Poetry International is currently featuring poets from Bulawayo. The poem, Martha’s Tavern, is by Lilian Dube, described by Poetry International as ” a young poet of mixed race: her father is Ndebele and her mother is Russian. She is an upper-sixth student at Speciss College. A recipient of the Joshua Nkomo scholarship, she has also won a scholarship to do her tertiary education in the United States of America.”

Martha’s Tavern,
The braai is a colourful affair
Someone’s burning the beef
Sipho
Is being beat up
By his wife
Jeered on by his cronies
Listening to the 7th remix
Of DJ so&so
Converse soles upon
The polished dance floor
Sweaty boys!

Deliwe
Naked in her skirt
Smelling out prey
Pretty nose . . .
Infusions of warm smoke
Tobacco . . .
. . . marijuana?
The cobbler is on his 8th
And enjoying it
Eyelids of a gecko
Heavy
Wondering why
Everybody has
Two replicas in tow
& he can even feel
His beard grow –
Even Deliwe by the bar
Doesn’t look like
His brother’s daughter anymore.

As the Constitution outreach process draws to a close, and talk of 2011 elections is already beginning, we received this disturbing report from Women in Politics Support Unit (WiPSU) about political violence in Rushinga:

It is with great sorrow and concern that we have been informed that 17 women political activist were beaten in what is alleged to be politically motivated violence in Rushinga this week. 3 of these women were also allegedly raped. The 17 women were bought into Harare yesterday Tuesday 26 October 2010 for medical care as they have suffered various injuries including broken ribs and limbs. We call on political parties to discourage their members from subjecting women politicians to violence. This is a clear example of how the militarization of politics affects the participation of women as political actors.

The Cool Carbon Club held a cleanup on Sunday, 10 October. Half in Ward 17 and the other, down King George from Lomagundi to Kensington shops. Each group had a city tractor and trailer to take away the collected garbage. Over one hundred people, three schools, and various people actually picked up litter, while others sorted it into recyclable piles. We got many comments from passer-bys (which was nice, but why don’t they DO something too!) so maybe there will be less litter thrown out of car windows etc.

I am always amazed at people’s attitudes: I won’t litter my car, instead I’ll throw my rubbish out the window. After all, the ENTIRE WORLD is my rubbish dump. And the ENTIRE WORLD is my servant who must collect it all up and make the surroundings look pretty again.

From a Kubatana subscriber:

Raphael’s weekend off

I took Raphael; our gardener of two decades, to his home situated some 30kms north of our scruffy city.  I started by asking him if he wished to retire. “No I am only 52 and I have twins of four years”. I followed up by asking for his views on the talk of elections next year.  “We do not want elections as “they” will just come back and beat us. There is no one to stop them!”  This on the outskirts of the MDC stronghold.

We turned off the Domboshawa tar road at a “business centre” called Crossroads.  I soon picked up a large, imposing man with a shaven head. On our right was a cemetery with freshly borders to each grave.  I issued a compliment. He said, “This is our Heroes Acre where liberation fighters are buried. I am Petro the area co-ordinator.” Or, in other words, the local Zanu heavy. ” My area has 1,400 households each with a few families as the people in this place are polygamous.”

Raphael and Petro struck up a conversation.  Soon I dropped this man Petro off – he had transformed immediately into a thug in my mind.  Raphael seemed relieved that we were back to the two of us. “That is the man who, with his youths, will beat us when the elections start.”  Such synchronicity.

We drove into Raphael’s home down a goat track to find his wife pounding maize, three goats (one very thin) in a pen awaiting their daily reprieve to forage the close shaven couple of hectares. His four kids ranging from 19 to 4 years of age, greeted their father smiling. He had returned with six bags of fertiliser.

The Konrad Adenauer Stiftung Foundation, in collaboration with the Mass Public Opinion Institute hosted a conference recently for politicians, civil society and scholars to share their perspectives on Zimbabwe’s Transition. Among the presenters was Cyprian Nyamwamu who shared some experiences of Kenya’s transition.

In concluding his presentation Mr. Nyamwamu made the following remarks:

Monitoring and enforcing accountability in government must be made a systematic process that is carried out by political non-state actors. In Kenya this has been largely successful except that the entrenched culture of impunity makes it to secure behaviour change and governance.

The state cannot be left to reform on its own. It is the role of forces outside and inside the state to escalate the demands for reforms. This requires a deliberate construction of democratic movement that galvanises the energies to force democratic negotiations about the future of our democracies be it in Kenya or in Zimbabwe. Innovative strategies for ensuring sustainable reforms can only be realised if reforms are held within a political and transitional justice framework where reforms are broad rather than confined to some formal changes that do not open up the state to concerted reforms.

In Zimbabwe like in Kenya, democratic reforms and political transition shall not be sustainable without a thorough transitional justice agenda where public and private citizens, officers and groups get to account for violations and injustices that may have been committed in the past. A new democratic state and cohesive nation cannot be expected in countries where victors’ justice is the order of the day and where impunity has taken root.

There is need for the Inclusive government of Zimbabwe to be sustained even with it inherent limitations until the national democratic project is delivered. V.    It is our view that elections in Zimbabwe before 2013 shall not add value to the Zimbabwe democratic deficit. It is feared that elections before 2013 may precipitate a return to the multiple socio-economic, humanitarian and political crises that were witnessed in the aftermath of the 2008 elections.

It is hoped that the democratic forces in ZANU-PF, MDC, civil society, the private sector and other sectors of the political economy shall adopt an attitude of ‘no reforms no elections’. Reforms here must mean both reforms on paper and in the real world. Reforms cannot happen if the only logic of the political actors is power for the big boys. Those in power must be convinced including through positive sanctions to embrace and champion reforms for the sake of the people and the nation.

SADC must construct a better national democratic reform framework for Zimbabwe than the current one. In the 1989 Poland political Transition example, the President was offered assurances and immunities and Western European countries invested economic incentives into the reform pact that saw the end of the monolithic one-party state rule. This is important seeing as is the case that unlike Kenya, the international community seems ready to leave Zimbabwe to suffer on the ropes for longer. In the Kenyan case in the wake of the post election crisis, the international community made it clear that Kenya was too important to be left to Kenyans alone.

Hello everybody in yo great organisation! Please send me the much needed news! We r tired of this tyranny. MDC is not doing enough 2stop zanu’s rot. Am afraid pple may b butchered again next yr if it remains like this. Please do something now!
- Text message to Kubatana