An IRIN headline caught my eye this morning: Militaries unite to fight HIV.

The article discusses the launch of the Regional HIV Network of Military Forces in West and Central Africa, a network for military forces to combat HIV within their ranks, and in their surrounding communities. As the article points out, with the exception of Ethiopia, “A number of studies on HIV prevalence rates among sub-Saharan Africa’s armed forces have shown higher rates than in civilian populations.”

And yet, most African militaries have been reluctant to develop programmes that effectively address this challenge. A few excellent reports, notably Alex de Waal’s Fucking Soldiers and Martin Rupiya’s study for the Institute for Security Studies – The enemy within: Southern African militaries’ quarter-Century battle with HIV and AIDS, look at some of the reasons behind this resistance.

As in other sectors of society, some of the reasons why HIV/AIDS is not adequately tackled within the armed forces include ignorance, fear, stigmatisation and stereotyping. For example, in Ghana, “new recruits who test positive are not admitted into the armed forces. A similar ban in South Africa was overturned by the courts in 2008.”

At one presentation at the launch of the regional HIV network, a doctor with Ghana’s armed forces said that soldiers are provided with condoms in the military barracks there.  In response, echoing a classic argument against distributing condoms in schools,  Senegal’s Minister of Armed Forces, Becaye Diop, asked: “But by giving them condoms, are you not encouraging promiscuity?”

Seems like a sensible idea to me.

The reluctance of governments and international organisations to donate funds directly to the Zimbabwe state as presently constituted, as opposed to making laudable donations to non-governmental organisations, is understandable. But why not appoint one of the top four auditing firms represented in Zimbabwe to receive and manage all funding from governments and international organisations? Read more

Ten kilometres out of Chegutu the melancholic sign post for none other than “Madzongwe Road” tells a story in itself. It is the road to our farm. The sign is bent and faded and tired looking. Maybe it looks a bit like us. If the Prime Minister were to turn off here, the first white-owned farm he would come to belongs to Retief Benade. This farm, like every other, is also under siege. There is no chance of police assistance for the farmer here as the invader is a senior policeman himself. What else can one expect in what has become a police state? Mr Benade realised he would not win. In desperation, last month, he sold his entire beef and dairy herd of a few hundred animals, including his breeding cows. They did not go to another breeder, they went for slaughter. No one buys breeding herds in countries where investments are not protected. Breeding herds are long-term investments – phenomena that have become obsolete in the Zimbabwe of today. Mr Benade has taken his expertise to Zambia. To go elsewhere in Zimbabwe would be asking for trouble. The farm invasions are wide-spread. That is the undeniable truth.

Read Zimbabwean farmer Ben Freeth’s request that Morgan Tsvangirai wake up and speak the truth here

Stand by your beliefs stand firm even if  you stand t o lose your very livelihood.
When your enemy is down kick in the teeth repeatedly.
Choose a very public forum to insult you enemies; do a good and thorough job of it.
That way you divert attention from your transgressions.
You are always right it’s everyone else who is wrong.
If they don’t agree with you to hell with them who do they think they are.
Pretend to agree with some of your opponents.
When they gain your trust.
Stab them in the back.

I recently traveled to Tsholotsho, after about a two year absence. I once stayed in Tsholotsho for about four years. I was a teacher there until I decided writing poetry, drama and raising a few opinions about what Mugabe and company are doing wrong once in a while was more fun than breaking chalk.

For years now I have been getting the same warning from family and friends.

“Wazakubulala wena.” Meaning they will kill you, like they have killed countless others who dared be in opposition with them.

I recently visited Tsholotsho and as expected Mbamba sub-station is manned by police officers who all come from other provinces other than Matabeleland. They can hardly speak the Ndebele language and how the ‘government’ expects them to be effective boggles the mind. The fact that Shona police officers have been imposed on us did not surprise me really – that has been the case since Gukurahundi.

What really shocked me was that the Shona boys who are police office officers at Mbamba sub-station think it is within their rights to beat up citizens. They have even convinced the villagers that the law allows them to beat up villagers. The time I was there the boys beat up three married women old enough to be their mothers and had the audacity to summon the headman of the village and ‘punish’ him for not teaching his people the law.

And we dare say Zimbabwe is a democracy?

Most of us when we were growing up fell for a boy or a girl and thought this person was so special that he or she could not be replaced.

A lot of teenagers have committed suicide for refusing to accept that the person that they have fallen for is no longer interested in them, or the parents have decreed that the affair must stop.

It is only after much learning and the process of growing up that one discovers that which had been taken for the truth is not exactly true, love on its own should never be reason to contemplate ghastly things. You learn that love is respect not infatuation. Respect for the one you have chosen as partner and a feeling you don’t want to cause them unnecessary suffering, embarrassment, but happiness.

You discover also that human beings are not exactly infallible, but are prone to mistakes. It is this experience, more than anything that teaches us nothing is better than everything else. But strangely, this is not known by our Prime Minister Morgan Richard Tsvangirai. In his view, his President Robert Mugabe, is irreplaceable. He has supported this belief on more than one occasion to hundreds of our youth who are curious and likely to take his sentiments for the truth.

The dominating view is that Mugabe has presided over the worst period in our history. There is nothing that the all-inclusive government can do, to change this. Tsvangirai would be best advised he represents the hopes of millions of both opposition, apathetic voters, including disgruntled former ruling ZANU-PF supporters who want the best for their country.

Tsvangirai must stop behaving like a pugilist who comes close to deliver an important knockout punch to his opponent, but crumbles, ceding advantage to the adversary.

He must seek to please, but truthfully. As Zimbabweans we are prepared for the pain that will make our country well again, forever.