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During the colonial years of Rhodesia, the population was neatly packaged into clearly defined primary groups: whites, blacks, and coloureds. Various secondary groupings also existed, typically based on tribal affiliation, country of birth, or religion. For no particular reason—apologies to Forrest Gump—I was recently reflecting on the incredibly colourful language and humour used by the coloured community. Two stories come to mind, but before I share these, for readers who may not be familiar with Rhodesian customs of that time, the term "coloured" was used to define anyone of mixed race. Yes, it was a very blunt definition, but from the 1950s to 1970s, little attempt was made to avoid offending anyone. If you happened to be different from any particular stereotype, you were going to be ridiculed. That was just the way it was! Anyway, back to the stories. There was an occasion during my time of national service when I was in charge of a military convoy traveling from the Chimanimani area back to Umtali (now Mutare). The convoy must have consisted of about a dozen vehicles of various shapes and sizes. I was in the second vehicle. We were in a particularly hazardous part of the journey when I received a radio message from the coloured driver of a vehicle near the rear of the column. I recall that he was a corporal. He requested me to halt the convoy. Annoyed at his stupidity, I asked him why. He replied that he needed to "put some sky in his rounds." I had no idea what he meant and asked him to explain. He then proceeded to tell me that one of the tyres on his vehicle was flat, and he needed to pump it up! Another story, which may have been more mythical than truthful, concerned the unit known as Guard Force. You will recall that many coloured personnel found their way into Guard Force. Now, before I continue with the story, I need to remind readers of a Canadian band that was popular in the mid-1970s called Bachman-Turner Overdrive. One of their hits was a song called "You Ain’t Seen Nothing Yet." Back to the story. Apparently, a chain of OPs (observation posts) had been set up in a particular part of the country. Part of the daily routine was for the commander to radio the various OPs towards the end of the day to get a sitrep (situation report). The standard response was “nothing to report.” However, the accepted radio protocol was to use the initials of the three words but say them using the NATO phonetic alphabet. So, the standard response was “November Tango Romeo.” On one particular day, one of the OPs was being manned by a Guard Force unit. When the leader of the unit gave his report, he said, “Bravo Tango Oscar.” Confused, the commander asked for clarification. Back came the response, “Bachman-Turner Overdrive.” Still confused, the commander asked for further clarification, to which came the response, “Ain’t seen nothing yet!” There are, of course, many stories of their colourful language and slang terms. How about sharing some of your own?

Robert Mugabe’s 37-year rule over Zimbabwe was marred by a litany of despicable acts, two of the worst being the Gukurahundi massacre of innocent Ndebele citizens in the south of the country (1983 to 1986), and the illegal and brutal seizure of private commercial farms (2000 to 2008). In February 2024, I covered the Gukurahundi massacres in my blogs, so I won't repeat that material here. However, a recent article in the British Times on March 18th, 2024, reminded me of the farm seizures debacle. According to the article, Ben Freeth has recently completed a 2,000-kilometre trek on horseback from Harare, Zimbabwe to Windhoek, Namibia, to deliver a letter to the Southern African Development Community (SADC) bloc. The letter demands that the SADC bloc uphold the 2008 decision of the SADC tribunal, which found that Mugabe’s land reform program was racially motivated and illegal. Freeth is intimately familiar with Zimbabwe’s state-sponsored violence. In 2008, he, along with his parents-in-laws, Mike and Angela Campbell, were tied up on their farm by war veterans acting on behalf of former President Robert Mugabe. They were driven into the bush, beaten, and tortured. Freeth, who had built a house on his in-laws’ land and helped run one of the most successful mango exporting farms in the country, suffered a fractured skull as a result. The abduction and torture occurred just before the SADC Tribunal was due to hear a case brought by Mike Campbell, later joined by 77 other applicants, against the Republic of Zimbabwe. The case challenged the harassment, forced eviction of farmers, and seizure of farms instituted by Mugabe in 2000. In its unanimous decision on November 28th 2008, the Tribunal ordered Mugabe’s government to protect “possession, occupation, and ownership” of all the applicants’ farms, except for two who had already been forcibly evicted. The state was also ordered to pay compensation to the owners of the farms which had been illegally seized. Mugabe blatantly ignored the Tribunal’s ruling. Freeth, his family, including his children, and the Campbells, subsequently faced increasing harassment and threats as they continued to run their farm until their homes, and those of their farm workers, were burnt down by war veterans eight