<\/p>\n
These early mornings, as summer draws to an end, mist hangs in our gardens and somewhere in the branches of a tree, the eerie drawn-out whistle of a ghost bird (grey-headed bushshrike) is a reminder that the seasons are changing.<\/p>\n
The summer birds have gone, and at night and in the early mornings there is a chill in the air.<\/p>\n
Read:<\/p>\n
90 days to stop the coup on Zimbabwe\u2019s constitution
\nHelping hands, and hands that just keep taking in Zimbabwe
\nZimbabwe\u2019s untouchables: A signature, a bribe and a blind eye<\/p>\n
Out of nowhere, a late rainstorm lashed my home area one night. Half a dozen sausage flies and a handful of crickets appeared, and a little reed frog climbed up the kitchen wall \u2013 a beautiful little creature with a green back, cream stripes, red blotches and reddish-pink toes.<\/p>\n
You couldn\u2019t make up these colours, I thought, while another 25mm (one inch) of rain pounded down.<\/p>\n
With so much variety and beauty all around, it was hard to watch the other side of the story in Zimbabwe as we approached our 46th anniversary of independence on Saturday (18 April).<\/p>\n
Distraction<\/p>\n
The Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe \u00a0introduced new ZiG banknotes.<\/p>\n
It says these notes are more durable, convenient and secure than the ones it originally released only two years ago.<\/p>\n
The new ZiG banknotes have such minuscule exchange value to the US dollar that, frankly, we are bemused.<\/p>\n
Only three denominations of the new notes have been released: the $10 ZiG note, which is worth less than 50 US cents; the $20 ZiG note worth less than one US dollar; and the $50 ZiG note, which is worth less than two US dollars.<\/p>\n
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CONTINUE READING BELOW<\/p>\n
The highest local bank note available today in Zimbabwe isn\u2019t even worth two US dollars.<\/p>\n
As it has been for 25 years, Zimbabwe\u2019s rapidly changing, short-lived banknotes are worth more as collectors\u2019 items than as money in our pockets.<\/p>\n
The bigger and far more important issue<\/p>\n
Zimbabwe\u2019s new banknotes were just a momentary distraction from the latest events in the final 30 days of the public consultation period about the ruling party\u2019s proposed amendments to the Constitution.<\/p>\n
In the past 60 days, we\u2019ve seen opponents to the amendments being beaten, arrested, attacked and threatened.<\/p>\n
Last week saw the Zimbabwe Human Rights Commission (ZHRC) was in the firing line.<\/p>\n
ZHRC chair, lawyer Jessie Majome, released a statement about the constitutional amendments saying the public hearings had been marred by the systematic suppression of dissenting voices.<\/p>\n
The ZHRC said some venues for the hearings had been controlled by youths, with vetting at entry points restricting access.<\/p>\n
Read:<\/p>\n
Zimbabwe ruling party decides to extend president\u2019s term to 2030<\/p>\n
Majome said that in Mashonaland West, \u201cmen holding whips were involved in vetting participants in Mhondoro-Ngezi\u201d.<\/p>\n
The ZHRC said: \u201cThe Commission observed instances where participants with divergent views to the proposed amendments were threatened, silenced, denied opportunities to contribute and in some instances physically attacked.\u201d<\/p>\n
Three days after releasing the ZHRC report, Majome was fired from her post by President Emmerson Mnangagwa.<\/p>\n
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CONTINUE READING BELOW<\/p>\n
She was reassigned to the Public Services Commission. Lawyers immediately said it was unconstitutional for the president to have removed Majome from her position.<\/p>\n
Read:<\/p>\n
Standing up for what\u2019s right in Zimbabwe
\nWhen gifts are not gifts in Zim<\/p>\n
Lawyer David Coltart said a commissioner can only be removed for incapacity, gross incompetence, or gross misconduct and only the Judicial Services Commission is empowered to initiate those proceedings.<\/p>\n
\u201cNone of this has happened in Ms Majome\u2019s case.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe clearly isn\u2019t incapacitated and clearly isn\u2019t incompetent. There has been no allegation of misconduct. This was a brazen breach of the Constitution,\u201d said Coltart .<\/p>\n
Hearts are heavy in Zimbabwe.\u00a0In the past two months, we have again become a nation that whispers and looks over its shoulder.<\/p>\n
It feels exactly like the build-up to an election, and the tactics to silence voices and instil fear are the same as always.<\/p>\n
Those awful words that we know so well have again become everyday vocabulary: abduction, beating, threatened, silenced, attacked, blindfolds, whips and batons.<\/p>\n
(The public consultation period runs until 17 May.)<\/p>\n
\u00a9 Cathy Buckle<\/p>\n
#Zimbabwe #Ghost #birds #frogs #men #whips<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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