Today in History: 1883 The last quagga dies in captivity at the Natura Artis Magistra zoo in Amsterdam

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On the 12th of August 1883, the last Quagga died. It was not immediately recognized, as the mare expired, that she was the last of her kind. Although the name quagga refers specifically to an animal that looked like a common zebra that had run out of stripes on its hindquarter, it was often used, especially by Afrikaans speakers, to refer to any zebra.

As a result of this generalization, no one realized the significance of her death. It was as simple as that.

Like other animal species that disappeared in Africa during the 19th century, the quagga was hunted to extinction. It was the age of the great white hunter, when privileged Europeans with too much time on their hands and too much firepower at their disposal roamed Africa, killing indiscriminately.

Settlers in the new continent also hunted them. The colonials considered the quagga a pest, because it vied with their cattle for grazing land. Additionally, the meat was edible, and the hides were exported to the leather industry, making the quagga commercially viable.

While some accounts maintain that the quagga was deliberately exterminated, this does not appear to have been the case.

The hide of the last quagga, the one that had lived at the Amsterdam Zoo since 1867, is among 23 still extant. Her skull is also preserved. With the exception of one specimen in Cape Town and another in Kazan, the hides are scattered throughout Europe in museums.

Extinction means forever, but in the quagga’s case there is hope for resurrecting a close approximation to the original, if not the original itself. Since 1987, a breeding project has been under way in South Africa to produce an animal with the physical characteristics of the quagga, particularly its yellowish-brown color and the unusual striping pattern.

This is only possible because of DNA testing, which showed that the quagga was not a distinct zebra species as once believed, but one of several subspecies of Plains zebra. Through selective breeding of these close relatives, the project has succeeded in producing animals that closely resemble the original quagga.

Source: Quaggaproject.org

*Image: The Quahkah, by Samuel Dani

The next step for Zimbabwe

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I am curious as to how bad things need to get in Zimbabwe before something changes. The answer to this question is probably infinite. Nothing is going to change. Everyone is sitting around complaining and waiting. Everyone still in Zimbabwe and those on the outside message each other on WhatsApp about how bad things are, how terrible things are, the latest disaster and the latest exchange rate.

I am sure that everyone who either lives in Zimbabwe or has family still there is aware of what is going on but I will paint a brief picture. I saw a message the other day from Cathy Buckle. Civil servants are earning less than US$1 a day in an economy where a loaf of bread is around US$1.14 and a litre of milk is US$2.  Police officers are collapsing at work from hunger. They are being evicted because they don’t earn enough money to pay their rent.

Health Care

Zimbabwean nurses are being evicted from their hospital accommodation. This is in response to attempts by Parirenyatwa Hospital management to intimidate them through eviction notices. The health professionals are being victimised for joining a strike which began last week.

And while this is happening, the Minister of Health has been fired for being involved in a scam of US$60 million.  “Zimbabwean Health Minister Dr. Obadiah Moyo has been fired over alleged involvement in the $60 million COVID-19 scandal that also roped in President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s family.”

I briefly mentioned Covid but quite frankly, this is an impending disaster on a mass scale. I spoke to a friend of mine who lives in India a few months ago before Covid19 took hold. He was confident that it would not be an issue. The lock-down was being enforced by police beating people in the street who where in groups or had no reason to not be at home. And yet, look at India now. They have jumped to the third highest number of cases in the world. South Africa’s cases are rapidly increasing and is currently 10th in the world with the number of infections.

From a common sense perspective, how do you think a country with zero health care, no money, underpaid medical staff and an incompetent Government is going to fair in such a crisis?

CIMAS, the primary medical aid organisation in Zimbabwe, basically has a licence to print money. The Government banned the use of the US dollar and yet you can only pay CIMAS in US dollars. Prices change every month. There are huge shortfalls that need to be paid if you need an operation that CIMAS doesn’t fully cover. To the tune of over US$1000 depending on the operation required. So CIMAS pays for the operation but then you have to pay the doctor, anaesthetist, nurse all in US dollars.

If I am honest, I can’t actually blame them because they don’t get paid by our illustrious Government so how else will they survive? I literally have an invoice from a doctor in Zimbabwe with the amount in ZWL. And then in pencil, at the bottom of the invoice, is written + 100USD.

The problem I find in Zimbabwe where it is the survival of the fittest and wealthiest is that the people do not bond together. They fight against each other to survive. The people of Zimbabwe do not unite to fight the common threat which is Zanu PF.

CIMAS Offices in Borrowdale Park

Zimbabwe Economy

Things have got progressively worse in Zimbabwe until it reached it’s zenith in 2008. In June 2008 the annual rate of price growth was 11.2 million percent. The worst of the inflation occurred in later in 2008, leading to the abandonment of the Zimbabwe dollar. The peak month of hyperinflation occurred in mid-November 2008 with a rate estimated at 79,600,000,000% per month. This resulted is US$1 becoming equivalent to the staggering sum of Z$2,621,984,228. You really can’t comprehend these kind of figures. Prices in the shop changing multiple times during the day. Accounts software could not handle staff being paid over a trillion Zimbabwe dollars a month.

And right now, Zimbabwe is heading back down this road. The Zimbabwe dollar was rebooted not so long ago and started its new life with an apparent 4 ZWD to 1 US Dollar. It now sits at ZWD$361 to US$1 and is rapidly declining. While it is not at 2008 figures, the signs are there that this will be it’s destination if there is no decisive action.