months later. Freeth’s home was burnt down on August 30th, 2009, with the Campbell’s home suffering the same fate two days later. The 2011 SADC Summit effectively disbanded the Tribunal by deciding not to reappoint the judges whose term of office was ending in 2010, nor replace those whose term of office would end in 2011. In August 2014, Mugabe, along with other heads of state, including former South African President Jacob Zuma, signed a new protocol limiting the Tribunal to only dealing with disputes between SADC states. SADC citizens were specifically prevented from accessing it to deal with human rights violations, such as those that had occurred in Zimbabwe. Mugabe’s refusal to abide by the Tribunal’s ruling, with Jacob Zuma as a willing ally, and Mugabe’s subsequent successful campaign to suspend the Tribunal at the SADC Summit in 2011, has led Freeth to embark on the nearly 2,000 kilometre journey to Windhoek, where the SADC Secretariat sits. In seeking to compel SADC to fully reinstate the powers of the Tribunal, Freeth says his journey is about seeking justice, and about protecting SADC’s 400 million southern African citizens, and their property. He is appalled by the fact that many African leaders believe and act as though they are above the law, and states that the Tribunal should have been a check on that. The tribunal’s first president had called it “a house of justice for Africa” that would set a standard for the rest of the continent. However, the Tribunal's subsequent reconfiguration means that it is no longer empowered to hear complaints by individual citizens about human rights violations by their governments. Freeth doubts that his letter to SADC authorities calling for the reinstatement of the Tribunal’s original powers will have much of an impact beyond the symbolic gesture of hand-delivering a letter after 65 gruelling days traveling by horseback, in high summer and drought. It should be noted that of the 4,500 white commercial farmers who were on their land in 2000 when Mugabe deployed his “war veterans” on his ill-advised ‘land reform policy’, only a handful are still on their premises. Moreover most of the farms that were seized were not given to the dispossessed, as Mugabe promised, but to his cronies. Many of the farms have subsequently been left lying fallow or have been poorly run, meaning that Zimbabwe, which was once the ‘bread basket of Africa’, can no longer feed her own people with about half of its 15 million people now in need of food aid. The illegal seizure of farms was not only devastating, and in some cases fatal, for the farm owners, their employees, and their extended families, but also created a tsunami of economic woe for the country that continues to this day. It also solidified a total breakdown in the rule of law and independence of the judiciary, leaving Zimbabwe’s governance structures in tatters. As former British Prime Minister David Cameron once said, “A country without a strong independent judiciary is a dictatorship waiting to happen.” In levelling this criticism against ZANU-PF, I am not absolving the prior white minority governments of Rhodesia of criticism. As we know, in 20th century white-ruled Rhodesia, many thousands of rural tribespeople were forcibly removed from their ancestral lands with little or no compensation. The governments of the day attempted to vacuously justify these ventures on utilitarian grounds - that is to make way for large scale hydro-electric, irrigation and other agricultural ventures, totally ignoring the fact that the primary beneficiaries of these ventures were the captains of industries which, at that time, were all in white hands. Moreover, as my mother would say, two evils a virtue doth not make!! If you would like to automatically receive notifications of new blogs, if you have not yet done so please subscribe by completing the subscribe form on my website – click here. Route followed by Ben Freeth

Amidst the myriad of challenges facing Zimbabwe, a tale of inspiration emerges from the life of John Randal Bradburne, a figure potentially on the path to becoming Zimbabwe’s first locally recognised saint. John Bradburne, born in the UK in 1921, arrived relatively late to the land of Rhodesia, now Zimbabwe. Educated at Gresham’s private school in Holt, Norfolk (incidentally, also attended by my younger brother, Peter, for a few years), Bradburne’s life was profoundly influenced by his strong Catholic faith. During World War II, Bradburne volunteered for the Indian Army, serving with the 9th Gurka Rifles in British Malaya. After the fall of Singapore in 1942, he spent a month hiding in the jungle before trying to sail to Sumatra. He was shipwrecked on the first attempt but was successful on the second and was eventually rescued by a Royal Navy destroyer. His post-war years in England were marked by a deepening commitment to his Catholic beliefs and, in 1956, he joined the Secular Franciscan Order, remaining a layman. In the late 1960s, Bradburne accepted an invitation to come to Rhodesia as a missionary helper. There, in 1969, he founded the Mutemwa Leprosy Settlement near Mutoko, a community of leprosy patients abandoned by others. Despite being expelled from the colony due to a dispute with the Leprosy Association, Bradburne continued to