Statements making a whole lot of sense have just come in from a grassroots meeting held in Shamva and organised by the Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition. Maybe these demands go without saying but just in case cabinet ministers are fuzzy headed from their Vic Falls shindig here’s a reminder of what people on the ground are expecting from the inclusive government.

- People should be resettled after their displacement during the elections in 2008
- An autonomous compensation fund should be established to assist those affected by political violence
- The Shamva mine should be reopened as the people of Shamva depend on it for their livelihoods
- All perpetrators of political violence must be brought before the law
- David Coltart, the newly appointed Education Minister must review schools fees because most people cannot afford them
- Politicians must be held accountable for their actions and we must avoid the immediate post independence complacency
- The constitutional reform process must be participatory and people driven
- The airwaves must be opened to allow diversity of expression
- There must be a transparent difference between political party activities and state activities

When they torture your mother
plant a tree
When they torture your father
plant a tree
When they torture your brother
and your sister
plant a tree
When they assassinate
your leaders
and lovers
plant a tree
When they torture you
too bad
to talk
plant a tree.

When they begin to torture
the trees
and cut down the forest
they have made
start another.

- Alice Walker, from Horses Make A Landscape Look More Beautiful

Some media reports state that the unity government has been successful so far. Morgan Tsvangirai thinks so too.

We all have a different view of what successful looks like, but lets look at a couple of things:

1) The unity government has gotten teachers, nurses and doctors back to work on the unlivable, and therefore unsustainable, allowance of US$100/per month.

2) Because civil servants are back at work doesn’t mean that the actual institutions are functioning. Hospitals don’t have light bulbs let alone medicines.

3) Tsvangirai states that the resuscitation of the agricultural sector is at the heart of Zimbabwe’s recovery, and that ongoing land invasions are responsible for donors withholding funding. Tsvangirai promises to arrest land invaders; he fails to act.

4) The bonding and what to do for the next 100 days retreat resolves that prisoners must be fed following the shocking expose of appalling conditions in Zimbabwe’s prisons. I’m looking forward to seeing the plan and the actual implementation, not just the Victoria Falls Declaration.

5) In just about any other country, the head of a prison service that presides over a system of starvation would be fired. Why has Tsvangirai not called for Zimondi’s dismissal?

6) Recent reports have exposed the fact that there are thousands of “ghosts” on various payrolls. For example Zanu PF youth militia. They are being subsidised by the unity government. This means that legitimate civil servants who actually turn up for work, like teachers, are paid less. What will Tsvangirai do about this?

Does Tsvangirai have any real influence or power in this political arrangement? Because it looks like he’s all about rhetoric rather than the ability to act.

I spoke with someone today who has an inside track into the MDC. She said that one of the reasons why it was good that the politicians went retreating to Victoria Falls is that they would have been interrupted, or not bothered enough to turn up to sessions in Harare. Makes you shudder doesn’t it? That our politicians need to be flown and put up at great expense because they aren’t professional or serious enough to do their jobs properly in Harare.

Meanwhile there is gathering outrage over the speedy profligacy of the new Government.

Robert, a Kubatana subscriber had this to say:

I am equally angered about the issue of Mercs. How many teachers can we pay from just saving on 1 Merc. Those beasts cost at least US$40 000 and that would be 40 000 teachers on US$100 allowance, can you imagine at least 50 of those machines….shame! I am really not impressed with the insensitivity especially of MDC Ministers. I am also not impressed by what I seem to see as the mindset of MDC as shown by the rhetoric coming from Minister Biti. I know the government is broke but I also don’t understand this issue of flying all over the world trying to borrow money we know we are not going to be able to pay back. Since independence our government did not borrow anything close a billion USS$ at once and we are going for at least $5B, who is going to pay for it? Why are we running to borrow from others when we have not tried to make sure that the money we have is allocated and used effectively. Why can’t we for example reduce the size of the cabinet and executive as a starting sacrifice for the people of Zimbabwe. Until and unless the cabinet is trimmed to suit our pocket, I will not take MDC, Biti and the unity governement seriously.

And an interesting article by Tanonoka Joseph Whande with the amusing title of Victoria Falls, here comes your Prime Minister with extra baggage! is worth reading in full but here’s an excerpt:

The Government of National Unity (GNU) has been in existence for less than two months now. Since February the main actors in this government have been contradicting each other at almost every turn. We have three unnecessary presidents, along with three Prime Ministers who are superfluous to our requirements; all complemented by more than 71 cabinet ministers and countless permanent secretaries. It appears that they are tired already and needed to seek renewal. They all descended on Victoria Falls over the weekend. As a Catholic I am familiar with retreats. When priests are under pressure and need invigoration and renewal they go on a retreat. Listening to and carrying the transgressions of all the sinners can leave any priest drained and powerless. The Oxford dictionary says a retreat is “withdrawing from confrontation with enemy forces”. It is also “a withdrawal to a quiet or secluded place” or just “a period or place of seclusion for prayer and meditation”. Which one of these descriptions best fits Zanu-PF and the MDC in Victoria Falls? Was it prayer and meditation; withdrawing from confrontation with enemy forces or simply the first stop of the GNU gravy train? Less than sixty days into office, the work horses of Zimbabwe’s government of national unity are so tired that they need to go on a retreat. And they are did it at Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe’s most expensive tourist destination.

The planet tipped north
celebrating equinox in a pink flush at dawn and dusk

Already the sun sends shafts of rainbows through the crystal on the A-frame
and cold fingers reach out and touch
my cheek in the early morning the manikins have returned to the seed holder
the bush babies to the fruit tray
the tall summer  grasses begin to fall

It has been some time now, to find words to speak of the present

We watch our own chaos with a strange compassion
who else could understand all is the same all is different

The dictator still waves his fist
takes the last farms with brutal violence
arrests the opposition
controls the media
the army
the police

and the new ministers drive their Mercedes
in a show of wealth
in the face of the people who voted them in

there is no currency below 1 US$ (R10)
change is bartered and bargained
given in eggs or sweets

SADC tells the west to pay for our salvation
despite the evidence of continued abuse and corruption

Noel and his small family have been evicted from their one room
Wadzi and her children have been evicted from their cottage

rents are exorbitant as landlords try to make a living out of small rooms
hundreds of dollars beyond what is possible
dignified and hard working people back on the street – without jobs

the intensity and immediacy in which life unravels
shakes the system

so we wait in a stunned silence
still with dignity
where there should be devastation
still with humour
where there should be despair

counting the rainbows

A battalion of government ministers, deputy ministers, permanent secretaries and other various hangers-on start a retreat in Victoria Falls today to get to know each other and set some benchmarks for progress in the next 100 days of the unity government.

Apparently the World Bank is supporting this weekend away. I’m wondering what on earth the World Bank is thinking when it invites and supports such lavishness in the face of Zimbabwe’s extreme humanitarian crisis. Just look at the photograph below and consider that while the Zimbabwe government can’t afford to feed the prisoners they incarcerate, they are happy to wine and dine on retreat.

In the World Bank’s rush to wank the boys in suits they fail to acknowledge the extreme injustice they perpetuate with their donor dollars.

Stop feasting mr ministers and start feeding