This weekend, I drove south from Bulawayo towards the town of Plumtree on the Botswana border. The journey, normally 45 minutes, took two hours. A total of five road blocks were manned by armed paramilitaries, who searched our vehicle, demanding to know where we were going and why.
Normally one can joke with these gunmen and make them laugh. But these men were grim and unsmiling.
I reached the village of Tishsi, where a 55-year-old former freedom fighter, Melusi Muleya, invited me into his home for a beer. Melusi fought during the 1970s in the War of Independence. Today he is bitter.
"Fear is now part of our lives here," he told me. "There are reports of strange people patrolling the area, searching for MDC (opposition) supporters. We can no longer meet together, even socially, because the |
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A veteran of the War
of Independence is prepared to fight again for his freedom |
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police think we are having a political meeting, and they attack us."
Despite his war record Melusi did not benefit from Mugabe's land-grab. He explains that in his area Zanu-PF chiefs took all the white-owned farms. Instead he survives on a war veteran's pension which, thanks to inflation, is hardly enough to keep himself and his frail wife alive.
The recent drought has killed off any crops, and Mugabe has refused to ask for international assistance. At one time rural people depended on supplies and money from relatives in town. Today, even in town no-one has anything to spare.
Melusi wants to see change, at any cost. "Mugabe has declared war against us. We will fight back, the beatings only toughen us. If it calls for the spilling of blood as people march to Mugabe's house, it does not matter.
"Blood was spilt in the Seventies. So why not now?"
FIRST POSTED MARCH 27, 2007
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