By granting the Zimbabwe Newspaper Group and known ZANU (PF) supporters broadcasting licenses the already compromised Broadcasting Authority of Zimbabwe has shown its patronage and the voice it wants  amplified.

The Tafataona Mahoso led BAZ wants ZANU (PF) to have an amplified voice when the country goes to elections.  The Zimbabwe Newspaper Group which is directly controlled by ZANU (PF) through its Information Minister Webster Shamu and George Charamba, who is Mugabe’s spokesperson, will never bring a diverse voice which critics bad governance or corruption.

Zimpapers continues to propagate hate speech in favour of ZANU(PF) so whose voice is really going to be heard from such a person’s radio station?

Is it not the GNU through the GPA which called for the invitation of exiled radio stations to come and broadcast from within the country? Radio VOP was denied an operating license, citing its incapacity to broadcast.  What a load of hogwash, they have been broadcasting on shortwave for a long time already.

Where are other leaders of the GPA when ZANU(PF) blatantly breaches the pact they signed together?

As the country stepped into the New Year, Zimbabweans look with frustration at the unchanging media landscape in the country.  For long they have waited for an alternative to ZBC and when it become apparent that the powers that be where not willing to let go their stronghold on the media people turned to satellite receivers.

When politicians declared  broadcasting reforms were imperative, the reforms put in place actually threw the country back into the stone age.  Zanu PF returned its monopoly to itself.

Supa Mandiwanzira who got a license through his company, AB Communications,  will be running ’ Zi Radio.  The man is a prospective Zanu PF candidate for Nyanga and is also related to first lady Grace Mugabe.  His name in Zimbabwe is synonymous with sycophantic reporting and he was fired from SABC over his involvement in sting journalism when Bishop Pius was set up by Supa’s team.

The second successful applicant for a broadcasting license is for Zimpapers’ Talk Radio.  As expected, Dr Paul Chimedza,  Zimpapers Board chairman is also said to be interested in standing for Zanu PF in Gutu South to fill the vacancy left by the death of Eliphas Mukonoweshuro.

Yet another Zimpapers Board member Munyaradzi Kereke is said to be interested in standing for ZanuPf, come next election,  in Bikita West.

ZBC, Zi Radio, Zimpapers talk radio – are all a part of Zanu broadcasting – such is the reformed broadcasting in Zimbabwe.  Media reforms are another example of a non event, nobody watches or listens to ZBC anymore and chances are high that nobody will listen to the new players.

There is a special day for broadcasting world wide but that day is far from dawning on Zimbabweans who now know more of South African events than the local ones.

If you hear of a Political Leader trying to gain popularity through music it means there is something wrong with him or his party.

This is no laughing matter and one just needs to drive around the capital City of Harare and bear witness to this new phenomenon.  It all started when ZANU PF, through the Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation, ZBC’s radio and television started to continuously air songs of praise to Robert Mugabe, claiming him as a Messiah, God given, the Lion of the West.  Yet so many ordinary Zimbabweans cannot afford a meal a day.

But if Mugabe has been the Zimbabwean  “messiah”,  the best in his leadership, why does he need to look for popularity through music or jingles.  One does not need to be a rocket scientist to know that the man has overstayed in office and has become commoner.  If he was clever enough, he could have read the Wikleaks correctly and  see the truth from his own trusted lieutenant s who feel that he has gone past his “best before” long back and it is time for him to go peacefully.

Driving around the Harare with your radio on,  the evidence is there, every car passing you and overtaking,  you  hear that the music that is being played in the car is coming from cd’s, not a single one will be listening to our one and only state owned radio station.

Some drivers will say the “look east policy” has some fruits as most Zimbabweans are now driving second hand Japanese cars that are FM user friendly, so they can pick up a multitude of stations, they are I pod friendly and have great cd players.   They never have to listen to the jingles again.

“Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.” – United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Not long ago, a young friend of mine went walking around a quiet upscale neighborhood with a video camera, filming the area, capturing images of insects in the grass, a newspaper sign and the people lazing about. He was hardly engaged in anything dangerous or political. But within five minutes, the police had rounded him up and threatened to charge him with the dastardly crime of Practicing Journalism without a License. “After all,” the officer in charge said, “there’s nowhere in the world that you can just go out and photograph things!”

The officer’s ignorance was not surprising since he had clearly never been anywhere else in the world. But, in truth, very few countries prevent ordinary citizens from wandering around filming or journalists from doing their jobs without the permission and control of the authorities. Zimbabwe is on a short distinguished list of nations that includes Yemen, Sudan, China, and North Korea.

That’s not the only abnormality in Zimbabwe’s media landscape. Little about it conforms to the way things are done across the globe – or to global or African standards.

In Zimbabwe, government keeps tight control over who can run a media outlet and who can report for it. A Zimbabwean might be able to move to the United States, to South Africa or to England and open a newspaper. But back home, he can’t do so without a license from the Media Commission, which is appointed by the Minister of Information in consultation with the president, and he can only employ journalists they agree to license. He cannot have any shareholders who live in any other country, even if they are Zimbabwean. And his license can be taken away even more easily than it was granted. As a result, the print sector is dominated by ZimPapers, largely owned by the Mass Media Trust, which is controlled by Government.

Government exercises even greater control over the airwaves – radio and television stations – which has left the country at the mercy of ZBC’s single television and four radio stations. No other radio or television station can be established without a license from the Broadcasting Authority of Zimbabwe, the BAZ, whose members are appointed by the Minister of Information in consultation with the President. The regulations bar any station from being owned by a non-resident Zimbabwean, from employing non-Zimbabweans, receiving any funds from overseas, or using any transmitter other than that of the government-owned TransMedia.

Even with licenses and registrations, the media have a hard time doing their job. Although according to the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act, Zimbabwean journalists have the right to see the sort of information held by public bodies that they need to do their work, they are crippled by a host of exceptions. They can’t see Cabinet documents, draft legislation, or recommendations provided to public bodies if officials declare that their publication might affect relations between different levels of government or harm the economic interest of the public body. And any public body can keep its records secret if the people in charge deems releasing them to be “not in the public interest.”

And even with all the correct information, journalists still can’t really work to international standards. While the Constitution provides for freedom of speech and of the press, journalists can be charged with “criminal defamation” if they publish material deemed harmful to individuals. If convicted, they face prison, fines and suspension of their licenses. If they publish things deemed prejudicial to the state or the economy, deemed to undermine public confidence in law enforcement, to reflect negatively on Parliament, or to be insulting to or engendering feelings of hostility toward the President, they face up to 20 years in jail.

What does all of this mean in practical terms?

