By Erika EngelHe's been beaten, jailed and exiled from his home in Zimbabwe by the Robert Mugabe led Regime.
Roy Bennett fights for democratic change from his refuge in South Africa.
Now, he is the treasurer general of the opposition party in Zimbabwe called the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC). It's a post-liberation movement without precedent in Africa, and the people's struggle is all uphill. Bennett was a farmer in Zimbabwe years ago when the infrastructure was second to none and the country had a reputation as Africa's biggest exporter of food. Now people starve, there is no clean water or sewage treatment, and an education is a luxury unknown.
"I will stay in it until we've delivered change to people, then I will be happy to get out of it and be a simple farmer again," said Bennett at Ashanti Coffee Enterprises in Thornbury on December 11.
He made the stop in The Blue Mountains on a recent on a recent trip to Canada. David and Amy Wilding-Davies, owners of Ashanti, and Karen Clegg, marketing coordinator, invited him to the coffee shop and presented him with a cheque for $3,100 - a result of a Zimday fundraising event at the coffee shop on November 29.
Bennett will put the money in a Zimfund and use it to buy medical supplies for victims of political violence. He spent a couple hours speaking to the small crowd that gathered in the coffee shop. They were eager to ask questions and listened to Bennett's first-hand account of political corruption and resilient Zimbabweans.
"You've got to take your hat off to the Zimbabwe people," he said, noting the brutality and torture done to them for defying the Mugabe regime and voting for democratic change.
"[The people] lose everything," he said. "Their income, their homes. Their families are raped, they are imprisoned, beaten ... We as a party are unable to support them, but they've continued strong, wanting change."
He has photos on his computer of vicious acts of torture and violence.
Infrastructure has crumbled, and the people are devastated. Neighbouring countries have declared their shared borders disaster areas because of the rampage of fatal diseases. All the horror, says Bennett, began after voters rejected Mugabe's constitution to grant him absolute rule of the country for life.
"The problem in Zimbabwe is a political problem," said Bennett. "So until we can bring about political change, we are not going to be able to ease the suffering of the people."
He says it is resources that will win the war for change. Without them, the people remain oppressed, and their stand against Mutable, though defiant and courageous, gains no ground.
But Bennett is not in Zimbabwe anymore, he and his family are in South Africa, they could move to Canada, be far away from the suffering. Bennett, himself said there isn't anything good in Zimbabwe right now. Why not leave?
His answer is calculated, but shaken with emotion.
"In life you have a lot of choices," he starts.
He interrupts the thought to explain his history as a farmer in a new community. He got involved with the people there. Taught them about income farming. Helped them develop stability. They pushed him into politics. Fifteen died in the fight for change.
"It's an honour to represent them," said Bennett. "They have shown solidarity and sacrifice on my behalf ... It's not about me or my family, it's about them. Those people - they have seen hope. They have seen truth and honesty ...I would be walking away from these people ... surely they haven't given their lives in vain."
It's a dark time for a nation that fell from glory. The infrastructure that was second to none, even under Mugabe's early rule, has crumbled. AIDS and Cholera are rampant and vicious.
Bennett says it's genocide in a country that was once a "gem." People are dying because the government will not provide what they deserve. They want only a roof over their heads, education for their children and two meals a day. It's not a stretch for a country that once was the largest exporter of food in Africa.
"You never ever know about the adversity or the suffering of people until you get there," said Bennett. "Their only hope is in fellow people who do good."
The owners at Ashanti committed themselves to forming a local group to support the MDC and the people of Zimbabwe in their fight for change. Watch The Blue Mountains Courier Herald for more details.
