Zimbabwe’s current challenges inspired one Kubatana subscriber, Sophia, to write a poem in Shona.

In it, she asks the police and soldiers why they act as if they and the people are on opposing sides – Why? When all of us struggle to survive, and need to work together to see our country prosper.

The piece is based on based on a poem by the Cuban poet Nicolas Guillen and is reminiscent of W.H. Auden:

hunger allows no choice
to the citizen or the police;
we must love one another or die.

Sei?

Ini ndinoshaya kuti sei
Iwe mupurisa uchifunga kuti
Ini ndakakuvenga
Tose takafanana
Iwe, ini

Iwe unoshupika, neniwo
Ini handitongi, newewo
Zvino wakaivanepi nhai?
Iyo pfungwa musoja
Yekuti ini ndakakuvenga

Zvinondirwadza zvikuru
Kuti dzimwenguva unokanganwa kuti
Ini ndingori mhunhu anenge iwe
Anorarama asina masimba
Hauoni here? Ini ndiri iwe
Sezvezviri kuti iwe uri ini

Ichochi hachisi chikonzero
Chekuti ndingakuvenge
Tose takafanana Ini, Iwe
Seiko nhai Seiko uchifunga musoja
Kuti ini ndingavenge Iwe

Tichafamba tose
Iwe neni, munzira imwechete
Tichidzinga nhamo
Ini newe
Pasina ruvengo
Pakati pangu, pakati pako
Tichiziva Iwe neni
Kukosha kwekugarisana

Tichashanda tose
Iwe neni, munyika yedu
Tichibatsirana mazuva ose
Kusvika tabudirira
Tichiziva kwatirikuenda
Iwe neni

Sei uchifunga nhai mupurisa
Kuti ini ndingakuvenge?

At the height of the violence in Kenya, it is reported that, the madams in the suburbs were upset that the maids were not turning up for work. On the BBC world service Outlook programme, there has just been a report about a till operator in Paris, with a degree in literature, who has published a book on how customers have become more and more rude to supermarket employees. This got me thinking about Zimbabwe. This topic may seem trivial and frivolous in the light of what we are going through but a society must be judged by its treatment of all of its citizens whether at a political rally, at an SPCA meeting, a parents assembly at school or in front of the tills.

The people who ring the sales in your favourite supermarket wake up at 4am because they live so far away from the area where they work. They then light a fire so that they can have a hot bath in a basin of sorts. After that, they have to wake up hungry children and get them to take a bath before heading for the kombi bus stop to wait an hour or so for transport. They have, at this stage, no idea what the transport fare is going to be and more often than not, they have to catch two sets of buses to get to work. When they get to work, they will be confronted by broken down visa machines through no fault of theirs or the supermarket. They are also already physically tired because they may or may have been invited for a political meeting the night before.

Who walks in at that moment? Madame Surburban Housewife, who rightly demands the best in service because she happens to travel to Cape Town on holiday and is therefore used to international standards in countries who inflation is a mere 10%, where the transport runs on time and the employees are paid a living wage. Madame suburban housewife, should perhaps pause to think about these poor souls and greet them first? Of course they are paid to greet customers with a smile, but at the rate things are going up how can a lowly paid till operator afford a smile when he cannot afford breakfast for his children and when he sees how much Madame Suburban Housewife is spending on olives for Sunday lunch?

Is it perhaps time to acknowledge that at times we take better care of our pets than we do fellow human beings – in terms of common decency towards employees who deserve a break from the pressures of their daily lives and the coal face at the check out counter? So next time you go to the supermarket, how about you greet the till operator warmly and with a smile, even if you are not paid to do it? “Be the change you wish to see in the world.” Have a great day!

We recently asked Kubatana’s SMS subscribers:

With the MDC pulling out of Friday’s vote can you suggest an alternative activity that builds hope and confidence? Let’s take back our future.

The hundreds of text messages we received in response were rich and widely varied, but fell within several main themes. Most of these were predictable – about 15% advocated for prayer, and another 15% for mass demonstrations. Another quarter hoped for intervention by SADC or the AU, and a quarter for negotiations and a transitional government.

But there was also the striking presence of a solid 15% or so advocating for an armed struggle and saying that Zimbabweans should fight back against the dictator on his own terms. While, from time to time, we get the occasional subscriber making this suggestion, in today’s responses this has a much higher prevalence.