• Zimbabwe has very few newspapers for such a large and literate country because for many years, the Media Commission simply would not license any but the government press. For a number of years, the only independent newspapers operating were the Standard, the Independent, and the Financial Gazette. In May 2010, after the establishment of the GNU, were four new newspapers licensed, including the Daily News, which had been banned in 2003.
• Zimbabweans have had to turn to satellites for alternatives to ZBC and its radio station because BAZ refused to accept any applications for licenses. Only in May 2011, did they request applications, and out of the 14 received, they issued only two, to government-controlled ZimPapers and the other to a private company closely aligned to ZANU-PF.
• Zimbabwe has no community radio stations that reflect the voices of ordinary people. The BAZ has never accepted licenses for such stations, and the commercial licenses for which stations can compete cost more than $50,000.
• If a journalist reports that the President takes an Air Zimbabwe plane out of normal service for a trip of his own, he can be arrested and charged with criminal defamation, as three reporters for the Zimbabwe Independent were in January 2004.
• If a journalist reports that the Minister of Local Government bragged at his wealth at a meeting, he can be detained even if he has a recording of the meeting, as a reporter from the Daily News was in December 2011.
• If a newspaper runs a story warning the public about a new health insurance scheme on the brink of financial collapse, the reporter and editor can be arrested if the company’s founder complains – not that the information is incorrect but that it was “stolen.” This actually happened to staff members of The Standard in November 2011.
• Month after month, journalists are harassed – for reporting on the firing of a senior police official for allegedly playing MDC songs on his cell phone, or the arrest of an MDC Minister of State for insulting the president, for in a clear attempt to intimidate them from doing their job. Their offices have been searched, robbed and burned, and they have been physically attacked
• Accessing information from government is virtually impossible. The Central Statistics Office refused a reporters’ request for the full breakdown of the population from 2002. When journalists request information about Cabinet meetings, they are told that disclosing the information is prejudicial to the State. And most times, such requests simply go unanswered. What are they trying to hide?
• Government exercises enormous control over what Zimbabweans know and hear since neither ZBC nor the newspapers published by Zimpapers exercises any degree of impartiality, as required by their status as “public” media. The appointment of their editors is subject to the approval of the Minister of Information and the President. Their motto seems to be: What Government, its leaders and ZANU-PF do it good; what the MDC and opposition parties do is bad.
• The result: The citizens have no way of knowing what is going on in their government.

Outside of the small sphere of countries where government keeps a tight lid on the media to keep the truth from its people, this simply isn’t normal, even in Africa In the West African nation of Mail, for example, the media works with almost no restrictions. Journalists – even foreign journalists – don’t need to seek licenses, and there are virtually no restrictions on launching of media outlets. So more than 300 private FM radio stations operate in the country, and about 50 newspapers and periodicals. For almost two decades, no Malian journalist has been arrested or harassed by government although media outlets have pressed for regular accountability from government. And during elections, a special commission mandated by the constitution guarantees that all political parties have equal access to government-controlled media.

Until the 1990s, things in Ghana weren’t so different from Zimbabwe. Now, that has changed dramatically. If you want to open a newspaper, you simply register its title and begin publishing – and Ghana has more than 200 newspapers and journals and 150 FM radio stations airing ideas and information across the country.

In 1993, Ghana separated its state-owned media enterprises – the equivalent of ZBC, the Herald, and the Chronicle  – from government control. Now those enterprises are overseen by an 18-member commission whose members are elected from different sectors of society. The commission, in turn, appoints a board of directors and chief executive of each enterprise who, in turn, select editors. The media commission “is a moral instrument,” said Kabral Blay-Amihere, who chairs the commission. “We do not have the power to discipline or sanction anybody.”

Why do so many nations, like Ghana and Mali, allow their media such free rein? On the one hand, they are simply following international standards as embodied in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the Windhoek Declaration on Promoting an Independent and Pluralistic African Press, the African Charter on Human and People’s Rights, and the SADC Protocol on Culture, Information and Sport. In different words, they all say the same thing: A free and democratic society cannot exist without a free, pluralistic, independent and unrestricted media investigating issues of public interest, government policies and operations based on fully-disclosed government information.

More importantly, the leaders and citizens of these countries have come to understand that democracy cannot exist without unrestricted journalism and that good, free journalism means that:

-  The job of journalists is to tell the truth by uncovering corruption, finding proof of lies and inconsistencies by the powerful, and challenging those in authority to serve the needs of the people. If no one poses such challenge, those in power cannot be held accountable.

- Good journalists and good media outlets, then, upset everyone at one time or another. If they only upset one political party, one tribe or one company, they are not doing their job.

- Protecting the people from the media, as governments say they are doing, really means protecting the secrets of the powerful.

- The moment citizens allow government to regulate the media, they can be sure that government will use that power to prevent citizens from learning the truth.

- Media owned and controlled by government will always serve government, not the people.

-  Preventing journalists from gaining access to the information essential to an understanding of what government is doing means that government does not want to allow its citizens to know what is going on.

- The media must represent the diverse points of view of the population to ensure that the interests and perspectives of the minority are not suppressed by the majority.

-  Turning journalists into criminals for reporting what they know or for doing their jobs criminalizes truth-telling.

All of this means that a free press isn’t always comfortable, especially for the rich and powerful. It can cause embarrassment to members of a government, lead to the jailing of corporate directors, and upset a lot of people. But without it, citizens cannot gain the information they to know who is serving them and who is not; who is cheating them, and who is not; and who is pretending to be something they are not. Without this information, how can citizens know how to vote? What dangers really face them? Who has solutions that they might embrace? Free media serve as the public’s eyes and ears into the inner workings of the government and other institutions. Without such a media, the citizenry has no way to hold those in power accountable.

So, how should the Zimbabwean government control the media? It shouldn’t. It is not the media that needs to be controlled but government – to guarantee that it doesn’t limit freedom of expression, impose censorship, hide information from the public, or punish journalists for telling the truth. The only media-specific laws necessary in a democracy are ones that prevent government from doing so and that protect public’s right to information, to a clear view of government decision-making processes, and to diverse opinions.

What about registration of newspapers and licensing of journalists? What’s the point of either other than to give government more power? Print media should require no registration or licensing. Anyone with the money and inclination to start up a newspaper or magazine should be free to do so – and suffer the financial loss if it produces out a poor product. And while the airwaves need some sort of control, regulation must be in the hands of an independent agency that allocates frequencies to broadcasters in an equitable manner and without charging exorbitant fees that limit access to the already powerful.

Journalists should not need licenses to practice their craft. If they do their jobs poorly, they should be fired by their editors or sanctioned by their peers. Certainly they should not be free to defame and spread lies about people. But neither the truth nor clearly stated opinion can ever be defamatory, and real defamation – knowingly spreading vicious lies that harm an individual – should be handled in civil court since criminalizing the work of journalists makes no sense in a free society.  Public officials are not above the law or above criticism. Indeed, as public servants, they should be afforded no special protection against defamation. In fact, the burden of proof that a public servant has been defamed needs to be extreme high to ensure that their work is carefully scrutinized for the general good.

Government agencies must be required to disclose full information about their activities to the public. If a journalist – or any citizen – requests details about the number of teachers in a school, the amount of money spent on a new road, the qualifications of an appointee, the report of a commission, or an internal investigation into corruption, the law must require government to provide it. Exceptions should only be made when the potential harm of such disclosure clearly outweighs the public benefit from open access, not when the information might embarrass a public servant or agency, or because it simply isn’t convenient.

Turning ZBC and Zimpapers, both controlled by government, into responsible, impartial media outlets that serve the public not the rulers or the ruling party is a major challenge. They cannot continue to function as the mouthpiece of whoever is in power; that undercuts their role, which is to protect the interests of the public against abuse by the powerful. So they need an abrupt and dramatic break with the past in order to reestablish their credibility.

