Only serious democrats must have celebrated the parliamentary boycott by more than half of MDC-T legislators on Tuesday 2 March 2010, against their leader’s call for the lifting of sanctions. For one, this incident is pregnant with meaning for our fumbling democracy and besides, the honourable members have a right to react in the manner they see fit.

This understanding could have been marred by the ZBC News reporter who had gone there to cover the story, but decided to give the nation his opinions instead, about the members of parliament involved in the fray. The language used against the legislators was harsh and to the effect that they were useless and did not deserve to be members of parliament.

It is clear this incident has ruffled a lot of feathers. Very few people will realize that it might not have been Prime Minister Tsvangirai’s wish to call for the lifting of sanctions, at least not for now. Even his speech suggests that it is a case of somebody holding a gun onto his head.

Certainly everything proves the matter is not top priority on MDC-T’s agenda. Nobody knows for sure that much has been done in breaking down the old order. There is still a lot of intimidation, and suspicion. What ZANU PF will have to realize though, is that while MDC-T leader Morgan Tsvangirai has played his role, even against such stern rebuke from his subordinates in the Global Political Agreement, it is the ZANU PF party now that will have to do most of the enormous work by providing sufficient, authentic evidence that all the suspicions are false and reports of acts of a criminal nature are without a basis, with guarantees that indeed there is no return to the party’s known terrorist ways.

And above all ZANU PF will have to convince their counterparts in government that they are doing something that deserves MDC-T support in calling for the urgent lifting of sanctions. It is ZANU PF that will have to mollify the aggrieved scores of MDC-T legislators whose memories are still fresh and thus are not ready to see things the ZANU PF way.

And to the honourable members of parliament who were brave enough to walk-out, you have made democracy work for the country. It is important to emphasize the vital point that there are thousands of Zimbabweans out there, who do not feel, like you do, that ZANU PF is tame enough to allow for the removal of the sanctions and for the holding of a free and fair democratic election. A lot more has to be done in stemming the levels of human rights abuse,  still prevalent in our society including giving Zimbabweans a truly democratic environment.

What we need not lose sight of is the fact that those whom we are calling upon to remove the so called sanctions were given compelling, graphic evidence that was used in the crafting of the legislation that put in place the said embargo.

The Government of National Unity will have to come up with an equally compelling dossier of facts that proves beyond any reasonable doubt that Zimbabweans are actively involved in the full implementation of the terms of the Global Political Agreement without a fear or favour.

But still, the situation has put a lot of pressure on ZANU PF, to prove to the international community that the party will never sink to the same stinking levels that it sank to in the years leading to the 2008 harmonized elections. ZANU PF will have to undergo a serious public sanitization exercise to rid itself of the stink that has associated with its image, if it is serious about courting the support of the electorate in the next election. For who, in his right frame of mind, would vote for a party that beats up its citizens, maims them, or even kills them for harboring views different to its own.

Unfortunately ZANU PF is not capable of change. The party and its leadership will not apologize to Zimbabweans for what it has put them through since it assumed power at independence, in 1980. It will not apologize to the people of Matebeleland and indeed the entire country for the horrors of the Gukurahundi genocide, not even for the untold human suffering caused by the destruction of people’s homes in the crazy state sponsored Murambatsvina program, or that of the economy or even the orgy of violence millions of Zimbabweans were subjected to in the run up to the 2008 disputed election.

Zimbabweans do not know that these people are sorry, or that they wont let these things happen again. A lot of people are still reportedly being harassed for making public their opinions. Public space is still being used exclusively for ZANU PF propaganda. Corruption and the politics of patronage is still the order of the day. The public is not convinced it is the sanctions that are solely to blame or that we should be crying about. ZANU PF will have to account for the collective administrative incompetence that led to the collapse of the once jewel of Southern Africa. And the party’s elite will have to explain their apparent affluence against the state’s bankruptcy. Somebody must be guilty!

No, we do not know that the Government of National Unity has done enough, in implementing the terms of the Global Political Agreement. As such, we cannot all be seen to be calling for the removal of targeted sanctions whose real impact on the masses remains public speculation.

To celebrate his 50th birthday this year, Rejoice Ngwenya has launched the 2010% campaign. Read and listen to some of Rejoice’s ideas here. Below, he explains more about the campaign:

In my native siNdebele language, when a woman delivers a baby it is said: ‘Sekhululekile!’ literary translated into English – she is free!  I have proof that chiKaranga version is ‘kubatsigwa’, meaning ‘to be helped’.  In retrospect, I do appreciate and thank my mother, who exactly fifty years ago this September  will have heaved a sigh of relief after being ‘freed’ with a set of twin boys, one of which is me. This gift had an even deeper meaning coming many years after this wise rural woman married to a sophisticated primary school teacher had had a human avalanche of five baby girls before then. The man was so elated – because those days it was considered  ‘taboo’ not to have baby boys – he showed his ‘rejoicing’ by sticking that label on my birth certificate! What cheek, now everyone who sees my name thinks I am one of those … girls. You are forgiven, Old John. May the God of Abraham remember to keep a place for you in the New Jerusalem!

