I’m barred from texting to Zimbabwe
Published December 28th, 2007
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Yesterday I tried to communicate with a friend in Zimbabwe via SMS. The first SMS message I sent got through alright, even if it took a few hours. After receiving a reply I wanted to send a follow-up and it turned out to be quite long. It spanned 3 messages, but I sent it anyway. Promptly I received 3 messages from another Zimbabwian number saying
“You are barred from using this service.”
That sounded kind of sinister, and I worry a bit about it, since the message involved a message about moving to Sweden. It might have been held by censors, and my number blocked from sending more messages until after an investigation. I hope I haven’t caused my friend any problems…
December 29th, 2007 at 1:28 pm
The cell network in Zim hardly works at the best of times. One reason being long power outages that affect the networks. The service providers rarely have battery backups like in civilized countries. Sometimes SMS’s take days to get through. The Chinese and Israelis are aiding Zanu PF / the dreaded CIO in the persecuting and in the surveillance of the populace.
Suggestion - keep messages short (less than 250 characters) - segment if necessary; do not mention the prime thugs by name; always ask for a receipt confirmation; include the date and time sent, and be careful - the tyrannical deadbeats in Zimbabwe are getting more paranoid every day. They are now worried about the prospect of future prosecution in the ICC or elsewhere.
Sane people should get out of Zimbabwe. The genocidal kleptomaniacs will never give up power. The meltdown is now unstoppable.
Good luck!
December 30th, 2007 at 5:24 pm
Thanks for you advice. I have decided to avoid texting at all to Zimbabwian friends. How about email then? Would it be safe to communicate over a Yahoo mail account?
January 1st, 2008 at 10:49 am
E-mail has the same interception risks. Apply the same suggested message rules for SMS’s except messages can be longer.
Do not mention asset / travel arrangments or money matters unless codified or essential.
January 2nd, 2008 at 12:21 am
What makes me scared is that my friend in Zimbabwe doesn’t realise this, and chats on happily about coming to Sweden/Finland…
January 2nd, 2008 at 11:36 am
Perhaps I have unwittingly alarmed you too much.
The country (Zim) is in an imploding / shambles state with so many holes in the leaking tank that they do not know which ones to plug next.
They (The hierarchy and subordinates) are not likely to target anyone unless they have drawn attention to themselves.
I mentioned travel arrangements. This I did because there have been stories of travelers being followed / hijacked around the Harare airport. The conclusion was that there was a tip-off network that included corrupt police, customs and immigration officials and the thugs.
On the other hand some travelers / visitors are sometimes complimentary about these officials.
Some remaining Zimbabweans / residents have sadly become numbed from endless years of repression under an abnormal evil regime.
The typical apolitical Zimbabwean is usually a pleasant person. Zimbabwe is / was a beautiful country.
Below is a copy of a recent report about an experience of a visitor to Zimbabwe. This country desperately wants tourists!
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“2007 12 29 - SA ’smuggler’ evades Zimbabwe jail
From The Cape Argus (SA), 29 December 2007
Siyabonga Kalipa
An elderly pensioner who was returning to Cape Town from Harare was threatened with a night in an airport police cell after trying to leave the country with Z$ 50 million - less than R200 - in his bag.
Retired security guard Roy Hunt, 76, said the customs official then confiscated Z$ 40m.
When an outraged Hunt protested, he was told to move along or face arrest for currency smuggling.
But later, while waiting to board his aircraft, he noticed people were buying goods from the duty-free shop.
He approached the customs official’s supervisor, retrieved his money, and spent Z$ 30m on a bottle of Johnny Walker Red Label whisky - which retails here for about R110.
Hunt, who lives in Fish Hoek, had been visiting an old friend in Harare.
Hunt said: “My friend has got nothing and so whenever I visit him I bring him food. Everywhere you go in Zimbabwe there are queues. Even if you want to go into a grocery store you have to queue first. When I got to Zimbabwe I went to the bank to change the US$ 700 I had with me to Zim dollars. They changed the money but there was no paperwork. When I asked, they told me they had no more receipts, and that’s when I started thinking there was something wrong.”
When he was due to leave the country he still had Z$ 50m left. He was stopped at the X-ray machine because his wad of cash had been spotted in his bag. “The customs official asked me how much money I had in my bag and I told him it was Z$ 50m, so he took Z$ 40m. When I objected, I was told to move along or face arrest for currency smuggling.
This I did because a spell in a Zimbabwe prison did not appeal to me.” When he was sitting in the departure lounge, however, he noticed other travelers buying goods with Zim dollars. “I went to the security checkpoint with this knowledge and informed the supervisor, who asked the customs official to return my money.”
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Usually there is no need to be fearful or paranoid - just be diligent and careful.
Suggestion:- Read the travel advisories from the UK, Australian and USA governments to balance the perspective.
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January 2nd, 2008 at 2:00 pm
Thanks Despot Observer for your insight.
I spent my childhood years between 3 and 7 in Zimbabwe (or Rhodesia, this was between 1967 and 1971). Even if the Ian Smith regime was far from perfect, todays reign is hard to even compare.
Lately I’ve been reading two blogs that focus on the situation in Zimbabwe and would like to recommend them to others:
http://www.zimbabwetoday.co.uk/
and
http://thebeardedman.blogspot.com