If they are to remain in the hands of government, a hefty firewall must be established that will insulate media operations from political influence. But doing so has proven extremely difficult even in countries that have created independent boards representing diverse sectors of society to control their public media. Government ownership has slopped over into editorial meddling, and few have succeeded in finding any way to protect government-owned newspapers and broadcast outlets fully political interference. Some countries have opted instead for privatization, but that is a perilous course since it delivers a major chunk of the media into the hands of a single private interest.

Some suggest that Zimbabwe might first reform the Mass Media Trust to protect it from politics in some fashion and that, as a further guarantee of impartiality, editorial control over each of its newspapers be given either to journalists’ unions or to journalism departments at various universities, which would be required to maintain their own ethnically and politically diverse boards. But no such reform can be made without political will, on all sides, to divorce the media from control by the powerful.

For too long, the Government of Zimbabwe has followed the tradition set by the government of Rhodesia, which treated the media as a threat to national security and journalists as potential criminals bent on destabilizing the nation.

Zimbabwean journalists are free to fly to the United States or Europe to do their work. They can report, film and write without asking for government permission. If a wealthy Zimbabwean wants to open a radio station or a newspaper in London or Sydney, he or she is free to do so. And if a Zimbabwean journalist can find a job with a media outlet in New York or Johannesburg, he can report without interference. They are not viewed as enemies attempting to undermine the State. They are part of a fabric of diverse voices that allow the citizens of open democracies to exercise choice.

Yet at home, those same journalists or media owners are restricted no matter where they turn. They need government permission to operate. They are regularly picked up by the police, held in detention for hours without charge, and often subjected to criminal proceedings for reporting the truth. With few independent media outlets licensed and so many journalists terrified into self-censorship, the Zimbabwean public is left at the mercy of government-controlled newspapers, radio and television, which report only what those in power want the people to hear.

In reaction, the independent media have compensated – perhaps overcompensated – in the opposite political direction, squeezing the citizenry between competing views of reality that leave virtually everyone befuddled as to what is really going on. Such polarization has become the new Zimbabwean norm, a norm to which generations of journalists, media managers, readers and viewers have become accustomed.

Norms, like other human habits, don’t change easily. Journalists don’t “unlearn” self-censorship. Politicians and bureaucrats who have long enjoyed the immunity of a cowed and biased media are unlikely to give up that luxury by freely handing over potentially embarrassing information and accepting criticism with aplomb. Political activists who have long felt free to harass and abuse journalists and plant blatantly false stories will not cease their attacks from one day to the next. And a citizenry that has never enjoyed the advantages of honest and open reporting cannot be expected to understand its advantages – and thus to tolerate its disadvantages – over night.

Indeed, reports from across the country suggest that many Zimbabweans have no understanding of the importance of an open and critical media, or that they simply disapprove of it.  At constitution outreach meetings in Mashonaland West, villagers expressed support for banning all private media and giving government control over all newspapers and television stations. At a meeting in Makonde, villagers expressed support for life imprisonment, if not the death penalty, for negative reporting about Zimbabwe.

“The media needs to be respectful of people in authority,” said a resident of rural Matabeleland. “If they are not, we’ll fall into chaos.”

A Bulawayan argued, “Journalists shouldn’t be allowed to write whatever they want about people, even if it is true. It’s against our culture.”

Firmly establishing free media in Zimbabwe, then, isn’t just a matter of rewriting laws. It demands a process of education of the people as well as of those in power. Undoing both the Rhodesian and Zimbabwean “norms” will be a long and often painful process of changing the firmly-established habits of every element of an entire nation.

There was a circus in Bulawayo. The colors and the madness were just too much for the usually laid back city.

It’s a comedy with the theme elections that was set and acted by people who have no regard for an election outcome.

Yet they want an election, people only ask why?

President Robert Mugabe, the 87 year old strongman who is physically frail and perpetually ill will for the 8th time represent Zanu PF in a potentially grueling election and will become the oldest man in the history of mankind to contest for the highest office.  An old friend of mine said to me recently that only death will save the nation from Mugabe and prevent his party from dying a natural death.

Maybe I should have been angry, but I was amused when Mugabe said at the Bulawayo conference that “we actually cheated on history.”  Without flinching, he told the nation that he and many more in the Government of National Unity (GNU) cheated their way into the Inclusive Government.

It’s a fact that Mugabe lost the legitimate March2008 election to Morgan Tsvangirai, and it was somewhat ironic that Mugabe now claims that those who were rejected by the people should not be in government.  He was rejected and yet he is not only in government but is the executive president.

There is no indication on the ground that Zanu PF could win a free and fair poll, even it was set for 2012.  Apart from for the violent shenanigans of the para-military group Chipangano who are angels of violence, Zanu PF has no better campaign method.

Zimbabweans, the majority of whom did not benefit from the land reform programme, now know that they will never benefit from indigenisation.

It is funny Zanu PF cannot see the obvious, there are now a spent force with no political capital to lure voters.

I was shocked and embarrassed to learn from the report produced by Zimbabwe Peace Project, Zimbabwe Election Support Network and Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights, that only 21% of  Zimbabwe’s youth attended the Constitutional Parliamentary outreach programmes and yet this piece of paper has a bearing more on their future rather than their political leaders.

Yet, these same young people who show no interest in their long term futures are quick to be used as thugs for 30 pieces of silver.  What is even worse is that in Manicaland province, ZANU PF party youth were used to monitor proceedings and vet participants at outreach venues, where participants were forced to declare their party positions.

In 10 years time, when most of the despots are gone six feet under, these youths will realise that they have been used and dumped like condoms.

To my fellow youths whose lives will be molded by the constitution I ask how can we complain when we were too lazy to participate in issues that have such a huge bearing on us tomorrow?

The referendum is coming and I can see the same youths being used to suit the needs of those who don’t give a damn about us.

What legacy will we hand to our children?

Shame on us

The Global Fund recently announced that it has stopped the application for round 11 of funding for HIV and Aids in Zimbabwe. http://www.radiovop.com/index.php/national-news/7649-zim-aids-funding-suffers-yet-another-big-blow.html We were told they were unable to raise enough funds and that major donors no longer see HIV and AIDS as an emergency compared to issues such as climate change.

In my country people living with HIV and AIDS (PLWHA) are always surprised by the effort, attention and money that is being spent by successful local companies,  such as Delta and Mbada Diamonds,  on sport.  Both companies this year alone poured at least $2million into the soccer league and cup games.

These are not the only two major companies. Econet, Telone, and Old Mutual are performing well on the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange yet you rarely hear about them donating money to HIV and AIDS programmes.

While one might argue that they run wellness workplace programmes for their employees, what about the millions of our dear brothers, sisters and orphans who are affected or infected by  the pandemic directly or indirectly?

These companies are pouring millions of dollars into sports such as cricket, soccer, tennis  and golf but we are quick to rush to international donors looking for funds for our local anti-retroviral therapy (ART) programmes.

Information at hand says that our government is spending at $9 instead of the WHO recommended $34 on health http://www.thezimbabwean.co.uk/life/health/54890/gnu-spends-9person-on-health.html.  So if these corporate companies would pour money into health instead of sport, think how many lives would be saved in our country.

This situation is worsened by the fact that some expanded support programmes are coming to an end in March 2012 and yet we are busy supporting just a few minutes in sport.

Let’s drop this culture of ours, where we tend to wait for disasters to get us moving. We need to fix our health system sooner rather than later or nobody will be healthy enough to play sport!