Below is a small selection of people’s suggestions:

Prayer

• A nation that stands united in PRAYER on friday
• The only activity that can bring hope & confidence is PRAYER & never 2 lose heart coz GOD IS IN CONTROL not Mbuya Nehanda. Zimbabwe is about to rise. (Rom: 8-28)
• 1st Prayer. 2nd int’l community must help us. GOD wil judge Mgabe harshly
• Lets start with prayer of thanksgiving. As africans tinoombera tisati tagashira. So lets thank God for deliverance
• The only hope is God interving through prayer sessions nd mass education to the Pple wht politics means nd how best to choose a leader
• We must pray to God

Civil Disobedience

• Massive stay aways mo international pressure eg their children in foreign schs 2b sent bek home
• Shld do mass mobilisation against e regime
• We should go into the streets! Everywhere there should be a campaign of Mugabe must go!!
• Lets all disobey mugabe to the very end. He must retire with world record stress levels
• Let Mugabe declare one man state. There’s no democracy in this country. We have to unite & demonstrate against this tyrant. This is not his kitchen. He has to go
• Well first and foremost if what i hear is correct that Zanu intends to proceed lets boycott these sham of an elections and build morale and confidence
• One way i think is to start by completely boycotting the herald and chronicle and manica post. no shld buy or advertise in those zanu propaganda and brain-washing material
• GNU is out ö è qn. It’s betrayal ö those that lost their lives ä props in è struglge. also zanu has neva bn sincere. mass mobilisation 4 civil disobedience is one option

International Intervention

• The UN AU & SADC should agree to bring peace keepers and have run-off in August
• We need UN, AU and SADC 2 take do same election within a month
• On that day we all send email/sms messages to ff: UN/ SADC/EU/US govt/UK govt to insist they take decisive action NOW! Stuff MBEKI:-@
• The MDC shld gather as much evidence as possible abt grave cases of ZANU violence & present it to the SADC AU & UN & lobby for the ostracization of the dictator from all international issues. MDC can use fliers to communicate with the masses
• The way 4ward is 4 mdc 2 pressure SADC into 4cing mugabe 2 implement guidelines in election conduct
• The aspirations of MDC will remain intact To continue to lobby the UN until they force the regime to deploy peace keepers and to make AU see sense in our situation and come to condemn their friend Any election in future to be supervised by UN not ZEC
• I cant suggest war. Marching has failed so i think the inter community can assist even to push for stiffer sanctions a way that does not call for bloodshed

Armed Struggle

• Removing a military government requires a military rebellion. These guys claim they got into power through blood so lets remove them through blood
• We need an armed struggle to claim back our birth right
• My immediate reaction is to organise all opposition forces and get armed to liberate ourselves. It appears PF can only understand the language of the barrel
• MDC should buy their own weapons. WAR is the last solution. The gvt is taking advantage of fact that pple are afraid of MUGABE
• I rather opt 4 a war(to liberate ourselves)

Negotiation, Dialogue, Transition or a Government of National Unity

• A caretaker gvt that will level the electoral field & build pple’s confidence in the whole system
• Lets go back 2 dialogue 4 a trans gvt nd new election
• Install a transitional gvt that allows the nation to rehabilitate to repair to heal to restore justice and to hold free and fair elections within a year
• G.N.U similar to the Kenyan style. A new but more influential post shld be created for Morgan. f not then a push to the UN to address current challenges
• 1st step:MDC shld join hand in glove with NCA in support of new constitution since rule of law is tantamount & military junta is in control of this State. 2nd step:MDC MPs shld elect either Mr Tsvangirai/George Sibotshiwe as speaker of Parliament who shld be the leader of an inclusive govt with Francis Nhema deputy
• They should focus on the GNU and amendment of the constitution for elections to be held in two years time
• The alternative is to bring all progressive groups to negotiating table to try to negotiate a government which includes all
• I think a GNU between the two parties can lessen our burden or defer the poll to a later date and allow MDC to campaign in a peaceful environment

In addition, we received several suggestions for creative non-violent acts of defiance, such as:

• Fill up pot-holes, rehabilitate children’s play grounds, parks and grow lawns and flowers at homes.
• Lets all wear black on friday as a sign of saying no to violence and run off
• To give hope 2 è citizenry i suggest è people’s party comes up with a fund 2 assist è victims of è terror campaign thru medical bills, building destroyed houses etc
• Lets list and make public all companies that are backing Mugabe to boycott them eg Imago Y&R Western Union & other MTAs. Mugabe will be history shortly
• I suggest that all those voting on friday do a spoilt paper – this another way of showing MUGABE not wanted
• Passive resistance. Not buying Herald for example. Wearing black on Friday to show that we are mourning. Mass prayer
• Lets boycott gono’s blood money
• Theatre. Its e strong room of ideas hopes &dreams. Staging open air performances. Taking a stance will ignite hope. Getting Theatre 4 Dvlpment up &running
• First up we’ve all got to get rid of this whole victim mentality & get on with the business of masterin our destiny & claiming our rights

Sifting through the spam than inundates my inbox at work, I spotted this one – “Serial killer on the loose”.

