Woke up to find that it had rained overnight and feeling much fresher. It’s the first rain they have had in 4 months. More i s needed, but not yet!!!
The other main news, which I’m sure you have all heard, is the death of Robert Mugabe which has dominated the news channels all day. I heard it on SABC TV at breakfast, just as Silvia, who looks after me, came in with my fruit salad and yoghurt.
Silvia is a pleasant young woman with 2 children aged 10 and 8, although she doesn’t look old enough! She comes from Zimbabwe, so I asked her if she had heard the news of Magabe’s death? She stood and looked at the screen for several minutes taking the news in.
She then turned to me and said, “He was a bad man, a bad man. All the trouble in Zimbabwe is because of him”.
Silvia then told me that she was orphaned as a child and brought up by her father ‘s family. She said, “a white woman from the Catholic Church educated me, I did my A Levels because of the help of the white woman from the church”. She continued. “We need white people, they give us work. He didn’t help us, he just helped himself”.
She is pleased to be in Sth Africa so her children can get an education.
I learnt from the news coverage that Robert Mugabe was the son of a carpenter and trained to be a teacher. He was described as the Father of Democracy in what was Rhodesia, leading the country to Independence. Most of the African Leaders who have paid tribute to him have revered him and what he did.
Some of you may remember the Cricketer, Henry Ologona who came to speak at Vauxhall Farm some years ago. He said “Robert Mugabe would be remembered as a Dictator and Tyrant”.
One one hand he was a Liberator and on the other, a Dictator. It depends on which side of the Scales of Justice you sit. Both residents and staff at the Care Home had plenty to say about Mugabe’s death. Many were cross that he would get a state funeral; saying that the country would shut down while the event takes place.
One resident blamed Mugabe’s wife Grace. “At first he had good policies and was helping the country, it was his wife that led him the wrong way”.
Other news which has been in the headlines all week is the protest against Violence to Women and Foreign Nationals. President Cyril Ramaphosa gave a address to the nation on TV last night in response.
He said he was appalled at the way woman and foreign nationals are attacked
“It is more than a National Crisis. It is a Crime against Humanity”.
He appealed to everyone to “respect women and to teach our boys to respect girls”. He said they would be reviewing Laws on Domestic and Gender based violence, saying “Rapists would receive a Life Sentence.
Ramaphosa called on all Religious Communities to “humble ourselves, to pray and bring healing to our nation. The nation is crumbling under Femicide”.
Strong words
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