The death of the Mbuya Nehanda tree in Harare has been viewed with mixed feelings. Some say it means the death of a big person, while others say it means bad luck to the nation, as if Zimbabwe has not had its share of bad luck over the years already.

The tree is believed to be the one from which British settlers hanged Mbuya Nehanda, a Shona spirit medium who was also a hero of the struggle against colonial forces. It was accidentally knocked over by a council driver.

Nehanda was a tribal spirit medium believed to have had immense powers. She is revered by some Zimbabweans as the country’s greatest symbol of black resistance to colonial rule. Since independence from British rule in 1980, Nehanda has been honoured with statues erected in the House of Parliament and main government buildings, and streets have been named after her in all of Zimbabwe’s cities and towns.  Colonial records show she was executed for the 1897 killing of administrator Henry Pollard, known for his brutality toward blacks.

To me, the bigger question is that if the tree was so special in the first place, why was it not protected? If it was so special, why was it not guarded or touted as a tourist attraction?  The lack of care to preserve the tree, simply leaving it in the middle of the road, does not equate with the role that Mbuya Nehanda played during the first Chimurenga.

I feel pity for the poor city council truck driver who accidentally knocked down the sacred tree. It’s not his fault that the area was not protected, but that of the authorities.

The ZANU PF conference was another moment to bring amazement to ordinary people of Zimbabwe.

It all started with the usual noise about the revolutionary party telling the us how the conference is going to pass resolutions that will drive the party and Zimbabweans in the right direction.

I am not going to say much on the resolution but what had me laughing was the announcement by the ZANU PF National Chairman Simon Khaya Moyo that each province is going to be given six tonnes free maize seed, with each delegate taking home 10 kilograms .

The ululating that followed was not for the benefit of the delegate but the person who is going to buy these seeds.

If my memory serves me right when the most popular Governor in the Sub-Saharan Africa, Dr Gideon Gono was distributing free seeds, fertilizer and farming equipment, Zimbabwe experienced the worst period ever in the agric-sector with nothing being produced .

Giving a delegate free seeds does not mean a successful farming season and your guess is as good as mine,  this seed will be sold to some serious subsistence farmers who will then produce for the family only.

And just before the non-event in Bulawayo, Mugabe had also launched his Presidential free farming inputs campaign for his supporters.  Before they even left for Bulawayo it had already been “sold out”.

This clearly shows that ZANU PF will never learn from the past “Gono’s era” and they are living in their own world of foolishness.

Election continue to haunt Zimbabweans to the point that when any politicians mention the “E” word, people start to quiver and shake.  There is no sense of celebration that should come with exercising our democratic rights. This will only change when all politicians change their ways.

Only when democratic reforms are fully instituted, torture camps are dismantled and perpetrators of political violence who continue to roam the streets are incarcerated will we see our grandparents in the rural areas accepting the holding of yet another poll.

As long as headmen continue to get orders from certain political parties, and farming inputs carry on being distributed on partisan basis, with those in charge demanding political party cards from the recipients our families will continue to view elections as a farce.

We have become a nation whose children obey authority, but do not respect it.  How do you respect a police force that openly uses its power to solicit bribes to pay for their Christmas parties?  How do you respect a government that cares more about its own enrichment more than children starving and receiving sub standard educations?

The armed forces still harbour the same evil designs as in all previous elections, because they still have the same fears and interests in Mugabe’s continued tenure of office. There is nothing on the ground to indicate that they will not behave in the same violent manner as they did in 2008. This is worsened by the fact that the GPA proposed reforms of the security structures have not been implemented to date.

The recent survey published by Forbes magazine listing Africa’s richest people http://www.forbes.com/lists/2011/89/africa-billionaires-11_land.html is certainly missing a whole chunk of the continent’s wealthiest.  With all the billions that we read about in the newspapers , how can the magazine leave out the dictators who have stashed their ill gotten wealth around the globe?  Forbes conspicuously leaves out those who have gained their wealth through oppression and corruption.   All Africans know that in reality the richest people in Africa are its leaders, both the past and the present.

The late Nigerian military ruler Sani Abacha, was a billionaire, another was Mobutu Sese Seko, the former president of the Democratic Republic of Congo who amassed a personal fortune estimated by various sources at anywhere between $1 billion and $5 billion.  Nigeria’s former military president, Ibrahim Babangida was worth over 12 billon during his time.

Strive Masiyiwe is the Zimbabwean on the list, but guess what – he isn’t allowed to come home, because those in power see him as such a threat.

But what Forbes didn’t talk about is the fact that every single Zimbabwean was a billionaire not too long ago.  What scares me and every person I have spoken to is the threat of a return to the Zimbabwe $. http://www.thezimbabwemail.com/zimbabwe/9900-gono-plots-return-of-zimbabwe-dollar.html Have those in power gone mad?  Do we really want to go back to the days when our currency was used as toilet paper?  I wonder if all the decadillions of Zim dollars in people’s bank accounts will then have a real value.  Remember when dollarization happened in 2009 everybody lost the fortunes they held in them.

Then they talk of the Go East plan, I wonder how the people in the rural areas will feel when they are told they have to use Yuan, they will think it is some new kind of cellphone or maybe a drink.  My mother will tell me I am a cheater if I go home and give her Yuan to go buy mealie meal.  She will chase me out the house for sure.

Gono must stop talking once and for all.

In the sweltering heat I sat under the huge tree as birds sang dirges of a drought foreseen.

It’s December, supposedly the wettest month of the year in Zimbabwe, we have had a little rain, but the sun has been relentless, wilting the saplings and the tendrils.

I watched a woman with a hoe and a dejected posture looking at her drying crops and I felt sorry for my country women and men who are victims of climate change. But to these rural people climate change is an unknown concept, they do not understand that what is just happening in Zimbabwe is the same throughout the world.

In Seke communal lands, where the communal farmers rely on rainfall, the effects of the blistering sun have been devastating.

The woman with a hoe told me that it has been long since she managed to coax a meaningful harvest. Now she relies on donations in order to eat and feed her family. The remaining fields are now barren with the rest having been swallowed by urban sprawl while the rains are unpredictable.

Trees, long used as the only source of energy have been cut down and today a desert is spreading in the lands that once produced enough to feed huge clans. People like the woman with a hoe are not sure as to whether the Gods are angry with them, they haven’t the science to cope.

There are now hopeless and even if the rains come they will add no value to their dead crops, it’s yet another drought and the government is not doing anything to inform the people about changes in the weather.

Experts met in Durban to find the way forward on climate change but in Seke communal lands it takes more than a meeting in fancy conference halls to stop the inevitable drought.

The sun sees unemployed youths sitting in the shade from dawn to dusk. It sees the elderly gaping at the blues skies with puzzlement.
And the same sun sees the politicians sitting comfortably in air-conditioned houses, offices and cars. They surely do not care.

The decision to more or less permanently leave home is a gut wrenching one. For months on end, families are torn apart as they debate whether to uproot everything and leave or stay with an uncertain future. This was the case for millions of Zimbabweans between 2000 and 2008. Granted, young people had been leaving Matebeleland steadily for years since Ghukurahundi in the early 1980’s, but that was because they did not identify themselves with a future Zimbabwe that had literally ignored genocide. They felt they did not belong and their parents encouraged them to go down to the city of gold where they could easily integrate because of the similarities in language between the Ndebele spoken in the Matebeleland region and Zulu, the most widely spoken national language in South Africa.

