<h3>Whites Flee Zimbabwe</h3>

Fat Chance...

"The irony is that throughout the four years of jingles about land and prosperity we were hungry. We were standing in food queues, waiting for hours for just one loaf of bread and traipsing from one shop to the next desperately searching for a kg of sugar or a bag of maize meal." Cathy Buckle

"The exodus of Zimbabwe's small and anguished white population is under way with record numbers leaving their homeland, mostly for Britain or Australia. Few have the R30 000 (US$5,000) they need in foreign currency to transport their goods to new countries, and most are starting new lives with 22kg of clothes and a few photographs..."

"Estate agents say there has been a flood of houses on to the property market in the past few weeks that has slashed prices to record lows. Thousands of homes from bungalows to mansions along suburban avenues are on sale for as little as R150 000 (US$25,000). Up to three million black Zimbabweans have also gone into exile, mostly for economic reasons, but they hope to return one day. Most whites, of whom perhaps 30 000 remain in Zimbabwe, say they will never return..."


Prevailing mood... [Chikonzero Chazunguza]

"Among about 350 white farmers who remain on the land enduring varying levels of instability are some who have never been touched by ruling Zanu-PF party militants but are now abandoning their homes. 'We have recently noticed quite a number who have been left alone the last four years but are leaving,' said Hendrik Olivier, the director of the remnants of the once 4 000-strong Commercial Farmers' Union (website closed).

One of Zimbabwe's most successful younger industrialists, who asked not to be named, decided to go to Australia a few months after his family was attacked in December in their home about 20km south of Harare. The family moved to the city and tried to settle in a new and glamorous mansion in a leafy suburb. It is now up for sale.

'We couldn't recover. In April I sold my business and as soon as our work permit arrives we will go. We have young kids and schools are a problem. I will miss it, especially the bush. We have family in South Africa, but the future is uncertain there.'" Independent Online

Meanwhile, the fat cats party on...

Note Recent legislation allows the ruling Zanu-PF to monitor all incoming and outgoing e-mail. Two generations of my wife's family live and farm in Zimbabwe, but we receive little news (most Web sites died around 2002). Reading between the lines, the situation appears worse than is being reported. Given escalating violence against people because they are white, my wife is concerned about her parents' and sister's family's wellbeing.

"Today is my sister's wedding day and I am not able to be there. She is a Zimbabwean in exile and the air fare for my son and I (sic) to go her wedding is 10 million dollars." Cathy Buckle