I really am stumped by co-Home Affairs Minister Theresa Makone’s insistence that the police have been reformed. The implication is that all is rosy in Zimbabwe’s law and order department. But if that’s the case, how can a young man be jailed for a year and sentenced to hard labour, as in the SW Radio Africa story below, simply for calling an 86-year-old man old.

Man jailed for one year for ‘insulting’ Mugabe

A 23 year old man has been sentenced to a year behind bars with hard labour, for ‘insulting’ Robert Mugabe.

On Friday Chipinge provincial magistrate Samuel Zuze handed down the stiff sentence to Gift Mafuka, who was accused of make an “insulting” remark to two children wearing pro-Mugabe T-shirts. Mafuka apparently asked the boys why they were wearing T-shirts, picturing an old person with wrinkles.

Mafuka was found guilty of contravening the Criminal Codification and Reform Act, by “insulting the office of the President.” However, his sentence was reduced by two months on condition he does not call Mugabe ‘old’ again in the next five years. Mugabe will be 91 by that time.

Human rights lawyers have called the sentence “political” as Mafuka’s comments could not in any way be considered a crime. The lawyers have encouraged Mafuka to appeal, saying his conviction and sentence were unlikely to stand up in a higher court.

May we suggest to Mr. Mugabe that he checks in with his plastic surgeon the moment there is a window of opportunity in his busy schedule, as clearly he is in need of a top up of the Botox he has on a regular basis.

Alex Bell, SW Radio Africa

In honour of his 50th birthday year, blogger and social commentator Rejoice Ngwenya launced the 2010% campaign in March.

In June, he said it was confession time, and demanded redress for the atrocities of Gukurahundi.

Celebrating his 50th birthday today, Rejoice sent us the piece below.

On a day, today, 10 September 2010, that I turn exactly fifty [50] years old, I would like not just to celebrate life in abundance, but also take a twenty-four hour ‘moment of extended silence’ to ponder over those who lost their lives.

In particular, I grieve with my sister Doreen whose daughter Tracey passed on under the cruel pain of leukaemia in England. Moreover there are those twenty thousand citizens of Matebeleland and the Midlands provinces of Zimbabwe – some of which I have heard of – Moliat Ndlovu, Cwayi Bhebhe, Charles Loxton, William Loxton, Dayan Loxton, Gifford Matandaware et al – who perished in the 1980s under the bayonet of Gukurahundi. Mr and Mrs [Luke] Khumalo, the intellectual couple of Tekwani High School, Plumtree, Zimbabwe, are yet to be accounted for, having given their entire lives to impart knowledge on thousands of young people.

My question: at a time when the coalition government of Robert Mugabe, Morgan Tsvangirayi and Arthur Mutambara pretend to offer the people of my country a chance for peace, why are the perpetrators of the heinous and barbaric acts of Gukurahundi still roaming free? ZANU-PF, under whose control the blood-thirsty North Korean-trained Fifth Brigade chose to waste innocent lives, has yet to confess its crimes against humanity. On a day, today, 10 September 2010, that I turn exactly fifty [50] years old, thirty [30] of those having lived under a brutal authoritarian dictatorship, I would therefore like to propose that ZANU-PF show their remorse by acknowledging that they were wrong, and instead of concentrating on further violating the liberties of white commercial farmers and black human rights defenders, invest money and time in financing a monument at Entumbane, Bulawayo, Zimbabwe – so we can forever remember those whose lives they needlessly took. In celebrating life, I therefore acknowledge the existence of death.

How will you make your birthday a day of action?

In our newsletter yesterday, we shared a story from the Mail & Guardian about the new Freshlyground video “Chicken to Change” which Bev Clark blogged about last week.

According to TimesLive:

Top local band Freshlyground have added a cheeky spin to the music video of their latest single, Chicken to Change, as they challenge Zimbabwean president Robert Gabriel Mugabe’s leadership. In the song, lead singer Zolani Mahola sings about what a noble “supernova” Mugabe was, but then says that somewhere along the way, he fell.

One subscriber shared some of her reflections in response:

First impulsive comment: Freshly Ground will never be allowed into Zimbabwe now or ever for as long as the chicken hasn’t changed!

Reflective Comment: Powerful metaphor that speaks for all silent Zimbos . . . WE NEED CHANGE! It’s a pity we can never be bold enough to CHANGE THE CHICKEN . . .

An after thought: The non-chicken party may consider adopting this as their counter jingle to the chicken jingles we so tired off listening to on national radio. It surely would top the charts!

In response to our email newsletter yesterday, here are some comments on the state of affairs in the City of Harare:

The roads at Warren Park D area are terrible especially from the Pfukwa Shopping centre down into 139th  Street. The roads have been like that (pot holes) for more than ten years now and one wonders what is happening? Is it because the people who stay there are not human like any other people, say those who stay in Borrowdale? Or is it because the cash people from that area pay for amenities is value less (Zim Kwacha) as compared to the USD paid by those who stay in Borrowdale? Please . . . the City Council should follow in Jesus Christ steps for not being a separator of people because– nobody is superior to others. Zimbabwe is an Independent country so there should be fair play and EQUALITY FOR ALL !

I totally agree with the sentiments expressed on this network regarding services offered by the city fathers. Although they have bought trucks to collect refuse in most suburbs the individual homes are not being provided with polythene bags that help to hold the litter before the trucks arrive which come once a week. This could be done by giving the housing assistants the polythene bags as they deliver the monthly accounts especially in high density suburbs. The other way would be to tender refuse collection to communities in the suburbs who are able to determine as and when collection should be done rather than once a week. Monitoring can then be done by health committees within the same suburbs. Reports on how each sub –contractor is performing will be sent to the respective officials for further monitoring and recommendation. This will ensure that each suburb is in charge of its health issues.

Tommy’s story all began in Lesotho where he lived with his birth parents. Shortly after Tommy was born his father moved to Johannesburg to work on the mines. When Tommy was ten months old he and his mother travelled from Lesotho to Johannesburg to visit his father. On arrival in Johannesburg Tommy’s mother discovered her husband with a girlfriend.

She attempted to stab her husband and his girlfriend, which led to her arrest. Tommy was then left at a shebeen for three months until a woman eventually phoned Thea who ran an orphanage called TLC. Tommy was taken in by Thea and TLC.

Tommy was constantly sick and his doctors had done various tests but were unable to come up with a diagnosis. He was admitted to hospital. The doctors said that he had three weeks to live.

Tommy was then diagnosed with HIV at the age of three. This changed Tommy’s life as he was put on ARVs. Tommy now had the chance to be a “normal kid”; he finally had the chance to go to school. He had previously been unable to attend school because he had been too ill. “I had a lot of catching up to do and I thank God every day for my medicines because they are the only way I can live a normal life.”

Tommy found it extremely frustrating to go to school with people who are completely ignorant about AIDS and HIV. Who would have thought that in this day and age teachers would be advising their students not “share lunch boxes with people with AIDS”. They advised his fellow students to “cover their mouths with a shirt when you are around people with AIDS.” Tommy is currently a prefect at Randor School and is involved in talking to children at various different youth centres about living with HIV. He shares his story with other youths his age in the hope that it may help them.  Tommy believes that he can help and teach others from his experiences.

Human rights lawyer, Beatrice Mtetwa, pictured above, was honored for her outstanding contributions in defending human rights, people’s freedoms and promoting peace in Zimbabwe at a recent event held by the NGO, Restoration of Human Rights Zimbabwe.