From 2000, however, every Zimbabwean had been affected by human rights violations of one form or another. Either they were directly affected or they certainly knew of people that had been. From the violence arising out of land reform, arrests of business people for flouting draconian price control laws, the invasion of factories by war veterans to extort money and the widespread need for the man in the street to move around with a Zanu PF flag or scarf to avoid possible violence all coupled with all the wrong global records for economic disintegration, the reasons for leaving the country far outweighed the reasons to stay. Families were suddenly split up. For the first time, literally every Zimbabwean had a relative in far flung countries like New Zealand, Canada and Australia. Grandparents raised children while their own children tried to set up new homes overseas. For those who could not afford the airfare to go overseas, South Africa proved to be a cheap and affordable destination. Or so they thought.

There are an estimated 3 to 4 million Zimbabweans living in South Africa. Generally well educated and displaying a work ethic that is the hallmark of immigrants who need to work twice as hard as the locals to survive, Zimbabweans quickly established themselves as employer favourites who apart from admiring the qualities that the Zimbabwean displayed, were also happy to exploit them for their lack of legal papers. The Zimbabweans got jobs, the South African employer reduced his labour costs. The local working masses did not like it.

In the sprawling politely named informal settlements, life is a daily exercise in a life and death struggle. There are several reasons for this. Pervasive crime targets everyone equally in the areas where the poorest of the poor live. More often than not, however, Zimbabweans and other foreigners are fingered as the criminals. The result is suspicion and vigilante attacks that include the stoning to death by angry mobs of Zimbabweans, sometimes with the active support of local political leaders. In 2011, a young Zimbabwean was stoned to death by a frenzied mob in the informal settlement of Diepsloot in Johannesburg North. It was a grisly affair as young children participated in the terrifying episode. Another met his fate in a similar manner in Limpopo province. The foreigners live in fear.

The Zimbabweans who manage to acquire housing trigger off bouts of jealousy among the local people who have been on waiting lists for government subsidised accommodation for over a decade. Despite the best efforts of national political leaders in South Africa, local community organised marches and demonstrations against foreigners or alleged corruption in the allocation of housing accompanied with threatening letters with eviction deadlines are common place on a regular basis across the country. Often, Zimbabwean workers will leave home for work not knowing whether their shack will still be standing or not on their return. That coupled with the fear of losing all their possessions, purchased after long periods of commission based work with no salaries is enough to drive anyone around the bend. Zimbabweans, therefore, find themselves living through a psychological nightmare that threatens to reduce them in to numbed victims stuck between escape and a return to an uncertain future back home in Zimbabwe and an uncertain and risky stay in the informal settlement. They choose to stay because Robert Mugabe’s government has made returning home a daunting prospect for emigrants who remember the violence and economic difficulties they left behind.

The law enforcement authorities will more often than not respond to mass threats to Zimbabwean nationals wherever they occur. On an individual basis though, the relationship between poor immigrant and badly paid policeman is one that is characteristic of servant and master. In this case, it is the master who regularly demands bribes of the servant on the flimsiest of grounds. A common trick is to ask them for their papers, reject the photocopy they travel around with and threaten them with detention all to solicit a bribe. Zimbabweans living in these areas are forced to carry loose change with them every single day in case they have to part with a bribe.

It is not only the Zimbabweans who live in marginalised areas who are targeted. As if getting a loan is not difficult enough, (foreigners are required to come up with 50% deposit for car loans) Zimbabweans who get stopped at traffic lights face demands for bribes to avoid delays to their journey through a thousand and one questions on the ownership of the car, the type of driver’s license allowed, the traffic register and anything the police officer can come up with once he has been shown a Zimbabwean or international driver’s license.

The press generally does a good job of highlighting xenophobia but individual and influential radio dj’s and talk show hosts are guilty of fanning the flames of hate and hate speech. For instance, when a local competition ran in 2010 on what visitors could do to make the soccer world cup successful, a popular DJ of one of Johannesburg’s biggest radio stations quipped: “take a Zimbabwean with you!” Talk show hosts are guilty of highlighting the nationalities of criminals while down playing those of locals in a sub-conscious sub text that says foreigners commit most of the crimes when the statistics show the opposite to be true. It is very common for Zimbabweans to be asked when they are going home by locals because of this.

That proud bastion of African nationalism and pride, Robert Mugabe, should be thoroughly ashamed of what he has reduced his country men and women to. The humiliation they endure is the direct result of his political party’s automatic recourse to violence each time someone disagrees with him. Zimbabweans who lived in what was known as Africa’s paradise are now second class citizens in a country, which is still struggling to provide for its own. Back home, the city of Bulawayo has all but died and only briefly stutters to life during the international trade fair or when it hosts a major political party conference for a few days. Further north, despite the blood money flowing from the diamond fields of Marange in to the leafy suburbs of the capital city Harare, life is just as uncertain. The satellite city of Chitungwiza is better known as sewage city with water and power outages that are more the norm than the exception. Outbreaks of typhoid and cholera have occurred and the loss of dignity of Zimbabweans at home is almost complete. At least no one is stoning them to death there…yet. There are no excuses for Xenophobia but it is understandable that the poorest of the poor will turn against the foreigner when shared resources are far and few in between. This is what has happened in South Africa and Zimbabweans who represent the largest number of foreigners, there, are bearing the brunt simply because a political party that casually engages in violent conduct will not accept that the people have rejected it at the polls.

Background: An identity crisis

An identity crisis has continued to paralyse Zimbabwe’s body politic throughout 2011. The reason for the inability of Zanu PF and the democratic forces to work together is because of the fundamental divergence of their world views.
Zanu PF believe the core issues to be empowerment, race and a foreign based conspiracy to change the authentic African nationalist leaders.
The democratic forces argue the real issues are about human rights, democracy, investment and development.
Do Zimbabweans have the right to choose which world view best represents their interests?

Zanu PF think that the political imperative is above the Rule of Law, above the Will of the People and above sensible economics. They came to power through the barrel of the gun and therefore derive their authority to rule from the liberation struggle. They claim that the armed struggle empowered the people. They claim they have continued to do so since 1980 by expanding educational opportunities and making health more accessible. They have used the land reform to correct inherited imbalances and currently are aiming at the Indigenization of business and commerce.

The democratic forces hold the view that empowerment can only take place within a framework of development and justice. The opportunities for empowerment must be open to all Zimbabweans equally without discrimination. The people want to improve their lives and they believe they can do this through development. Development requires an understanding of the benefits of building a secure economic climate which attracts investors. The Rule of Law is the framework which protects people equally as above politics.
At their core the two world views differ in their understanding and application of the concept of empowerment. Like the Chinese, Zanu PF believes the State empowers loyalists through patronage. The democrats adopt the Western concept of self empowerment through work and skills.

Do people have the right to reject the liberation Party and vote for someone else? The short answer is no. Zanu PF have blocked all significant attempts at democratic reform (except the daily newspapers) and imposed a military dictatorship so that elections are reduced to a sham. They, like Ian Smith, believe in autocracy. They do not trust their own people.
Do Zimbabweans want to be more open to the global economy and democratic influence or do they want a closed and protected autocratic society? If the former, how do they get there? How do they break through the fear instilled by the militia bases, the security apparatus and the mythical figure of Mugabe?
A free and fair election has been promised by SADC and South Africa. Can they fulfill their promises?

