Historic Cyclone Idia hits four countries simultaneously, including mine this past week, thousands displaced in Mozambique, Zimbabwe & Malawi

The worst cyclone in Mozambique’s history hit this past week and caused devastation in 4 countries simultaneously. Cyclone Idai made landfall with speeds of 170Km/h (some reports say 110mph) near the port city of Beira. With so many people in so many countries affected at once, this has been labelled as one of the worst climate disasters to hit the southern hemisphere in living memory. And it’s in my back yard having ripple effects on my entire country’s power supply.

At least 360 dead and 2.6 million people have been affected in the four affected southern nations of Africa. Homes, schools and medical centers have all been smashed and medical facilities have broken down. Floods have inundated swathes of farmland.

Worse than that, water supplies are damaged and apparently the only reservoir with drinking water has two days worth of supply left according to Medecins Sans Frontieres. People are resorting to drinking contaminated water as pipes leak and bodies lie strewn all over still. In the worst hit country, Mozambique, who bore the brunt of the storm as it hit the east coast of Africa, 217 have been confirmed dead and 15 000 still need rescuing. As bodies continue to be found the death toll is rising sharply.

About 90% of the infrastructure in the port city Beira has been destroyed. Rescue workers were cut off for days due to bridges being washed away, before being able to reach the town. Some towns are still cut off in Zimbabwe’s high lying region. There is no power and hospitals have run out of fuel. Latrines have been washed away and diseased are sure to take hold. This is already an area rife with Malaria. Without aid and even clean water the people are going to be devastated by coming summer conditions.

In Malawi 1 million people have been affected and 150 000 have sought shelter in camps without sufficient sanitation. At this rate the death toll could surpass 1000, according to the president of Mozambique. The second wave of devastation needs to be stopped which is the disease and starvation which is about to hit. Such natural disasters due to so-called climate change were predicted as temperatures change. Cyclones are starting to come further south than usual and therefore seldom before seen events may become more common. It’s either that or Geoengineering or the Grand Solar Minimum. All of which are fascinating and worthwhile investigating.

Meanwhile in my own country of South Africa, the entire nation’s electric grid is shut down every day for 5 hours, divided into two equal parts every day, one in the morning and one in the evening. This is partly due to the hydro-electric dams and systems in Mozambique the normally supply us being damaged by the cyclone. You can’t imagine the frustration, especially coming from a first world country, of having to stop your daily activity, productivity, work or whatever, for 2.5 hours at a time morning and evening. For me it’s not a problem with my solar panel and minimalist babaji lifestyle, but businesses are taking strain. This could increase the influx of climate refugees into South Africa to join the already thousands of economic migrants that come seeking work in the economic hub of the south part of the continent.

This disaster is going to take months to repair and may set the economies of all four countries back significantly, even into recession status. Schooling will be set back a year or more too and entire generations will be impaired in their futures, perhaps losing a valuable year of their lives. Rescue teams will continue going into disaster-hit areas this week to evacuate people to camps. Their entire homes and livelihoods have been washed away and they are the new addition to the biggest and fastest growing tribe on the planet today – the economic-, war- or climate-refugee.

Ref:
https://www.enca.com/news/cyclone-idai-survivors-risk-second-wave-loss-disease-threat
Pic: free unsplash

How the collapse of Zimbabwe – my neighbouring country – is spilling over into my back yard and soon it might be yours

Zimbabwe is on the brink of collapse and civil war…again.  

 In the past few days, the price of petrol/gasoline has gone from ZAR19 ($1.40) to ZAR45 ($3.30) overnight. People have taken to the streets in all major cities of the crippled country. Simultaneously all civil servants have received a 10% salary increase, only enraging the rest of the nation still further. The fire has been lit. The powder keg is about to blow and the fallout is coming my way. Is Zimbabwe the canary in the African coal mine?  

Is this another Venezuela happening on my doorstep as I write this? 

And how many countries have to collapse into civil war for the world to realize that this is starting to look like the new norm on planet Earth, and it’s coming soon to a country near you? You may not even hear of it as it crumbles. South African journalists have been thrown out of Zimbabwe, deported as the masses took to the streets this week. And protest was the natural intention but “rogue elements” hijacked the fuel hike protest, engaged in fist fights with the police, robbing them of their guns. Then the army was sent in and some of them have been robbed of their guns too. And that was day 1.   

On day 2 the minister of State Security shut down the internet. 

Soon after that the Zimbabwe High Court reversed the shutdown fortunately, citing it as unconstitutional. There may be hope. Nevertheless, looting has occurred in Bulawayo, one of the biggest cities in the once flourishing bread basket of southern Africa. Soldiers are now on the streets of the capital Harare, gunshots have been heard in three cities so far. And this is months after the previous tyrant Robert Mugabe was overthrown by peaceful coup. He languishes in a mansion somewhere with full immunity, and a condo in Dubai…or two, living off stolen diamond money from his country’s mines, the people’s mines.   

This may be no more than a civil war in a land far far away from you, but many Zimbabweans are currently flooding over my border undocumented, fleeing the meltdown. Estimates say there are already 2-5 million Zimbabwean refugees here. And the crisis could well be about to spill over still further into my back yard if ignored by my government and the world. The excessive use of force by the government is nothing new. That kleptocratic regime can act with impunity if there is an internet blackout.   

South African president Ramaphosa has been urged to intervene by both main opposition parties here, otherwise they have threatened to go to the UN. Immigrant traffic needs to at least be managed. Bail out the Zimbabweans or the border will be flooded, they say. The world has put sanctions on Zimbabwe, and as a result the cost of living has escalated beyond the ability of locals to survive. Public transport has risen from $0.50 to $2.50 overnight, fueled by the fuel hike. Locals have fled to South Africa seeking shelter of the social services available here. However, xenophobia is on the rise as my compatriots feel pressured for jobs, taking out there frustrations on anyone from another African country further north, be it Somalia, Zimbabwe or Malawi. (They can’t seem to handle the Nigerians though.)     

The president of Zimbabwe, Edison by name, has promised his people the world but delivered nothing. He once said the voice of his people is the voice of God, but today he is brutally cracking down on the very people voicing their distress at the fuel price hike. You can tell a politician is lying when his lips are moving. Let this be a warning to the rest of the planet. Venezuela was just the start of this next leg of the world revolution. Zimbabwe is the next country to explode into civil war. 

Whether incited by America or China or the NWO behind them, or not, one thing is certain, your country could be next, or the one next door to you….followed by yours…and mine. It’s happening folks, the revolution has begun. Global civil war has begun, led by the Yellow Vests in France. The people have reached breaking point, and now heads are starting to roll. Let’s see how far they roll. They have already reached my back yard, and soon it will be yours, so take this as an early warning, get ready before it’s your back yard too.