Zimbabwe’s Parliament is currently on leave until October. In its recent Bill Watch (Review of Last Session of Parliament), Veritas noted that in the recently ended second session of the seventh Parliament of Zimbabwe, the Senate sat on 16 occasions, and the House of Assembly on 30 occasions. Parliament passed only six bills during this legislative year. Even when Parliament did meet, it was never for very long:

Normally sittings are on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday afternoons, commencing at 2.15 pm for the House of Assembly and 2.30 for the Senate.  Standing Orders envisage work continuing until 7 pm, but very seldom did either House sit after 5 pm.  There were a significant number of short sittings, when one or other of the Houses met only to adjourn after sitting for less than an hour  and sometimes after 10 minutes.   The Session was also marked by long adjournments – six weeks over the Christmas-New Year period, and a premature adjournment for more than three months from March onwards to allow legislators to take part in the Constitution outreach programme – which eventually only started at the end of June.

What hope do we have in a Parliament-led Constitutional reform process when these are the same politicians who don’t take their elected responsibilities?

How do you feel when you get your bill from the City of Harare each month?

We get charged for refuse removal, but in many suburbs, this seldom happens. We get charged for improvements. Yet pot holes are infrequently fixed, road signs are in disrepair, if there at all, the grass on verges is uncut, litter is strewn everywhere, shopping centres like Kamfinsa look like a war zone and very few street lights work.

Yet, according to a recent Combined Harare Residents Association (CHRA) news alert, Harare’s Mayor, Muchadeyi Masunda, will not review the large salaries that are being paid to some employees within the council. Apparently the salaries top the US$8000/month mark.

CHRA rightly points out that the money that residents pay each month goes straight to the city’s salary bill and not to service delivery. Amusingly, the Mayor suggests that paying council workers less will result in high staff turn-over and therefore compromise service delivery.

What service delivery? Can’t see any where I live, can you?

Support the work of organisations like CHRA and their calls for rates boycotts and litigation if the Mayor doesn’t take residents concerns seriously.

According to IRIN (humanitarian news and analysis) one third of Zimbabwe’s children are chronically malnourished, and Zimbabwe is in a perpetual state of humanitarian need. While Mugabe tells the US and Britain to go to hell, these countries feed the people that Zanu PF have failed.

Journalist Jan Raath tells us that “Chiadzwa, is regarded as the richest diamond find of the century. Over the past nine months, rudimentary mining only in one small area of the field has reportedly yielded 4 million carats, worth around 2 billion US dollars.” Read more

Where is this money going?

In a Kubatana newsletter in June we asked our subscribers to state what they believe to be the most serious political issue in Zimbabwe today, and suggest a solution. Please read the submissions below and let us know which one tops Your list.

1. Inability to consider the impact of one’s actions and how this affects others, the environment and future generations.
2. Consider the impact of my actions on a daily basis and to teach this by living it out in my life.

1. The social or political issue in Zimbabwe is that leaders stay in power too long. They know that they have cases to answer to and that the law will catch up with them.
2. To have new broom and have all new leaders and I am sure from this you will have a country with actual laws.

1. The only serious or critical issue in Zimbabwe is governance. Once this country is properly governed all the shortages of everything required for a person to live a common life will disappear.
2. What is required is not only the change of government but a democratically elected government with a democratically minded leadership. All I can say is that the shambles we are in at the moment is caused by mismanagement. Zimbabwe is rich but where our natural resources are channelled is a mystery. All the government arms are corrupt so unless we appoint dedicated and dynamic leaders in all government institutions we will become poorer and poorer when our country is rich with natural resources which require committed people to manage.

1. I am convinced that the most serious political issue in Zimbabwe is greed. All our political leaders tend to forget their past promises in pursuit of self aggrandisement. Had it not been for greed, our dear comrades from the MDC could nave quit this malfunctioning inclusive government. But because they still have porous backgrounds to fill the Mudzuris are being quite bitter about being called under performers.
2. I think the most practical solution is to have a leadership code that determines what those in power should own and how much money they earn.

1. I consider the Constitution Making Process to be the most serious social or political issue in Zimbabwe. We can only come up with a meaningful constitution if it really represents the needs of the people of Zimbabwe. However, one is bound to question its credibility if the outreach phase is marred by violence.
2. The three principals should facilitate campaign awareness programmes to stop violence during the outreach programmes. In addition, the legislators should not stifle the process by demanding exorbitant allowances. Finally, the sample should be representative for validity and to avoid bias.

1. Zanu-PF
2. Trials

1. The most serious political issue is the Dictatorship of Zanu-PF.
2. This can be solved through the unity of the people standing up and speaking with one voice.

1. I think the most serious political issue in Zimbabwe is the probability of having free and fair elections.
2. The only major step to solve the problem is coming up with a constitution that that gives a platform for free and fair elections.

1. The most serious social or political issue in Zimbabwe is leaders who cling to power regardless of their failures to rule the country.
2. The practical steps I would take to address the issue is to highlight to them the areas in which they have failed.

“If you’re going to kick authority in the teeth, you might as well use two feet.” Keith Richards

Zimbabwean activists and journalists should explore using the much talked about WikiLeaks web site as a conduit for exposing the corruption and profiteering of those in power in Zimbabwe. Apparently WikiLeaks receives an average of 30 classified documents every day from sources around the world. Read this extensive interview with Julian Assange, the inspiration behind WikiLeaks.

Many prisoners incarcerated in Zimbabwe’s prison cells are suffering from a lack of food, clothing and medical attention. A recent meeting with a community activist who visits a central Harare prison each week made it clear that prisoners need our help.

Here are two requests:

1.    Old ice cream or any other plastic containers are desperately needed as makeshift plates.
2.    Many prisoners do not have any shoes. If you have old shoes, especially size 7 and up, please consider giving them a new home.

If you can donate one, or both of these items your help will be very gratefully received. Please contact Kubatana via our web site to find out more and get details on a drop off point.

Read community activist Theresa Wilson’s account of assisting Zimbabwean prisoners here

If you haven’t any charity in your heart, you have the worst kind of heart trouble.
~ Bob Hope