2011: More of the same, only worse

The relationships within the GNU continue to deteriorate. There is increasing polarization of ideas, and therefore frustration. The democrats and Zanu PF (including the military) are becoming more hostile towards each other. The co minister of Home Affairs, Theresa Makone has faced the embarrassment of not being able to address a rally in her own constituency. The Chipanango group have operated with increasing impunity throughout many suburbs in Harare.
Makone confirmed reports in the Newsday newspaper that Zanu PF youths had invaded her constituency and established a torture base there.
Speaking on SW Radio Africa’s programme “Question Time”, the Minister admitted that her party has no power to stop the violent youths and police
are not allowed to arrest them, as long as they are furthering the Zanu PF agenda.” [1] Base camps as described are increasingly apparent in both urban and rural constituencies. They are controlling access of MDC and keeping the fear alive.
The democrats are increasingly harassed and subjected to selective application of the law. Zanu PF as a party and as the dominant arm in Government are increasingly synonymous. Dysfunction is the predominant syndrome in the body politic.

Economically the productive base continues to shrink as more and more of the consumptive needs are satisfied by imports. Although there is cash available to selected loyalists through the informal trading of diamonds and gold, the political imperative continues to dominate sensible economics. The political agenda which destroyed the Zimbabwe dollar during the years 2000 to 2008 is still in place and companies are being strangled by high costs of production, shortages of cash, and the very high cost of borrowing money.
The point needs to be emphasized that in reality Zanu PF has disempowered the generality of its citizens in every possible way and from every possible perspective.
The Bulawayo Resident minister Cain Mathema in typical Zanu PF style, blamed company closures in Bulawayo on what he called: “sanctions that were deliberately invited by the MDC so that workers would blame Zanu PF.”
The spectre of the indigenization legislation continues to dominate the business community and impact negatively on confidence. The indigenization policy heralds the death knell for the Zimbabwean economy. The partisan manner in which the policy is being implementing it makes it clear it is a Zanu PF election gimmick.
The process is remarkably similar to the Land Reform program. Where the policy is challenged legally or being implemented too slowly for the politicians, then the door to violence and looting is opened in the name of black economic empowerment.
“Tourist resorts look set to become the target of unlawful land seizures after the popular Lake Recreational Park was invaded over the weekend (24th January 2011)…local police refused to take any action against the invaders and even personnel from National Parks could do nothing when they arrived on Saturday. The owners..have been warned by the invaders that this is the start of a countrywide indigenization campaign, which will target all tourist resorts…The raids at Lake Chivero follow similar incidents in Nyanga, Gonarezhou National Park, Manjinji Bird Sanctuary, Chipinge and Malati Safari areas.Bubiana, Chiredzi River, Save and Malilangwe conservancies-part of the Great Limpopo Trans-Frontier conservation area have all come under attack” reports Wildlife and Environment Zimbabwe in 2011.
All businesses, both local and foreign-owned, are now under threat in the name of black economic empowerment. Indigenisation is only helping to scare away much needed foreign investors.

Although the democrats have voiced their disagreement with regard to this programme, what exactly they propose as an alternative to the Zanu PF indigenization policy is unclear.

Marange:
It is clear that companies were granted licences to mine diamonds in Marange
under unclear circumstances, and in violation of Zimbabwe’s laws and regulations regarding tender procedures. These companies are controlled by senior military officers. The sad truth is that the Zimbabwean GNU has confused internal and international perceptions to such an extent that it has even undermined the Kimberley Process which has collapsed. The diamond trade is out of control and the democratic initiative to nationalize it will fail. There are genuine fears and increasing evidence that diamond revenue from Marange, which is not properly accounted for, is being used by the military and those aligned to Zanu PF to run a parallel government and amongst other things, build a war chest to fund electoral violence.

The Road Map to Elections:
In 2010 the democratic forces finally came to the realization that the Government of National Unity (GNU) was not going to be the beginning of a new era for Zimbabwe. Although the currency had been stabilized by the use of US$, the political culture which destroyed the Zimbabwe dollar remained in place.
The unfulfilled clauses of the Global political Agreement (GPA) remained unfulfilled.
The inability of SADC to enforce GNU compliance became evident.
The democratic forces decided that having lost this round in the long and winding road to democracy that they should alter their strategy. Instead of trying to make the GNU work they should look ahead to elections as the only way to resolve the political crisis.

Together with South Africa they compiled a road map to free and fair elections.

It is clear that if we examine the Zanu PF positions (highlighted) below with regard to the Road Map that we are faced with irreconcilable positions. There is no room for compromise. The only way to persuade the sides to move their positions is with increased pressure.
What is needed is a paradigm shift by the mediators to enforce an agreement.

To find an interrupted path to free and fair elections and the removal of all impediments to the same”.

These milestones and signposts include the lifting of sanctions, the constitutional process, media reform, electoral reform, rule of law, freedom of association and assembly, legislative agenda and the actual election.

In order to provide a snapshot of the weaknesses in the roadmap it is sufficient to examine the Electoral reforms.

D. Electoral reforms
vi. The staffing of ZEC

a. The staff of ZEC to be recruited afresh by the new Commission (MDC-T)
b. Ensure non partisanship and transparency in the recruitment of ZEC Staff (MDC-N)
c. There should be no changes of ZEC Staff Deterioration of the suitability is the responsibility of the Commission (Zanu PF)

Security
a)Instruct the security forces to issue a public statement that they will unequivocally uphold the Constitution and respect the rule of law in the lead up to and following any election or referendum (MDC formations)

b. This is not an election matter. Political parties have no right to direct uniformed forces to ensure political statements (Zanu PF)

Violence
a. End military and police abuse of the rule of law and end all state sponsored/sanctioned violence (MDC formations)
b. We have no knowledge of abuse and state sponsored/sanctioned violence and we invite such evidence to be made available (Zanu PF)

Deployment
a. Demilitarisation soldiers and other security personnel have been unlawfully deployed in the country and should thus be sent back to the barrack (MDC-T)
b. Redeployment of military personnel to barracks (MDC-N).
c. We deny that there are serving members of the military doing political work and we invite evidence to be made available. We protest to the use of the word “demilitarization”. It is a war term that is not applicable even in the circumstances as alleged by the MDC formations (Zanu PF).

v. The Intelligence
a. Enact an Act of Parliament regulating the operations of the CIO (MDC-T).
b. This is an election issue as referred to and covered under article xiii (i) of the GPA which reads as follows “state organs and institutions do not belong to any political party and should be impartial in their duties” (MDC-N).
c. This issue is neither a GPA one or an election issue and is being raised as an attack on the institution. The issue falls to be resolved in the Constitution-making process (Zanu PF).

POSA
a) Amend POSA so as to tighten it against discretion and abuse and to bring it in line with commitments within the GPA and the Constitution (MDC-T).
b) Review POSA in light of the current abuse by the Police (MDC-N).
c) We need to know the nature of the proposed amendments before we comment. The current POSA was amended in 2007 by all political parties through negotiation and provides a sound legal framework for regulating meetings and assemblies (Zanu PF).

