Peter Worthington had a good column in yesterday's Toronto Sun which noted Roy Bennett's epic struggle against Robert Mugabe and his fellow thugs in Zimbabwe. As the tyrant of Harare continues to wreck a nation, which was once the "breadbasket" of Africa through the taking of farms to give to his cronies, robbing the nation of money to build great palaces, and demolishing the homes of hundreds of thousands poverty stricken Zimbabweans who supported the opposition MDC party, people like Bennett continue to fight the good fight against Uncle Bob. Just take a look at this brave soul standing up for what's right:
"Everyone hates Mugabe, but they fear him with good reason. When Mugabe dies, there'll be a fight for control, but I'm confident Zimbabwe will return to being a decent country. The people are wonderful -- it's the system that's rotten."Hopefully, Bennett's brave stand has provided great inspiration to the countless people of Zimbabwe and hopefully his effort will motivate the West to step up its pressure on Mugabe's tyranny before the region turns into yet another hell-hole like North Korea or even worse another Darfur. Let's hope Bennett can achieve such results and restore some light to this dark Outpost of Tyranny. With great people like Peter Worthington telling Bennett's story, it might come sooner rather than later.
He compares Zimbabwe with Cuba. When Castro dies, Cuba will change overnight, as will Zimbabwe when Mugabe dies.
In prison, Bennett recalled a precious commodity was tobacco, which, although forbidden, didn't deter smoking. Inmates would roll floor sweepings in toilet paper and smoke that, which made matches more valuable than money.
A match would be carefully split lengthwise into four, but if caught with a match a prisoner would be savagely beaten.
"All because of a match stick," says Bennett, not in anger, but as evidence of how things are.
Food was so bad, that without fruit brought in every couple of weeks by his wife, he'd not have made it.
Some inmates get no visitors; their relatives can't afford bus fare to the prison. AIDS and malnutrition are rampant.
Until Mugabe's tyranny expanded, Bennett had no interest in politics. Today he has no choice but to be involved.
So many depend on his leadership that he has no option but to respond: "The fact that I've lost my farm (he's appealing through the courts) and all my material things, is insignificant to what Heather and I have gained in love for the people and their trust. Even if I wanted to, I couldn't abandon them."
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