Zimbabwe has seen many interesting events recently - the controversial digging up of corpses countrywide which are linked to atrocities of the liberation struggle which ended thirty one years ago; the partisan anti-sanctions campaign; the ousting of the speaker of parliament and the threatened takeover of foreign-owned firms.

Enter the Fallen Heroes Trust, an obscure organisation linked to President Mugabe’s ZANU (PF) party, which, without any government and expert involvement, is allowed to carelessly take out bodies throughout. It claims that it wants people to understand the brutality of the former Western colonisers who are alleged to be sponsoring their rival MDC parties. What an election campaign gimmick!

Talk dry bones!
Many people disagree that all the bones belong to the liberation struggle era only, but that they include those of victims tortured to death after independence as well, especially during election-related violence. I am reminded of the words from the biblical Ezekiel who prophesied: “O dry bones, hear the word of the Lord God. Behold, I will cause breath to enter you and you shall live.” If, in our situation, the bones would reassemble and talk, many mysteries would be uncovered.

The campaign against the western sanctions on Zimbabwe is still in full swing and has claimed some victims. The sponsors of the anti-sanction campaign strive to meet the target of two million signatures by hook and by crook. Those who have refused to sign have been harassed while those who were cheeky enough to write remarks in protest have been put behind bars.

Multinational takeovers
While some people easily forgive and forget others nurse grudges to their bitter end. So infuriated was President Mugabe when western nutrition company Nestle stopped buying milk from his Gushungo dairy farm last year that he instructed the indigenization minister to take over the company . To vent his anger Mugabe now uses every occasion to denounce the West and its international corporations. None of his rallies nowadays will pass without companies like Anglo-American, Rio Tinto, Lonrho, Old Mutual, Barclays and Standard banks being threatened with takeover as a swift response to the targeted sanctions on him and his inner circle by the European Union and the USA.

Moyo clan drama
The Moyo clan could not be left out in the top headlines. Taking centre-stage in the legislative assembly recently was their power politics drama. Ex- information minister Jonathan Moyo successfully challenged MDC chairman Lovemore Moyo’s election as speaker in 2008 in the Supreme Court, saying the process was flawed. And now, Simon Khaya Moyo, ZANU(PF) chairman and president Mugabe’s blue-eyed-boy has been imposed to lock horns with Lovemore for the top parliamentary job, despite fierce jostling for the post within his party. Nothing unique here, prophecy once said that brother will rise against brother!

Candidly suggests Mandla, my Diaspora-based son: “Yes Dad, since 2009 you have successfully analysed most hair raising news from home, but I think interest in your ‘Letter from Zimbabwe’ may also be waning among your international readership. How about profiling the newsmakers and opinion leaders themselves for a change? Probably, if you wrote from the Middle East, ‘News from the Arab World’ would certainly be an instant hit nowadays. And, I humbly take Mandla’s point.

This was John Masuku's last Letter from Zimbabwe. But it won't be the last we hear from him. He'll start a brand new series for RNW's Africa Desk on celebs in Zimbabwe!