Violence

Zanu PF is historically renowned for its violent response to alternative voices, views and political opposition. The Chinese under Mao Tse Tung provided a clear model for them of the practice of state terrorism. Zanu PF has successfully implemented the use of violence to create economic opportunities for supporters.
Gukuruhundi, The Land Reform, Murambatsvina, Post 2008 Election Violence and the displacement of people in Chiadzwa all involved excessive violence and degrees of genocide. They are gross violations of human rights and constitute crimes against humanity.

Of late Mugabe has been preaching peace.
At the Zanu PF congress in December 2011 in order to protect himself from facing the ICC he says;
“The point is why we are afraid of the MDC if we believe we have the policies that can deliver Zimbabweans out of their problems.
“We in Zanu PF must denounce violence. It is not a cure to our problems. We do not need it. Let us adhere to our values and principles. Let us avoid
corruption. Let us be clean in our business as a party.
“These values are our greatest weapon that will see people own a new status as a happy people,” Mugabe added.

The contradiction between what Mugabe says and what he does is insane. The fact that he thinks he can woo the electorate and the international community with language stolen from the democratic voices of Zimbabwe is evidence of his chameleon-like qualities and his evil and manipulative mind even in its dotage.

Some Concluding trends and a question

The inability of Zanu PF to solve its succession has shown they are in a crisis and unable to plan for the longer term. Mugabe has lost control of the ship Zimbabwe.
Unless the democrats agree to an election it will not be recognized. They need to stand firm on the SADC conditions for a free and fair election. Time is on the side of the democrats.
The global recession and the withdrawal of humanitarian aid means there is more pressure on Zimbabwe to make its land an economic resource and not a political tool.

The influence of the global economy and the internet on the Zimbabwean populace and the resultant increased power of information will help to produce an open society.
The Nando’s advert mocking Mugabe apparently registered 10 million hits on u- tube.
The fall of Malema, who was being paid with Zimbabwean diamonds, has strengthened the democrats in Zimbabwe.
The personal relationship between Zuma and Ncube will help the democrats.
The pressure within SA from the Zimbabwean refugees will drive for a solution to the Zimbabwean problem.

The Economist on December 3rd 2011 published an article entitled: The hopeful continent Africa rising

“After decades of slow growth, Africa has a real chance to follow in the footsteps of Asia”

The ten countries with the biggest growth world wide are:

…………. %
China: 9,5
India: 8,2
Ethiopia: 8,1
Mozambique: 7,7
Tanzania: 7,2
Vietnam: 7,2
Congo: 7,0
Ghana: 7,0
Zambia: 6,9
Nigeria: 6,9

What does this tell us? The future is in Africa.

The large question remains: How will SA increase pressure on Zanu to stop the violence and be prepared to be monitored in the run up to the election?

[1] http://www.swradioafrica.com/news210911/ministermakone210911.html

Morgan Tsvangirai has the potential to become the country’s next president and the majority of Zimbabweans say “Amen” to that, however, the man’s most recent sex contacts have raised eyebrows both on friends and foes.

He has bed hopped; accusations that he has impregnated two women inside a year have seen the media descending on him for it was outright sensational.

The ordinary persons asks what kind of a message is this man, who could become the country’s third president since independence in 1980, sending to the youths who obviously regard him as a role model.

Zimbabweans, scared of the HIV and AIDS pandemic , now fear that the next president could be taking chances with his life especially considering that he is obviously not using any form of protection.

In kombis people have condemned him as a womanizer and many think Tsvangirai should go for tests, so as to lead by example. People love him so much that they want to see him live longer and think that HIV infection could limit his stay on lovely earth.

Even though President Robert Mugabe has ordered the media not to be frenetic about the Prime Minister sexpacades many people did not take him seriously because he too is guilty of taking other people’s women.

As the country celebrates falling HIV and AIDS infection rates, people would like to see their political leaders taking the lead role in the fight against HIV and AIDS.

For many people Tsvangirai is a paragon of virtue whose behavior should be beyond reproach.

The man has survived assassinations attempts and to many people he is failing to survive the temptations of women.

As it stands innocent Zimbabweans, who do not even understand what sanctions are and how they were imposed, are the ones who are bearing the brunt of the Zanu PF anti-sanctions mantra. The former ruling party is putting paid to the saying if you are not with us then you are against us.

The truth of the matter is sanctions are impacting on the few politicians who are not allowed to do their usual businesses in the western countries where they buy in expensive shops with money looted from the country.

Sanctions continue to bear the brunt of the blame for the government’s inability to sort out the country.  If it is food shortages, sanctions are to blame, because fertilizer and seed are in short supply, if it is HIV Aids, sanctions are to blame for the shortage of ARV’s, if it is factories closing sanctions are blamed as western countries won’t buy our goods.  Blame blame blame – and there is no doubt in my mind that Zanu will use the MDC’s inability to end sanctions in their forthcoming election campaigns.

Traumatised Zimbabweans, who still bear the scars of past savage acts of violence, are now once again readying themselves for the wrath to come with the economy once again teetering because Zanu pushes away potential investors with their harping on about sanctions and still roll out anti investment laws.

Should a clique of powerful politicians be left abusing the rights of the majority simply because Zanu holds the armory keys?  It will be interesting to see how the ZanuPf congress in Bulawayo unfolds with regard to sanctions.

The much talked about story of Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai’s alleged marriage continues to be viewed differently by Zimbabweans from different walks of life.

When the Premier was called to a traditional court by a Mazowe Chief for flouting African traditional culture by paying lobola in the month of November, Tsvangirai refused to attend citing protocol irregularities and political interference. But this did not stop Chief Negomo from proceeding with the case that tried and convicted the MDC-T leader.

One of my collegues described the Premier’s refusal to attend Chief Negomo’s court as arrogance.

“To me the fact still remains Prime minister broke the culture by paying lobola in November to the Karimatsenga family, a fact which he has failed to disprove, instead claiming he merely paid damages.

Chief Negomo convicted Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai and fined him two cows and two sheep for violating a cultural taboo by paying bride price in a forbidden month. The Karimatsenga family whom he paid the bride money to, attended the traditional court and was also fined two cows and two sheep.

A local beer drinker who resides in my local area vehemently defended Prime Minister saying the Chief was compromised. “How can a mere chief invite Prime Minister to a traditional court, where the trial is done under a tree? Who was he representing and who did he want to please? The Chief was acting outside his jurisdiction. We also know the history of our chiefs that they are used by ZANU (PF) for political mileage, and now a chief invites Prime Minister to a traditional court, it is nonsense!“

Others said Chiefs are the custodians of the treasures of our culture and should not fold their hands when citizens, particularly those who occupy the highest office, perform activities that seriously disturb the integrity and dignity of chiefs and subjects.

It is astonishing, but not surprising that Zimbabweans do not want elections any time soon. This reads like a contradiction. Not really. It is not surprising because Zimbabweans remember the violence of 2008 and simply do not want a repeat of it. The main reason is Zimbabweans have full supermarket shelves for the first time since the economic collapse, to put it simply, and this is what makes their reasoning for not wanting elections to be astonishing. A once proud people have been beaten in to submission by bullies to the point where they seem to say, if we let you take our sandwiches quietly, will you leave us alone? With nearly half the population in exile, forced and self imposed, Zimbabweans just want peace… at any cost and that is dangerous for future generations. How do a people give up their pride in such dramatic fashion? Come to think it, the decline has not been that sudden.

