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Diary tells of refugee's hopes for the future
Francis Hweshe, Independent Online
November 17, 2007

http://www.int.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=139&art_id=vn20071117094346500C356289

Desperation at the economic situation in Zimbabwe and the dream of a better life in South Africa were the driving concerns of Adonis Musati, the refugee who died, possibly of hunger, on the doorstep of the Refugee Reception Centre in Cape Town two weeks ago.

Musati's diary contains his notes about the spiralling inflation in Zimbabwe, his hopes for helping his family and his dreams of becoming a priest.

This week Musati's grandmother and cousin travelled to Cape Town from Sasolburg, where they had been staying, to view his body after they were told of the death by his twin brother in Zimbabwe, who had learnt about it on the internet.

Musati's diary, which contains entries up until November 1, the day before he died, is a small green book containing appointments, plans and short personal scribblings.

It was made available to West Cape News by Musati's grandmother, Maria Sithole, and cousin, Ivy Dhliwayo, who were given his personal effects in a plastic bag this week. His other possessions were a Bible and a change of clothing.

The diary contains entries about the monstrously high inflation rate in Zimbabwe, which Musati predicted would reach 100 000 percent before the end of the year.

His sense of desperation is evident from rough notes which compare his salary of Z$2,9-million as a policeman with the poverty datum line of Z$8,5-million.

In an unrelated entry written immediately afterwards, he misquoted Shakespeare: "Some were born great; some had greatness thrust upon them while others achieve greatness."

Another entry states that the thought of running away from hunger and achieving greatness in South Africa had led to him to dub his journey the "great trek".

Having left Zimbabwe in April, he stopped briefly in Johannesburg, where his diary reflects his desire to learn Tswana.

Although the spelling was wrong, he listed a number of Tswana words: "Kebukaii - How much; Kebathla - I want; Tsiga - Take; Hakibathli - I don't want; Twaraa - Hold; Takwane - Come; Itla - come; Iha u fedze - Eat and finish; Kithla fonela - I will call you; Hankurathi - I don't love you; Sikhobo - ugly."

It is clear from the diary that he had wanted to overcome poverty and help his family back home by getting asylum papers.

In an entry for October 9 he wrote about buying a car, the latest computer or a video camera.

The diary also points to the difficulties he experienced. "We will cross the bridge when we get there," he wrote on October 26, although it is not clear what he was referring to.

Musati's diary shows that he planned to become a pastor for a Zimbabwean church organisation, and it contains several biblical quotes.

"For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways, my ways, declares the Lord. As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts," he writes in a quote from Isiah.

A friend, now living in Cape Town, who heard about Musati's death in the media, and came to convey his condolences to Dhliwayo and Sithole, said he remembered going to church with Musati when they were children. "He was very prayerful," he said, declining to be named.

Sithole and Dhliwayo viewed Musati's body at the Salt River mortuary, where it is being kept.

Interviewed this week, Dhliwayo and Sithole were shocked by their kinsman's death. They said he was born in Chiredzi in Masvingo province and had spent time in the police force.

Dhliwayo said the family was poor and would not be able to afford the R22 000 required to transport the body to Zimbabwe.

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