I haven’t checked the maths but here’s something interesting sent in to us from a subscriber:

AFRICA

Robert Mugabe (Zimbabwe) age 86
Hosni Mubarak (Egypt) age 82
Hifikepunye Pohamba (Namibia) age 74
Rupiah Banda (Zambia) age 73
Mwai Kibaki (Kenya) age 71
Colonel Gaddafi (Libya) age 68
Jacob Zuma (South Africa) age 68
Ian Khama (Botswana) age 57
______________________________

Average: 72.4
______________________________

THE FIRST WORLD

Barrack Obama (USA) age 48
David Cameron (UK) age 43
Dimitri Medvedev (Russia) age 45
Stephen Harper (Canada) age 51
Kevin Rudd (Australia) age 53
Nicolas Sarkozy (France) age 55
Luis Zapatero (Spain) age 49
Jose Socrates (Portugal) age 53
______________________________

Average: 49.6
______________________________

DIFFERENCE: 22.8

I went to get my hair done yesterday, nothing fancy, just cornrows to get through the rest of the winter. Not being patient I knew that sitting in the hairdresser’s chair for close to three hours wouldn’t be easy. But I felt that the end justified the wait and the pain of having someone tugging at my scalp. I wanted a change. As I sat, watching the chaotic black-brown bush on my head become tame and transform into something new and orderly, it occurred to me that change is gradual, and sometimes painful. As much as I wished it were, change can never be an event, it is a process.

We are in the process of change. It’s difficult to tell what kind of change from one day to the next, or even if there is progression, particularly when sitting in the dark with a half cooked meal during winter.  But there has been change.

The signing of the GPA was met with much jubilation, celebration and most importantly hope. It restored many Zimbabweans faith in their country and to some extent their leaders. Suddenly there was talk of a working economy, and things like democracy and rule of law returning to Zimbabwe. At the time, that hope was essential, but the faith was misplaced. The GNU was not meant to be the event at the end of the process: it is the process itself. The Inclusive Government isn’t everything: it is not efficient, it is not incorrupt, it is not a democratic dispensation, and it is not a perfect solution.

But it is a solution. Almost two years after the GPA has been signed, we are very articulate about what the Inclusive Government is not, and what it has failed to do. A survey taken by the Research and Advocacy Unit late last year posed the question ‘Do you feel that the GNU has improved your life?’

Significantly most people answered no.

Perhaps the entire perspective on the GNU and its purpose is wrong. It was never meant to be a lasting solution to a problem that took several decades to create. It was supposed to be a vehicle for change. Not just political change, but also change within ourselves. This change is indeed slow, and often painful. Never the less it is a change.

Zimbabwe has three Cellular network providers that provide service all over the country. Of these three Econet is the largest outstripping the other two in subscriber base and profits. At the end of the last financial year Econet Wireless Zimbabwe declared an income higher than the government.

There is no doubt that Econet is a prime example of what hard work, determination and a little faith are able to achieve. Considering the odds that were stacked against the company at its inception, Econet provides hope for all future Zimbabwean entrepreneurs with a big idea.

But Econet may also be used to illustrate the effect of big business on little people. As the market leader Econet sets the trend for the Cellular network provider services industry. The Econet brand has been positioned as one that stands for progressiveness, integrity and one that is oriented towards satisfying customer needs. Econet Wireless Zimbabwe fails to meet its own values.

It is difficult to see the integrity in a company that must be asked to revise its tariffs downward after charging much more than companies in the rest of the region. Service delivery has progressively deteriorated as more subscribers are added to Econet’s books. A few months ago, Econet placed full-page ads in the national newspapers, thanking customers for making them number one in terms of subscriber base. This gratitude did not translate to any tangible value for customers. Neither was there an explanation for such bad service delivery.

Most recently, the company has rolled out a plan to increase coverage with its much-touted ’90 base stations in 90 days’ campaign. Yet the more pressing issue of network expansion is glibly dismissed as being in Econet’s ‘future plans’. This may be Africa, but we are not stupid.

Econet’s major competitors would be wise to take advantage of, and not make the same mistakes. Even the most faithful brand loyalist will migrate to a company that delivers the service that is promised.

This statement from Amnesty International summarises a number of the challenges facing the Constitutional Parliamentary Select Committee (COPAC) outreach process which began last week.

Restrictions of fundamental freedoms undermining credibility of constitution making process

Arbitrary arrest and detention as well as violence against human rights and political activists risk undermining the credibility of Zimbabwe’s just started constitution making process, led by the Constitutional Parliamentary Select Committee (COPAC).

All parties in the unity government should respect and protect the rights to freedom of expression, association and peaceful assembly and ensure that everybody has unfettered access to COPAC outreach meetings. Amnesty International also urges Zimbabwe’s security agents to strictly observe Article XIII of the Global Political Agreement which requires state organs and institutions to be impartial in the discharge of their duties.

Amnesty International’s calls follow reports of arbitrary arrest and detention, and beatings of civil society monitors working under the Independent Constitution Monitoring Project, which is jointly run by the Zimbabwe Election Support Network, Zimbabwe Peace Project and Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights.

On Sunday 27 June, three civil society monitors, Paul Nechishanu, Artwel Katandika and Shingairayi Garira were taken by ZANU-PF supporters to Scarffel Farm in Makonde district (Mashonaland West province) and beaten with logs.  Garira sustained injuries to his eardrum while Nechishanu and Katandika suffered head injuries.  The attackers also took the monitors’ mobile phones and money.  Two of the phones were later returned to them by the ZANU-PF supporters.

The beating of the monitors follows the arrest of another team of monitors – Godfrey Nyarota and Tapiwa Mavherevhedze, and their driver Cornelius Chengu – by police in Mutare on 24 June. The three activists were at Mukunu North Primary School in Mutare North constituency, monitoring the on-going constitution making process.  They were charged under Section 81(3) of the Access to Information and protection of Privacy Act (AIPPA) for practicing journalism without accreditation. They were released on $20 bail and remanded to 9 July. Reports indicate that the police arrested the three monitors in Mutare at the instigation of a well known ZANU-PF activist and a member of the Zimbabwe National Liberation War Veteran Association.

Another activist in Mutare, Enddy Ziyera, the provincial coordinator of the independent monitoring project, was detained for several hours and released without charge on 25 June after bringing food for the three activists in detention.

Again on 25 June, in Marondera (Mashonaland East province), three Movement for Democratic Change (MDC-T) activists, Rodreck Shamu, Themba Musimara and another man only identified as Mukunyaidze were taken by unidentified state security agents.  They were later found detained at Marondera police station and are yet to be charged.

Background

Consultations for a new constitution are provided for under Article VI of Zimbabwe’s Global Political Agreement (GPA) which explicitly states ‘the fundamental right and duty of the Zimbabwean people to make a constitution by themselves and for themselves’ and provides for the people of Zimbabwe ‘to hold such public hearings and such consultations as it may deem necessary in the process of public consultation over the making of a new constitution for Zimbabwe.’

Over the past six months, Amnesty International has been receiving reports of intimidation in rural areas where villagers were threatened with violence if they do not support ZANU-PF’s position on the new constitution.  Initially, the threats were meant to intimidate villagers into endorsing the heavily criticized Kariba draft constitution. The Kariba draft constitution, which was agreed in 2007 by the former ruling party ZANU-PF and the two formations of the MDC without public consultation, has been strongly criticized by civil society organizations as an attempt by the parties to impose a constitution on the population.