"We were just afraid”: Silence, survival, and the power of words in Zimbabwe - Cathy Buckle

Key topics:.Nationwide shutdown reveals fear, not protest, across ZimbabweState deploys heavy police presence amid factional Zanu PF tensionsJournalist Blessed Mhlanga remains jailed for airing dissenting views.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,.Since my last Letter From Zimbabwe, the promised ‘uprising’ called for by war veteran Blessed Geza who urged citizens to undertake nationwide street protests on the 31st of March did not happen and instead turned into a nationwide shutdown. Ten days ago, there were more police than citizens on the streets in towns and cities around the country in a massive show of force by the State.I went into my home town early in the morning on ‘uprising day’ and there were police everywhere. In full riot gear they were walking five across on deserted pavements swinging their batons (truncheons), wearing their black boots and blue helmets. At every street corner and intersection police waited and watched in groups. Truck loads full of police were still arriving, a water cannon was parked on a main junction. Clearly, they were prepared for a fight and it was eerie, unnerving, disturbing..The messages kept flicking from one phone to another: What’s it like where you are? Are any kids going to school? Is anything open? Is there any transport? Is it safe? And the answers were the same from towns to cities: there were more police than citizens, everywhere. Streets were deserted, public transport non-existent and most schools, shops and businesses were closed. After twenty-five years of extreme force used on protestors in Zimbabwe and without an active or viable opposition party or leader, it was clear this wasn’t about democracy it was an internal faction fight within Zanu PF.It was unsurprising that people stayed at home. One lady said to me: “we weren’t protesting, or demonstrating, we were just afraid. If anything happens to me what happens to my children?” Someone else said: “I just stayed at home and kept out of sight, this isn’t our fight.” Yes, War Veteran Geza says he wants to expose corruption but does Zimbabwe really want another coup? .The morning after the day that nothing happened the highways were very quiet and I passed through countless police road blocks. Where are you coming from, they asked, and where are you going to? Children were walking to school along the highways, satchels on their backs, big smiles and waves as I passed by; women were going down to the river and filling buckets, others were doing their laundry in big plastic bowls at the riverside, clothes snagged on bushes to dry in the burning sun, others were carrying buckets home on their heads.Youngsters were driving donkey-drawn carts along the tar roads flicking their long whips, some carrying sacks of grain, others with big green water melons and one with red clay home-fired bricks. No time for an uprising here, no chance of revolution or shutdown here when the chores of every day are a matter of survival..Read more: BN Briefing – ANC: Trump is tormenting us everyday; Trump pauses tariffs except for China.I stopped at a view point over the mighty Save River looking at the huge river getting shallower and the streams of water narrower as they flow between newly emerging sandbanks. A group of four people were walking almost thigh - deep across the river, one holding a bicycle over his head, following the shallow channels and hopefully watching out for crocodiles too. The song of an Emerald-spotted Wood Dove filled the quiet in this beautiful place and I wondered what next for our long-suffering, beleaguered country. .I end my letter this week again asking that you keep journalist Blessed Mhlanga in your hearts and thoughts. He has been in prison on pre-trial detention for 44 days now for broadcasting an interview with War Veteran Mr Geza. Mr Mhlanga wrote a note from prison this week saying: “I am in pain, lost and sadly broken. This experience is not just a today event, but it will traumatize me for the rest of my life…. My lawyers bring me all your encouraging words, deeds of compassion. It is you who have carried me.” (New Zimbabwe.com).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).Read also:.Joshua Meservey in Washington: What SA must do urgently to transform the USA from Foe to FriendSome Uber Truths from Moeletsi Mbeki on SA/US trade; Business and the GNU; roots of destructive BEEHelen Zille urges “boxing smart with cool heads” on Trump Tariffs; creaking GNU; Business pressure.Love Cathy 10th April 2025. Copyright © Cathy Buckle https://cathybuckle.co.zw/All my books are available from my website https://cathybuckle.co.zw/ or www.lulu.com/spotlight/cathybuckle2018 or https://Amazon.com/author/catherinebuckle Please visit my website for further details, to link into my social media sites, to contact me or to see pictures that accompany these Letters.

"We were just afraid”: Silence, survival, and the power of words in Zimbabwe - Cathy Buckle

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