Hypothesising about Zimbabwe’s next elections, a colleague commented that Zanu PF wouldn’t have to engage in much violence at all, but still would be able to control much of the population through the threat of violence. The image she used seared my heart: Beat a dog badly enough, and eventually all you have to do is show it the stick and it will cower.

Several months ago, I was throwing steaming hot coffee grounds out in my garden, and accidentally splashed some on my dog, who came running past at the same moment. To this day, he runs away, tail between his legs, if he sees me pick up the coffee pot.

Yesterday I got a text message that fourMDC activists had fled their homes in Mazowe, following threats by “Zanu PF militia members.”

A recent meeting organised by the Organ on National Healing was disrupted by Zanu PF youth militia.

The headline of today’s statement from the Youth Agenda Trust caught my eye: Herding sheep with wolves.  How can Zimbabwe even begin to speak about national healing when harassmet, intimidation and violence persist? What hope is there for any future election if people continue to feel threatened – and therefore cower?

The recent disruption of a conference organized by the Organ on National Healing and Reconciliation by ZANU PF youth militias and self proclaimed liberation war veterans in Harare on Saturday 22 May is a clear indicator of the dark cloud of political polarization and intolerance characterizing the Zimbabwean political terrain. The national healing, reconciliation and integration programme which came as a result of Article 7 of the Global Political Agreement signed between ZANU PF and the opposition MDC is yet to make any meaningful progress or impact on the ordinary Zimbabweans. The national healing process despite being led by three senior members of each of the three political parties in the GPA has frantically failed to achieve its intended objectives of reconciling the polarized communities and fostering cohesion and tolerance amongst people with different political and ideological orientations. This recent outbreak of violence at such a high level decision making conference should be strongly condemned in the strongest terms possible and should also be treated as a serious warning to the Zimbabwean political leadership over the implications of a snail pace reconciliation programme crafted by three political elites whose implementation plan is totally disconnected from the people who have been the victims of three decades of genocide, misrule and political conflict. It is sad to note that ZANU PF  through its Harare provincial leadership continues to abuse youths within their party structures to be agents of intolerance through their traditional busing and disruption of national events such as the Constitution All Stakeholders Conference and the National Healing Indaba.

The chaos also came in the wake of recent media reports highlighting the possibility of the nation going through an election in May next year. The Youth Agenda Trust would want to reiterate that free and fair elections are only feasible under a new, democratic and people driven constitution. The continued political bickering characterizing the constitution making process coupled with the lack of political will and insincerity in the implementation of the national healing programme as highlighted in the Global Political Agreement remain as the major setbacks towards a free, fair and democratic election in Zimbabwe. A partisan state media, compromised electoral commissions, a partisan security sector and the general unwillingness to respect the constitution by some elements of the executive are a few of the many indicators of the negative political environment for a free and fair election in May 2011.

In conclusion Youth Agenda Trust calls upon the leaders of the inclusive government to reconsider their strategy towards attaining national healing and reconciliation. In fact the commitment and capacity of those appointed to administer this important exercise should be urgently critiqued. A proper national healing framework based on the principles of  transitional and restorative justice which is adequately funded from the national fiscus and interested partners which employs a down to top approach remains a key recommendation by the Youth Agenda. The reported plans to re introduce the notorious and violent Border Gezi national youth training programme should be halted forthwith and the political leaders should collectively speak out against the abuse of young people for political expediency.

- Youth Agenda Trust

Zimbabwean activist Rejoice Ngwenya has just published a new article . . .

Who would have thought that at this landmark stage in my life, this only year I will turn 50, I would once again read the Daily News, The Mail, The Daily Gazette, The Worker newspapers? Is it not your eternal sense of generosity that finally manifests itself in the multiplicity of print media? Those who pour scorn on your act of magnanimity know little of your history. Allow me therefore to pay homage by chronicling your unprecedented and amazing acts of benevolence for the benefit of perpetually ungrateful sceptics!

