Another sad story from Zimbabwe

There was a letter to the editor in The West Australian this week which moved me to tears, something which doesn’t happen very often these days as I become hardened to the world

I wish there was a link, or that I had the hard copy in front of me to reprint extracts, but I don’t just now.

A group in Perth plans a charity fundraiser to assist old-age pensioners in Bulawayo who are living in poverty thanks to Mugabe’s economic policies.

The letter writer astutely doesn’t say the pensioners are white, but refers to them as former policemen, teachers and railway employees. She made the point these people saved for their retirement but have seen their standard of living destroyed by hyper inflation.

The sentence that broke me was that many are “eating dog food and garden weeds” to survive. They rely on monthly gift packs from a charity to get small parcels of food.

The innocent casualties of Mugabe’s brutality are both black and white, of course. There is something especially tragic though about former public servants having to eat weeds because the state is incompetent.

My previous post that Britain should invade Zimbabwe drew quite a response, including a mention by The Radical Soldier.

For the record, I am Australian born and bred. My wife is South African, I have friends from Zimbabwe and I have visited the country.

• Visit here to support a Zimbabwe Pensioners Appeal.