Since its formation the MDC has campaigned on a platform of change, democracy, good governance and respect for the rule of law. I want to talk about ACCOUNTABILITY and the MDC. If they campaigned on the platform that they are different, they have to show us that they are different, otherwise they have no right talking about the speck in the eye of ZANU PF when they cannot see the log in their own eye.  Accountability refers to such concepts as responsibility, answerability, enforcement, liability for blame and other terms associated with the expectation of account-giving. I trawled the MDC’s website looking for something that could give me a concrete indication of the principles that the party stands for and this is what l came up with;

MDC Governance Principles

An MDC government shall listen to its people and will serve the nation and protect the nation honestly.

The people of Harare are saying that they do not want the Mayor to be spending USD152 000 on a luxury Mercedes Benz while the city residents go without water and other essential services. The people of Harare are saying they do not want the mayor to travel around in the lap of luxury while they get mugged on dark streets. The city’s residents are saying no to a luxury vehicle which the mayor cannot even use to visit those of the city’s residents who live in areas where the roads have become impassable due to the deterioration. The city’s residents are saying to the MDC mayor, no to splurging money on immoral purchases that cannot be justified by a council hamstrung for money to spend on essential services. Muchadeyi Masunda should buy a vehicle that will enable him to visit Morton Jaffray Waterworks to see the progress or lack thereof in the treatment of the city’s water. He should buy a vehicle that will enable him to visit Hatcliff Extension and see the lack of progress towards construction of roads. A Mazda “Eagle” truck from Willowvale fits the bill and serves the dual purpose of promoting local industry. What is the point in the MDC hosting workshops urging people to support local industries by “buying Zimbabwean” when they are not willing to lead by example?  Now that the people of Harare have spoken, will the MDC listen and serve the nation honestly? Accountability demands that the mayor be answerable to the people that he purports to serve.

An MDC government will serve the nation effectively and efficiently through a professional, motivated and dedicated Public Service.

This is the other principle stated on the MDC website. They are promising us an efficient, professional, motivated and dedicated public service. Now the Mayor recently splurged thousands of USD on his installation festivities, with entertainment, food and drink aplenty. Was this necessary for a council that is failing to deliver essential services to its public? Was that the most effective and efficient use of public resources by a public official? Was it professional? The people of Harare do not think that is the most efficient, effective or professional way of spending scarce public resources. We would rather the money spent on beer and other refreshments during the installation ceremony had been channelled towards rehabilitating just one council library or refurbishing just one council clinic so that women do not die in childbirth while elected officials feast at the trough. They could have held a low key ceremony at town house. We would not have begrudged them that. Ostentatious ceremonies are reminiscent of birthday parties of governments past that have seen chefs engorging themselves while people starved in the countryside. Now can the MDC explain how different they are from that? The MDC certainly have no right to be making comments such as those reportedly made by Cllr Masiye Kapare who allegedly said “Do these rabble-rousers feel it is alright for the mayor, who is actually the face of Zimbabwe by virtue of heading the country’s capital, to be seen around in a small cheap car which may make him a laughing stock to ambassadors and other partners?” I want to challenge Cllr Kapare to show me one ambassador or funding partner who would rather the money that they are donating be spent on ostentatious luxury vehicles for the Mayor than on ensuring that council clinics are properly stocked with medication to ensure that the city’s children do not die needlessly. Or buying books for council schools to ensure that the city’s children are given a fair chance at being productive citizens. Splurging public resources on luxury vehicles and parties is not the most efficient use of resources, it is not professional and it reflects badly on this party.

An MDC government will serve the people of Zimbabwe’s interests not individuals, or groups of individual. (sic)

Muchadeyi Masunda is quoted as defending the proposed purchase of the luxury Mercedes Benz by saying; “People should not treat this as if it is me or the town clerk who is demanding that I get a car,” he argued. “The project is just part of the council budget. Why would people complain about the mayor’s car? Why do they not raise the same concerns about ministers’ cars or the prime minister’s or even President Mugabe’s motorcade? Street lights, road repairs and the mayor’s car are all budgeted for. If Simba Moyo became the next Mayor, he will be driven around in that car.”