Your highness, Supreme leader for life, Head of this and Commander-in-Chief of that, may I remind the unholy cabal of reactionary sceptics that it is by your self-sacrifice that our country ever tested real democracy! Growing up as a young man from the rural areas, I would visit city relatives and see public toilets written ‘whites only’. Now as a grown man in Harare, I visit commercial farms and see plaques written ‘blacks only’. You are truly a great man!

In the 1980’s, you acted like a real mature father by disciplining a small clique of unruly dissidents in Matebeleland who were destabilising your flourishing socialist country. Although there were minor incidents where twenty thousand civilians lost their lives in what Americans would term ‘collateral damage’, your acts of courage resulted in the dignified submission to your authority of one Joshua Nkomo, hence the peace and tranquillity that prevails since then.

Your highness, Supreme leader for life, Head of this and Commander-in-Chief of that, in 1990, you inspired, through your fatherly grip of Parliament, the removal of the clause that ring-fenced the political and property rights of residual Rhodesian elements. This was the beginning in the long journey of Zimbabweans being in charge of their destiny. As you always say, Zimbabwe for Zimbabweans, Britain for British and America for Americans. If I may add, Your highness, Supreme leader for life, Head of this and Commander-in-Chief of that, Mercedes Benz cars for the Germans. We would rather use scotch cart presidential convoys as a true reflection of our endangered tradition than being sucked into the material gluttony of the misguided European Union!

In the 1990s, you continued to protect us from the vagaries of Western intimidation by again inspiring Parliament to retain the state of emergency. Like any father, children must be protected from unknown adversaries. You acted in our best interest, because you knew then as you still do now what is good for us. The West has brought civilisation, but at high cost: pollution, national debt, homosexuality and reckless media that attempts to seek truth through invasion of privacy!

Your highness, Supreme leader for life, Head of this and Commander-in-Chief of that, I should dwell a bit on the issue of invasion just to show your immortal benevolence. When distant neighbour Laurent Kabila was under threat of invasion by combined Ugandan and Rwandese forces in the guise of ‘rebels’, you single-handled repelled the military misfits into the jungles. Your detractors came out guns blazing alleging that your soldiers were looting diamonds using national resources at a whopping one million United States dollars per day! What hogwash! Whoever heard of a ‘cheap’ war? I’m glad to mention that your act of courage has resulted in strong bilateral ties with the Democratic Republic of Congo, and our experience of guarding diamond mines is now paying off handsomely at our very own alluvial Chiyadzwa Diamond Mines. Those detractors who claim the country is not benefiting from Chiyadzwa cannot explain how Your highness, Supreme leader for life, Head of this and Commander-in-Chief of that, you can afford to attend most international conferences and African presidential inaugurations with one hundred of your staff without a single cent from the immature MD-something party minister of finance!

Another act of invasion is the gutter press. Your highness, Supreme leader for life, Head of this and Commander-in-Chief of that, at one time you had to use your good judgement to discipline journalists and newspapers that falsely claimed you paid Lobola for someone or your committed party members beheaded a villager. After having forgiven them, they abused your immortal benevolence until you requested your able minister for information to legally shut all of them down. Those British and American journalists who insisted on reporting half-truths about human rights were politely requested to leave. All humans, especially Zimbabwean ones, have rights, so why would anyone keep talking about it?

Your highness, Supreme leader for life, Head of this and Commander-in-Chief of that, in the late 1990s, your good acts of generosity were again on public display when fifty thousand destitute freedom fighters were empowered by your personal gifts of money. The ugly face of detraction again reared its head by false allegation of favouritism, plunder, corruption and abuse of state funds. How a father can give his children money but be accused of all this beats my mind! There are some white good-for-nothing bushconomists who claim that was the beginning in the collapse of our economy. How untrue? Do they want to ignore the negative effects of racist Bretton Woods institutions whose force-fed liberalisation prescription laid the foundation for Zimbabwe’s economic demise? Your highness, Supreme leader for life, Head of this and Commander-in-Chief of that, you acquired your knowledge from the candle light of prison cells while these motor-mouths revelled in the bright lights of Harvard, Cambridge, Oxford and Rhodes, but they keep being overpowered by their ignorance of basic economics principles!