Made me think that spam has gotten to be rather like google advertisements – smart enough to reflect the context of your present situation!

The magnitude of the state organised violence in Zimbabwe is mind blowing. In previous elections, zanupf did whatever it could to prevent people trying to vote. This time round they’re forcing people to go and vote for Mugabe in the presidential run-off election.

Their threats include post-election beatings of anyone ‘found’ to have stayed away or voted the ‘wrong way’. In true Mafia-style, they have threatened to beat the extended family of recalcitrant non-voters.

Long gone is any notion of a secret ballot. People are being told that they will have to report to a zanupf representative after they vote. They will be required to provide the receipt number on their ballot paper together with their national identity number. This way the ‘authorities’ will supposedly know how they voted.

The public are also being ‘informed’ by zanupf zealots that they will arbitrarily choose and beat the same number of people living near a polling station as there are votes NOT cast for Mugabe.

All very bizarre now that we know the run-off election is a one horse race.

There is indeed a serial killer on the loose.

News from around the country, from community based sources

Chiredzi and Zaka
Got the email below this morning and yes it is true, this message is being passed to voters in the Lowveld and we have no doubt now that the ZANU militia and military are capable off carrying this threat out.

Folk here are being given a number with which to vote with.  They have been threatened that if they don’t vote they will have their heads cut off. They are asking what do they do?

I have a solid report that there are 52 unidentified bodies in the Chiredzi hospital morgue.

At 200pm war vets and militia cut down trees on the side of the main road to Chiredzi, to make road blocks to stop motorists and force them to go to their pungwe’s, where they had to show their allegiance to Mugabe.

We have many MDC officials and supporters who have no means of support; they have lost their homes and jobs.

Chegutu
MDC Senator Violet Panavaviri had her house stoned and vandalized by Zanu PF youth on 23-06-08. Four houses belonging to MDC supporters were stoned and vandalized at Alaska Mine. No injuries were reported. Fifteen houses belonging to MDC supporters were destroyed at Shackledon Mine. Five MDC supporters were injured in the attacks and a woman had her leg broken. Fifty people were displaced and are staying at the MP’s home. Food aid is urgently needed.

Chinhoyi
An MDC youth, Harris Gutsa was attacked and beaten to a pulp by Zanu PF militia in the morning for wearing MDC party regalia. He is currently hospitalized at Chinhoyi Provincial Hospital.

Zvimba West
Fifteen people from Ward 4 were displaced after their homes where attacked and vandalized by Zanu PF youth.

Makonde
Four houses belonging to MDC supporters were burnt to the ground today by a marauding band of Zanu PF militia. The victims are staying at the MP’s house in Chinhoyi and food aid is urgently required. Ward 10, where the Provincial Chairman resides was attacked last night by Zanu PF militia. Women and children were beaten up and property was looted.

Banket
Three houses including the MP’s were vandalized by Zanu PF militia yesterday. The families have sought refuge in Chinhoyi.

Hwange
The hospital that the wife of Mike Phiri (Prov administrator) works has been accused of “harboring” MDC supporters and she has been asked to leave.

Binga
This morning a text message came in from Elvis the lawyer. “In Binga all shops were ordered to close.  They tried to force us into vehicles so that we attended a meeting in Manjolo”.

Zimbabweans, wherever you are,
whatever you are doing, or thinking of.
The only smart way of exercising your right
on the 27th June 2008, and in future
is your X, and not your Axe.

However, violence, can be stopped
In this beloved country Zimbabwe today
And in future if we all mark X with a pen
And not with an Axe.

An Axe is used for destruction, taking away
Life from our natural resources and humans.
A pen is used for nation building, making records
For future generations and future office bearers
Let’s all be wise, to use a pen to save lives.

An Axe doesn’t have records, hear me Zimbabweans
It only destructs nature, kills lives just like fire.
Wherever you go today, in prison, offices, schools,
Hotels, at a dip tank, even at a pre-school
You find a pen because it reflects peace and stability.

So, take the pen to stop violence, take the pen
To make records, take the pen to make history.

The history of Zimbabwe, was recorded with a pen!