical minerals. There is no charge for this Letter From Zimbabwe but if you would like to donate please visit my website.Until next time, thanks for reading this Letter From Zimbabwe now in its 25th year, and my books about life in Zimbabwe, a country in waiting.Ndini shamwari yenyu (I am your friend)Love Cathy 15 August 2025. Copyright © Cathy Buckle https://cathybuckle.co.zw/ My new Photobook “Zimbabwe’s Timeless Beauty The 2025 Collection” and my Beautiful Zimbabwe 2026 Calendar are now available. They can both be ordered from my website or from LULU. Click here to order www.lulu.com/spotlight/cathybuckle2018

Critical minerals or a loaf of bread - Cathy Buckle

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