With all due respect, Mr Masunda misses the point. Is he saying if cabinet ministers steal then he can also steal? Is he saying that he wants the Mercedes because the President has a host of them? Is he going to be demanding a mayoral motorcade next? Just because the President moves around with a gazillion cars in his motorcade does not make it ok for the mayor to splurge on one. I thought MDC is about accountability? How different is this brand of politics from the brand that we have been living under for the past 29 years? So what if it is part of the budget? It is a bad budget that makes provision for a $152 000 car while the city’s residents go without essential services. Nor does the apparent endorsement by the Minister Chombo make it right. Chombo says the Mayor deserves “a nice car, preferably a Mercedes Benz. Not necessarily an ML. I would prefer an S Class 350.” On what does the Minister base that conclusion? What has Masunda done to deserve an S Class? Is this performance based? When he has just officially been sworn in? Really?

Of course Mr Masunda wants the car. He feels justified because cabinet ministers and the prime minister all have luxury cars. The demand for a new luxury car is about serving the interests of the mayor as an individual. That goes against everything the MDC purports to espouse. The luxury cars that the MDC MPs and ministers have been clamouring for are about serving their interests as a group of politicians. How does his driving around in a luxury vehicle serve the people of Harare? It doesn’t!

Now accountability also presupposes that the Mayor can be called upon to justify his actions and to suffer punishment in the event of a finding of wrongdoing. This is where CHRA comes in. How about legal action to interdict the Mayor from buying this vehicle? That would ensure that he is answerable to us wouldn’t it? MDC’s officials like Caesar’s wife should be above reproach.

Now, I am sure that I was not the only Schumie fan who was disappointed when the retired seven-time Formula One champion had to call off his return to the sport. Oh, how I had stolen moments just to daydream about seeing the great man weave his way around those hairpin bends and chicanes with imperious ease once more.

But alas, ’twas not to be.

Michael Schumacher’s dodgy neck has well and truly put paid to his time as king of the Formula One track.

And so to console myself, I began my desperate search to find a new hero to fill his scarlet Ferrari boots – someone with equally supreme calmness and mastery of the art of driving.

Sure there are some good Formula One drivers out there, but I couldn’t quite find one to dull the pain and dejection that I was feeling at my wasted daydreams.

And then it hit me like a bolt out of the blue (or the Ferrari red) – I knew who my new hero of the road was!

With no world championships to show for it, and in fact no grand prix starts to even mention, this hero is no member of the jet-set elite of driving, but definitely knows how to handle the road.

My new hero is drum-roll …the Zimbabwean driver!

Not only must this most skilled of artists deal with normal traffic situations BUT also perilous potholes, unpredictable kombi drivers and yes even the non-functioning robots at intersections which demand quick thinking on who should have right of way.

God bless our drivers!

And I do mean that. These are the long-suffering men and women who would put a racing driver to shame with the ease with which they negotiate the catastrophe that is Zimbabwe’s road network system. And all the time, conducting conversations with their passengers or paying attention to the radio as if it were all normal!

So now, I challenge Michael Schumacher. If he’s still miffed about skipping the Formula One scene, I extend him a warm welcome to the uncertain terrain of Harare city driving.

Oh, Schumie, I know you would just love to test your skills on our very special stretch of decrepit tarmac. And if the city council does nothing to repair the roads before the rainy season begins, well the potholes will be so much bigger for you to swerve past! And yes, the kombi driver behind you will still somehow try to overtake you as you negotiate your way around.

Who needs twists and straights when you can have craters and kombi drivers?

The discussion around transitional justice and national healing has grown to the point that we’ve created a special index page to track the issue on Kubatana.

One of the interesting documents on the subject that I’ve put up recently is the Research and Advocacy Unit’s report Human rights violations against women and truth commissions, which looks at how women are effected by political violence and what lessons Zimbabwe can draw from truth commission processes in South Africa, Sierra Leone and Kenya. It calls for a Zimbabwean process that is open to and supportive of women victims of human rights abuses.

The Taking transitional justice to the people – Outreach report by the Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum shares insights from a series of consultative meetings organised by the HR Forum with 442 people in 13 different rural constituencies across Zimbabwe. As the report points, out people from all walks of life in Zimbabwe have experienced political violence and other human rights abuses in the country’s history – and a similarly wide range of people participated in the HR Forum meetings. It was clear from these meetings that people want to talk about their past, and they need the platform to do so – in a way that is not biased or partisan.