Your highness, Supreme leader for life, Head of this and Commander-in-Chief of that, I would like to conclude by thanking you for giving us land. All acts of generosity will be immortalised in the anus, I mean annals of Zimbabwe’s history. It is not your fault that beneficiaries are abandoning the land to lie fallow. Now am even more excited that you are planning to give us mines and industry. These belong to us and so as we wait for the newspapers that will start operating due to your immortal benevolence, Your highness, Supreme leader for life, Head of this and Commander-in-Chief of that, I hope that they will desist from gutter, yellow journalism that fails to appreciate your good deeds. If I have inadvertently insulted you by singing  these praises due only to Your highness, Supreme leader for life, Head of this and Commander-in-Chief of that, I your humble servant, submit myself to the punishment that befits my transgression.

Speaking with photographer Doug MacLellan recently, he mentioend that he was considering publishing a book of photographs he’s taken at a mission hospital in Zimbabwe, with the working title “Looking for Hope.”

It seems to be a popular theme. I was reminded of this when I saw the title of Philip Barclay’s recently published book. I used to really enjoy reading Philip’s blog on Global Conversations when he was based at the British Embassy here.  Now I’m looking forward to getting a copy of Zimbabwe: Years of Hope and Despair

Financial Times newspaper (FT) decided at the last minute to pull this Amnesty International ad targeting oil giant Shell this month. Amnesty is asking you to share the ad that FT wouldn’t publish and make sure as many people as possible see it.

The ad, which was due to appear on 18 May, the day that Shell was holding its London AGM, focuses on the poor human rights record of Shell in Nigeria. It compares the company’s US$9.8 billion profits with the consequences of pollution caused by Shell for the people of the Niger Delta in the past decades.

Amnesty says that in Nigeria “numerous oil spills, which have not been adequately cleaned up, have left local communities with little option but to drink polluted water, eat contaminated fish, farm on spoiled land, and breathe in air that stinks of oil and gas.”

Amnesty received an email from “FT” the night before saying the paper was not going to run the ad. Yet, Amnesty said, “We gave them written reassurances that we would take full responsibility for the comments and opinions stated in the advertisement.”

The Amnesty ad ran in two other London-based newspapers the day of the meeting. The funds to pay for the advertisements came from more than 2,000 individuals online.

To take action, share the ad on Facebook, Twitter and on your blogs.

I have come to realize and know the people who matter in our country. They are not the high and mighty in posh cars with fancy suits sitting in big leather furnitured offices. The people who matter are the ones in the streets making ends meet doing various jobs to put food on the table for their families. I would like to call these people Zimbabweans who make Zimbabwe work! I am on a mandate to give them their space to shine.

I was talking to a kombi driver, who to me, is among the people that make Zimbabwe work. Being a kombi driver is not a last resort for Simon Chirombo. He has invested time into it and has no plans of leaving the driving business. In fact he has hopes of driving trucks so that he is able to see the world. What motivates him everyday from 5am to 9pm is a selfless drive for the upkeep of his family.

The kombi driving business is not spared from troubles just like any other business under the sky. He says that there are kombi drivers who do not bring dignity to his profession and all of them have been painted with the same brush. He says people do not trust kombi drivers; that in people’s eyes drivers are out to cause trouble, but in reality it is not the case. There are some kombi drivers like Simon who respect and value his customers.

Just think how hard it would be to make it to work, home or anywhere else if kombi drivers decided to stop working – so many of us depend on them. For those of us not blessed with cars as yet, we depend on the kombis to make traveling from point a to b possible.

Actually, just thinking of the VIP delegation interruption at Doon Estate today, I went to a really interesting event put on by the Alliance Francaise in Harare. It was a production called On The Edge featuring juggling, dance and acrobatics. The performers were outstanding. So Thanks A Lot to the organisers. The one blemish on the evening was being kept waiting for over half an hour. It seemed like we were waiting for the French Ambassador and his wife because the show Suddenly Started after they took their seats in the front row. Show some respect Monsieur. Last month Zimbabweans were treated to countless productions that started on time during the Harare Festival of the Arts. I didn’t ever think that I’d say that Zimbabweans keep better time than the rest of the world!