I do believe that the catalyst for eventual 2008 implosion was the taking of the white owned farms. The reason for taking the farms was not the actual reason they were taken. They were simply taken and given to Government ministers. Had the farms been taken and black farmers empowered to farm them, there would have been a different outcome. However, this didn’t happen. It was simply used an excuse for those in power to grab land.

The black farm workers became instantly unemployed, over two hundred workers per farm, plus all their families. The farms stopped operating which meant no food or tobacco was being produced. No food to feed the people. No tobacco to export to generate revenue for the Country. The bread basket of Africa is now a black hole.

Elections

The elections in Zimbabwe have been a lesson to the rest of the world in how to rig elections. It got to the point that Zanu PF didn’t even bother to rig the elections anymore because it doesn’t actually matter who wins on paper, Zanu PF remain in power. And you know why? Simply because no one will do anything about it. No one within Zimbabwe and nor the rest of the world. Mugabe simply did as he pleased and now so does his replacement, President Mnangagwa. The sanctions imposed by other countries really only hurt the people and not the Government. This is the only action that seems to be taken.

The facts are that Zanu PF has ruled with corruption and brutality since 1980.  It is in it’s culture. They don’t know any other way to try and run a country. They certainly have no skills, morals or ethics. They care only for themselves and building immense wealth while starving and abusing their people.  Being in power is about wielding that power and making money. The buying of vehicles ahead of food and medicine confirms that Zimbabwe is being run by clueless people.  But we should not be surprised at all. Remember, Zanu PF has at its leadership core three people accused of having a hand in the 1983-87 Gukurahundi massacres.

Recent reports reveal that at least 50 human rights activists and opposition politicians have been abducted and tortured since President Emmerson Mnangagwa won a controversial election in July 2018, but to date, no one has been arrested for the offences.  Apparently, the Foreign Affairs minister said that government was committed to upholding human rights as seen by the recent arrest of six police officers in Bulawayo accused of assaulting Cowdray Park sisters Nokuthula and Ntombizodwa Mpofu.

Three MDC Alliance activists claimed that they were arrested at a roadblock before being abducted at Harare Central Police Station by State security agents, who went on to dump them in Bindura after subjecting them to torture and sexual abuse. Zimbabwe is not a good place to speak out. Zanu PF said the incident was made up.

Anyone who does stand up and protest suddenly dies in a car accident because a black dog jumped out onto the road in the middle of the night. The driver obviously had no injuries. Henry Olongo, the Zimbabwe cricketer has to flee in 2003 for fear of being murdered by Mugabe’s death squad.

 

What’s next?

I have often told the story that when I was 12 years old living in Zimbabwe that I knew then that things where never going to change. My dad constantly said things would suddenly change and countries where lined up to send in aid into Zimbabwe once Mugabe had been disposed. However, I saw no one taking action and I knew it would only change if I did something personally. I would have to somehow get rid of Mugabe and free the Zimbabwe people.

And here we are, 32 years later and the only thing that has changed is things have become worse beyond comprehension and we have a clueless replacement for Robert Mugabe. I believe that people need to earn respect and be rewarded for their achievements. The only respect Zanu PF get is out of fear of being killed for speaking up.

If a dog had to live in this kind of society, you would put it down as it would be too cruel. And yet the Zimbabwe people have had to live like this for over 20 years now. In fact, back in 1998 I worked at CF Tulley in the configuration department. We would configure new computers before they were sent out to customers. There were about four of us I think, including a black guy. Apart from being a great guy, I will never forget that even back then and even though he had a good job, he could only afford to eat once a day. As I said, things have become incomprehensibly worse since then.

My hesitation for standing up apart from the obvious has always been the safety of my parents. However, I genuinely don’t how they will survive in such an environment for another twenty years. How long do I wait before I stand up and say enough is enough. How long do you wait before you stand up and say enough is enough. We fear death but we should really fear life in such a hell hole under an oppressive Government while the rest of the world pretends everything is fine and basically doesn’t care. There are no human rights in Zimbabwe, there is no law.

We talk about BLACK LIVES MATTER! What an absolute joke. There is an entire country of black people suffering beyond measure, no food, no jobs, living in fear. Why don’t all these famous black people look at Africa and take some action rather than complaining that not enough black people hold board positions. If you think you have it tough or you are suffering, try live a day in the life of a black Zimbabwean.

So here I am. I am willing to stand up. I will be the next Zimbabwe president if that’s what it takes. If I get enough support then I will do this. I don’t do this out of ego, I don’t do this to make money, I do this because someone needs to. I am not saying I am the best person for the job but I do know that my Jack Russell could do a better job of running the Zimbabwe Government that it’s current inhabitants. Who will join me? How do we achieve this? I don’t know if Zimbabwe will accept a white president but I do know that we can’t do nothing.

Now is the time to we save the lives of millions of people and do some real good in this world. The Zimbabwe people deserve better, they have suffered for long enough. They are hungry and need to be fed, the need to feel safe, they need to earn a living, they need education and they need health care.

Finally

And just in case you think this is all a little over dramatic, imagine the little girl in the picture below is your child. This is in Zimbabwe, this is the daily life of poor and deprived kids in 2020.‬ ‪These are the direct consequences of ZANU PF LOOTING of public funds that are meant for social welfare!‬ ‪Little kids are robbed of their childhood, and have to work for survival at 3 years of age!‬

‪Over US$100million was LOOTED at NSSA by ZANU PF heavyweights who bought houses in South Africa, Dubai and London. Meanwhile back home the correct beneficiaries of those looted funds are crashing stones for a living at the age of 3.