I want the life I was promised as a child.
I do not want to go to another country,
to live like a foreigner,
a second class citizen
who doesn’t speak the lingo,
understand the subtle nuances of
that culture, that language,
THOSE people.
I want to celebrate MY Heroes Holiday,
not just go through the motions,
because really, its a public holiday and what else is there to do?
I want to feel safe when I walk the streets,
of MY country,
and not live in fear
of harrasment because I’m a woman;
of violence because of my political, religious or social beliefs;
of hunger when I work like a slave;
or poverty because no matter what I do, its never enough.
I want to see an end in sight,
a reason to stay and fight,
other than this is the land of my birth.
Its not enough anymore.

The first sign I got that I was back home was the torturous customs queue at Harare International Airport.

“Queuing already and we haven’t even gotten out of the airport,” remarked the frustrated man in front of me.

I couldn’t have agreed with him more.

Unlike other countries where returning nationals form their own separate line at customs, returning Zimbabweans tend to be lumped along with everyone else, although there is a separate counter which is meant specifically for us. None of the airport staff, however, usually bother to tend it.

Having been away for two months, I had sincerely hoped that things were slowly beginning to change for the better in Zimbabwe.

But the dejection of the customs officials – enough even for them to not bother with a warm hello before putting the obligatory stamp into our passports – was evidence enough for me that my fellow countrymen were still as oppressed and depressed as I had left them.

It was during my time away that Prime Minister Tsvangirai had toured Europe and the United States seeking to breathe some warm air over frosty relations between Zimbabwe and the West. Though he returned to Zimbabwe with a very small purse of funds, the signs of integration of our pariah nation into international politics had sparked hope within me.

But it was also during my time away that the constitutional reform process – the hallmark of the new government of national unity – had collapsed. And it was again during this time that I learnt that civil servants’ salaries had been raised, but only to a paltry range of between USD 150 and 200 per month.

Soon, I realised that only my physical presence within Zimbabwe would give me a real feel of whether anything had changed.

And the drive from the airport deepened my appreciation of the situation.

The kaleidoscope colours of garbage strewn all over caught my eyes as I watched snaking queues of people standing street-side hoping desperately for transport.

My heart began to tumble down my chest in despair.

“Let’s hope there’s electricity when we get home,” my mother interjected, pausing my heart’s descent, only to make it fall even faster.

That was another thing to start worrying about again; so far removed from the comparatively ‘breezy’ life I had enjoyed in Berlin, Germany, where I never had to give care to the most basic of necessities.

But the worst was still yet to come.

As we continued to drive, the potholes in the roads, some the size of basins, were causing vehicles to swerve precariously into neighbouring lanes and onto the curb in a bid to avoid becoming stuck in the craters, or damaging shock absorbers.

What kind of a country pays no attention to the maintenance and repair of roads, of rights, of what is right for its citizens?

“Those potholes are a reflection of the holes in our own hearts,” rued my friend as we swerved past yet another one.

If things continue like this, I wonder if we will still have hearts, or maybe just gaping holes in our souls.

For now, what is left of mine continues to bleed for my country.

Yesterday I posted a piece on punishment in schools, inviting opinions on whether, when, and how beating children in schools is acceptable, and how to deal with the question of discipline in schools.

Here are a few more comments on this issue:

My own daughter is in form 3 at a school in Chinhoyi. I paid $410 full fees for the previous term. The fees were paid right at the beginning of the term. Half way in the term the school authorities ordered the pupils to pay an extra $30 per pupil for extra lessons with the same teachers and after full fees were paid in good time. My daughter and many others about half of each class failed to pay the $30 and did not attend the extra lessons. The exams were set bringing in mostly material covered in the extra lessons. My daughter and the other pupils obviously failed most of the subjects. All those who failed were severely beaten up by the school authorities. I am in the same predicament, how can I complain without making my daughter vulnerable?
- TM, Chinhoyi

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I hope you can view the subject scripturally as well.  See Hint 12 from The Duties of Parents by J. C. Ryle (first printed in 1888).  “Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it.”   [Proverbs 22:6]
- MG

What do you think? Leave your comment here or email info [at] kubatana [dot] net.