minister to the lepers, residing in a tin hut just outside the perimeter fence for the last six years of his life. As the Rhodesian Bush War was reaching its climax in July 1979, friends urged Bradburne to return to England. However, he chose to remain with the lepers. Accused by local informers, or mujibhas, of being a spy for the Rhodesian Security Forces, he was handed over to ZANLA guerrillas, who convened a kangaroo court to try him. Surprisingly, at the trial he was found not guilty due to the advocacy of the lepers and was offered refuge by the ZANLA guerrillas in Mozambique. He refused and instead asked to be returned to the Mutemwa Leprosy Mission. On his return trip to the Leprosy Mission, he was re-apprehended by the mujibhas and two other ZANLA guerrillas, who ultimately shot and killed him on 5th September 1979. Bradburne's legacy extends beyond his humanitarian work. A prolific poet, he left behind a staggering 6,000 poems, earning a place in the Guinness World Records for the most prolific poet in English in terms of lines of poetry. His output was almost double that of William Shakespeare!! In July 2001, a petition for Bradburne's canonisation was presented to Archbishop Patrick Fani Chakaipa of Harare. The canonisation process is long and robust. Many years later, on 1st July 2019, Bradburne's cause for beatification was formally recognised by the Congregation for the Causes of Saints in Rome, marking the completion of the initial stages of the canonisation process. The subsequent stages of beatification and canonisation require evidence of miracles. In Bradburne's case, several extraordinary events have been reported which should help his cause for beatification being successfully completed. Firstly, eyewitnesses to his slain body have described his body being surrounded by beams of light, protected by a large white bird, and being chorused to by an invisible choir. Secondly, at his funeral which took place at the Cathedral in Salisbury five days after his death, his coffin was adorned with three white flowers, symbolising John’s profound belief in the triune Holy Trinity. During the funeral, three drops of fresh and bright blood, were observed to have fallen from the coffin to form a pool of blood on the floor. The blood was examined and found to be fresh and so could not have come from a corpse which was 5 days old. After the funeral, the coffin and body were returned to the mortuary and examined. No sign of blood on the coffin or on the body could be found. These purported miracles should help progress John’s cause to successful beatification and canonisation. Annual memorial services at Mutemwa attract up to 25,000 people, reflecting the enduring reverence for Bradburne. Special ceremonies marking the 30th and 40th anniversaries of his death were held in London and Mutemwa, respectively, further strengthening the movement to seek his beatification. In the midst of Zimbabwe's challenges, the story of John Randal Bradburne shines as a beacon of hope and inspiration, reminding us of the power of faith and selfless service.

I am sure all those who lived in Zimbabwe between 2005 and 2010 have recurring nightmares about the rampant hyperinflation of those days. At its peak, hyperinflation in Zimbabwe eclipsed anything seen globally in the last 200 years. In 2008, the RBZ announced the demonetisation of the Zimbabwean dollar, converting all bank accounts to US dollars at a rate of Z$1,000,000,000,000 to US$1.00. This rendered the Zimbabwean dollar worthless, as hyperinflation had reached such high levels that the largest denomination of the currency, the Z$100 trillion banknote, couldn't even buy a small bag of groceries! The photograph at the end of this post depicts this low point in the country’s economic history far better than any words can. The banknotes in the left-hand column show the Rh$ banknotes in circulation as at 30 June 1980, while the banknotes in the right-hand column show the Zim$ banknotes in circulation as at 30 June 2008. The Zim$ remained demonetised until June 2019 when it was reintroduced by the Zimbabwean Government. At this time, the official exchange rate was Zim$1.00 equalled US$1.00. Since then, the Zim$ has rapidly decreased in value. As of January 2024, the official exchange rate was US$1.00 equals Zim$6,100. However, even this shocking rate is artificial as the RBZ deliberately starves the financial markets of US dollars. This has resulted in increasing the street exchange rate of US$1.00 being equal to Zim$11,500! It took Robert Mugabe’s Government 21 years for Zim$1.00 to fall from its value of US$1.40 in 1980 to a value of less than US$0.01 in 2001. It has taken Emmerson Mnangagwa’s Government 5 years for the relaunched Zim$1.00 to fall from its value of US$1.00 in 2019 to its current value of less than US$0.01!! From an inflation point of view, the Zim Government claims the annual inflation rate is around 26.5%. However, respected economists are suggesting the real rate is in the hundreds of per cent. It is hard to imagine how the ordinary Zimbabwean, working on a modest salary, is managing to survive in the midst of this surging inflation. Businesses, too, will be buckling at the knees. As for the hundreds of thousands of unemployed persons, they have simply given up all hope.