In the 80s, the party and government in power orchestrated the killing of over 20 000 of its own people, “in a moment of madness” and the rest of the country, in their vast majority, looked away because a war for independence had just been waged and won. Education, health and the economy in general were booming, the violence was localised to one region of the country and it was time to take a break. Zimbabweans on the whole carried on as if nothing significant had happened.

A decade later, the economic structural adjustment programme (ESAP)began to cause a little bit of hardship but Zimbabweans did not respond either, except for an alcoholic, expelled from Zanu PF, who formed his own political party and was defeated. A Zanu PF advertisement on television showed a car accident declaring this was one way to die and adding that another was not to vote for Zanu PF. Protests were muted and left to civic society organisations. The country was still fine until 1997 when the sudden rise in the price of bread sent Zimbabweans in to the streets for the first spontaneous demonstration of anger against the government. The outburst had more to do with hunger than political principle.

Into the third decade of independence and following growing economic hardships, the ruling party and government offered a referendum on a new constitution. Zimbabweans mobilised themselves and rejected it because they did not want the President to increase his executive powers. It was more of a case of being tired of being ruled by the same person than a statement of political intent. Civic society groups, whose democratic processes mirrored those of Zanu PF, were formed. Taking the battle to Zanu PF in hotel lobbies and in workshops, they soon acquired the taste of donor funding and trips to Scandinavian countries that they forgot the reason they were set up in the first place. Principles were replaced with founder member syndrome and save a couple of organisations, the majority degenerated into inefficient but eloquent bickering organisations with too much education and very little action. In the meantime, Zanu PF had unleashed violence right across the country, as opposed to the Gukhurahundi campaign between ’80 and ’83, The Zimbabwean people continued to tire of authority and just wanted the violence to stop. Rather than organise themselves, Zimbabweans took to wearing Zanu PF scarves, hats and whatever gear they could lay their hands on, just to avoid being beaten up. Then of course, the economy collapsed together with all the consequences that went with it, the most visible being empty supermarket shelves.

Strategically naïve and giving the pretext of wanting to help stop the violence, the MDC succumbed and compromised accepting a manifestly junior and impotent role in government. The violence did not stop but soon MDC members of parliament were clamoring for loans to buy twin cab vehicles. Those that had never been on aeroplanes before or whose only prior travel had been as far as Polokwane, discovered Scandinavia and were soon spending large amounts of dwindling government resources in playing catch up. It was their turn to eat! The Zimbabwean public despaired further but at least the supermarket shelves were full once again and the violence had subsided somewhat. Everyone likes to catch a breather. The new Prime Minister boasted about tea with Mugabe, the Deputy Prime Minister argued that he was more intelligent than Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton combined in his contribution to national debate on how to restart the economy, was expelled from his party, which itself was the result of a split between the once powerful opposition because its leader, the new Prime Minister, had rejected a democratic process and Zimbabweans grew ever more weary. With his new found status, the new Prime Minister discovered his good looks and charmed his way in to many a lady’s bosom and this together with regular gaffes at local and international level made Zimbabweans want to slit their wrists, crawl in to the nearest cave and stay there. The level of debate in parliament has been woefully inadequate with the new players miserably failing to rise to the occasion and doing the Zimbabwean people, their economy and future a major disservice.

The state of the Zimbabwean people is the result of the collective failure of leadership at the highest levels in civic society, with many of them competing for donor resources rather than working together. It has been the failure of strategic and bold leadership in the opposition with jaw dropping naivete and trying to keep up with the Chiyangwa’s being the order of the day. It has also been the failure by a revolutionary party in living up to the ideals which allowed it to recruit, arm and send thousands upon thousands of young people in to the struggle for independence. The country has failed to live up to its potential because it has been driven by hatred, suspicion, gluttony and buffoonery.

What does the next decade hold? More misery, unless there is a new generation of leaders. All is not lost. There is a third way that will combine moderates with visionary leaders, from both sides of the house, the private sector and civic society whose overarching aim will be the fulfilment of the latent potential that the country clearly holds both under the ground, in the farm lands, tourist resources and most importantly in the minds of a highly literate people. That kind of leadership is there either waiting or too afraid to step forward. The country is at a cross roads, the current crop of leaders at the very top in all three political parties will not provide the solution for various reasons to do with age, depth or lack thereof and an agenda based on hatred born out of bitterness. 2011 is a false dawn, a reprieve because we are transacting using a borrowed currency, have just discovered diamonds and our supermarket shelves are full. We now need the right team to take the country forward.

Sons and daughters of Zimbabwe, step forward!

Its Christmas time and preparations are at an advanced stage for the big day where impoverished Zimbabweans forget about their sorrows.

The rich have been buying goods and clothes at up market shops while the poor have been buying whatever they can at downtown shops with predominantly Chinese goods, sadly of very low quality – all for the sake of Christmas.

Nonetheless everyone is geared up for the big day where families are reunited and food is at least in abundance. Families long separated by the economic mishaps of the past decade have been united or are just about to be as husbands, daughters and children working in the Diaspora, mostly South Africa, troop in for the most celebrated day in Zimbabwe. http://www.newzimbabwe.com/news-6761-Beitbridge%20holiday%20pile-up%20begins/news.aspx

Children of Zimbabwe are here for Christmas which means a day of feasting.

There are crates of beer, and large quantities of meat, some even slaughter a beast. Forget that Christmas is a day for Jesus, in Zimbabwe the meaning of Christmas is that of a day when people will forget about the water woes, the electricity black-outs and also the lack of democratic space as they lose themselves in the abundance saved for all year in preparation for this wonderful day.

After over a decade of misfortune Zimbabweans since the inception of the Government of National Unity (GNU) can now afford to celebrate a Christmas.

In the ghetto where I live whenever, electricity is available all genres are of music are played to the highest crescendos. The people are dancing away the pains of 2011 and looking forward to a better 2012

When I was in Bulawayo last week, having gone to attend my friend’s wedding, I had an opportunity to talk to some of my friends who l had not seen for a very long time. Our bar talk changed from one topic to another, but most interesting was the hosting of political parties conferences in the city of kings Kwa-Bulawayo.

Why did these two main political parties decide to hold their conference in Bulawayo of all the towns? First it was the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) early this year and the year ended with the revolutionary party ZANU PF.

While we continued to drink, bathing our souls into the midnight hours, tempers started rising, the main issue of marginalisation and deliberate under-capitalization of the region dominated the night.

But what came out of the discussion was that the short term beneficiaries of the last congress was the city’s residents – for a whole week there were no power cuts! It was a matter of Christmas coming early to Bulawayo residents.

Students from colleges such a Hillside Teachers ’College and the Bulawayo polytech will be surprised when they come back next year because so much was done at their premises, from repairs to new paints and renovations in order to accommodate the 6000 thousand ZANU PF idiots.

Roads have been repaired, especially those leading to Zimbabwe International Trade Fair (ZITF) where the non-event was held. Those who are in the hospitality industry are laughing all the way to the bank as most of the rooms were fully booked.

But ZANU PF will never win in Bulawayo for as long as it exists, even if it means holding the congress there every day.