Garvey's Ghost: Black Talk

Dear Mr. Mugabe

Dear Mr. Mugabe:

I am not a CIA, MI5 , MOSSAD or any other national stooge. I am not an apologist for England or the UN or the World Bank or IMF. Nor do I suppose to know and fully understand all that entails running a country. I am simply a Pan-Africanist who has a deep concern over the happenings in the country over which you preside. I was a mere child when you liberated your country from the grip of colonialism. In fact it was Bob Marley's seminal work, Survival that clued me in to the goings on in that country. This was 1989 and I was a freshman at Michigan State University. I became a staunch supporter of the ANC, PAC and all African liberation movements. I agreed with and continue to agree with the reclamation of land for the African with absolutely no compensation for the Europeans who are there regardless of where they were born. When England, under Tony Blair used the Commonwealth to isolate you from the world over this issue, I was in full support of your position.
I say this so that you would understand my perspective and why I write this letter to you.

Last week I was horrified to see reports that you had authorised your government to tear down housing and businesses of mostly, if not exclusively poor people. It was claimed that these areas are full of crime and a black market that does not pay into the government coffers. I understand that as president, you must make hard decisions every day regarding the development of your country but I believe you have made a grave error in judgment. Surely you know, as most watchers outside your country knows, that much of your population is poor and that poverty can be a catalyst for varied crimes and black markets. Perhaps I missed the reports, or perhaps it simply went unpublished, regarding the plans you have to address the rampant poverty in your country that does not include making people homeless and causing the deaths of citizens with bulldozers.

I would also like to know how you plan on dealing with political parties. While I fully understand the fact that Britain and other countries are helping to create unrest in your country, sure you know that you cannot be president for ever. What are your plans for when you die? Clearly you know that your citizens will not accept an oppointed president. Surely you do not want chaos to erupt upon your death. Again, perhaps it simply has not been reported on, but I'd like to know how you plan on dealing with political parties and the eventual transition to a non-Mugabe government. For the good of the people, I hope this plan has been finalised and in the implementation stages as you do not have much longer to live. I would suggest that you have some election where you are not elected, sometime in the near future. In fact you should not even run but act as an elder statesman and Griot (or whatever culturally relevant term applies) as to remind the citizens of where they have come from.

Lastly, As I indicated, I am in full support of the land reclamation program, however, from various reports, which I admit may well be biased, the settling of the land has not gone smoothly at all. I support your ban against genetically altered seeds, but I would like to know how you plan on getting the country back on track to self sustainablity. Sometimes when we are in positions where we do not have to worry about the necessities of life such as food, water and shelter, we forget that there are millions or people who are struggling daily for these things. I would have preferred you not have made the trip to the Vatican to pay homage to some white man on your country's dime and put that m oney into the local economy. But that is my opinion.

Again, I do not suppose to know all the details of what is going on in your country, but the few things that do trickle out are not good. I know that in doing business with the Chinese you do not have to have business or aid tied to the political whims of the US or Europe. However; I would strongly suggest that you take a long view of the situation in your country and realize that there is more to rule than tough talk to Europe, marginalizing of the opposition and running down shanties.

Thank you.
Sondjata K. Olatunji
Garvey's Ghost.