Human Rights Now! Concert: Harare 1988 - Part 2

Meikles Hotel, Harare Credit

Yesterday I wrote (Part 1) about travelling to the 1988 Amnesty International Human Rights Now! concert in Harare, Zimbabwe. Today the trip continues from the Beit Bridge border post.

Zimbabwe

Having got though border control, we were seriously in need of a drink. The pub at the Lion & Elephant, a few minutes outside Biet Bridge, beckoned. We ordered various brands of beer, but received generic, scratched bottles with no labels. The waiter was able to soothe our concerns by pointing out that the beer could be identified by the bottle cap. The beer was delicious.

The trip to Harare was uneventful except for the frequent roadblocks by armed police/military. The mood at these roadblocks was unlike the usual intimidating and aggressive ones I'd previously or subsequently experienced. There were a lot of smiles and cheery greetings, a mood that generally pervaded the country.

The initial exuberance and optimism that followed Zimbabwean independence in 1980 had given way to fear and despair. Zimbabwe had experienced great political upheavals characterised by extreme violence. The various factions of the liberation struggle, ZAPU and ZANU, were at war with one another. By late 1987, at least 20,000 civilians had been murdered in an opposition area - with the aid of a North Korean-trained brigade, known as Gukurahundi. Fighting only ceased in December 1987.

South African white people were largely unwelcome at this time, and tourism generally ground to a halt.

So you can imagine the sense of excitement when in October 1988 a flood of 20,000 mainly-white South Africans entered into this inhospitable environment.

Harare

We got to Harare that afternoon - Thursday, the day before the concert. The place was already hopping. Harare looked shiny and clean and everyone looked happy.

We were generously hosted by my friend Doug's parents in the beautiful suburbs of Harare. I say generously because as the evening and night wore on, more and more people pitched up, joining us at the never-ending braai. The final count was 22 people!

In the morning we visited the Meikles Hotel, since we'd heard that many of the artists were staying there. As we walked into the lobby we brushed past Tracy Chapman who looked very unassuming and happy. The whole lobby/bar area was crowded with what looked like musicians and groupies. While we were sitting drinking beer, we noticed Sting arrive - all sweaty in his tennis outfit. My friend Bruce approached him with the only piece of paper he could find to get a signature: a twenty South African Rand note. Sting was deep in conversation with someone else, so he just took the piece of paper without even looking at Bruce. But when he saw the note he asked where he was from. When told, "South Africa", he wrote "Stop aparthied" (sic) on the note.

Bruce kept the note for years, tucked into the cover of a Sting album. When he got rid of his thousands of vinyl records, the twenty Rand note went with them and is lost forever.

Yes, we'll finally get to the concert in Part 3.