And so it is for this reason that one Robert Mugabe says that he single-handedly ‘freed’, or ‘helped’ us Zimbabweans from the miserable pregnancy  of nauseating colonialism. We now supposedly collectively owe him a favour, having had tolerated his thirty-year grip on abusive  political power without so much as raising an eyebrow of resistance. “Zimbabwe is 100% free,” he bellows, “and this you ungrateful citizens owe it to me and, and, and my party ZANU-PF.” I’m like No! Old man, all you did was to change the colour of the skin of the tenant at Zimbabwe House from white to black, and that don’t make me free. If you, in 1980, gave me this defective form of ‘100% freedom’, I want the real thing. 2010% will do just fine, and so good bye. Take a break, a long break and nobody will even remember you were once part of my rugged political landscape. The more you hang around, the more I will remember Gukurahundi, DRC, land invasions, Murambatsvina, one billion percent inflation, empty supermarket shelves, poverty, hunger, oppression, petrol queues, AIPPA, POSA… and that’s not very healthy.

If you claim to have ‘delivered’ me from Ian Smith, how come three million of my friends are still hiding in exile? You claim you are free, but travel in a mile long convoy surrounded by Uzis, AK-47ns and ugly m*****f*****s?  Quiet some freedom, Old Man. I want to make it official now, there is no democracy around here, and I might sound so dam crazy! Elections every five years are not the best litmus for democracy. Sadam Hussein had elections too! They have them in Saudi Arabia, Egypt and the DRC, but that don’t make their democracy cool.

For now, democracy seems to be at the bottom rung of my ladder of priorities. Freedom first. No, your retirement first, then perhaps my freedom. Even great football players did retire – Edison Pele, George Best, Maradona, Roger Mila, Doctor Khumalo, Kalusha Bwalya, Zinadine Zidane and Peter Nyama. So what’s up with you Mdala?   You say Zimbabweans, or more accurately, ZANU-PuFfed Zimbabweans will decide when you should retire. Nice try. Fortunately, they are such a small proportion of the voting population, because at the last count in March 2008, you comprehensively lost. Here’s the deal: next time you look out of your tinted Mercedes Limousine escort car, you will see the ‘real’ Zimbabweans in T-shirts, caps and car stickers giving you five cool reasons why you should retire. Peer through the tint and marvel at the number of citizens waving the 2010% free flags. Ask your receptionist, she might even have 2010% free as her screen saver, then you know it’s time to hang your …. Manifesto.  Ses’ khululekile!

The retrogressive Anti-Homosexuality Bill is still being debated by Uganda’s parliament.  Uganda’s Civil Society Coalition on Human Rights and Constitutional Law is coordinating opposition to the  Bill within Uganda. Regionally, The AIDS Law Project and the Lesbian and Gay Equality Project in South Africa are circulating the following statement against the Bill:

Statement by African Civil Society

We, the individuals and organisations from African countries listed hereunder, recognise the universality of the human rights of all persons.

We affirm that the right of men and women to have same sex relationships is a fundamental human right.

We are further guided in the knowledge that all forms of discrimination, in particular against vulnerable groups, undermine the human dignity of all in Africa.

We are therefore profoundly disturbed by the nature, content and potential impact of the Anti-Homosexuality Bill (“the Bill”) that was recently tabled in and is currently being considered by the Parliament of Uganda.

We believe that the Bill, if enacted, will cut deeply into the fabric of Ugandan society by–

• Violating the rights of an already vulnerable and severely stigmatised group of persons by attacking their dignity, privacy and other constitutionally protected rights;
• Disrupting family and community life by compelling everyone, by the threat of criminal sanction, to report those suspected of engaging in same-sex sexual activity;
• Seeking to withdraw Uganda from the family of nations by reneging on the country’s international law obligations;
• Undermining public health interventions such as HIV prevention, treatment, care and support;
• Promoting prejudice and hate and encouraging harmful and violent action to be taken against those engaging in same sex relations.

We respectfully call on the Parliament of Uganda to reject the Bill in its entirety.

We also call on African governments and the African Union to call on the President and Government of Uganda to withdraw the Bill and to respect the human rights of all in Uganda, without exception.

They are seeking civil society endorsements of the statement.  Submit your endorsement before 12 noon on Monday 29 March (SA Time – GMT +2). Please supply the full name of your organisation together with your full name, office address, telephone contact details and organizational website. Please also indicate in your email that you have been authorised by your organisation to endorse the statement. Encourage others to also endorse the statement.

Please send your endorsement to Ms Adila Hassim of the AIDS Law Project at hassima@alp.org.za. Please copy your email to Ms Phumi Mtetwa of the Lesbian and Gay Equality Project  at phumi@equality.org.za

Savemore is a vendor in Harare. He says that selling roasted mealie cobs helps him pay for school fees for his siblings as well as the rent and food. His dream is to buy a car so that when the maize season is over he can buy fresh vegetables and sell them around the city. Because he has to put in long hours to make money to support his family, Savemore doesn’t think that he’ll get to see many soccer matches during the World Cup. Being proudly African, he hopes South Africa will win.

Rejoice Ngwenja rocks.

Kubatana.net recently interviewed him and you can read and listen to his views on a variety of critical issues in Zimbabwe on www.kubatana.net

In the meantime, below we carry an article by him entitled Scorpion in my Shoe, published by www.africanliberty.org

Thanks to Robert Mugabe’s reign of record-breaking incremental destruction, my country is struggling to redeem itself from the abyss of infrastructure collapse, so much that even hardcore urbanites like me have to make do with irritating wood smoke just to have a warm plate of sadza [Zimbabwe’s staple maize meal paste].    And that was without additional injury to the back breaking exercise.   A week ago, I was stung by a small black scorpion on my big toe as I chopped firewood to beat Zimbabwe’s notorious power outages.

The sting, while irritating, passed off just like any other experience of living in modern-day Zimbabwe under the Jurassic governance of the primeval ZANU-PF.  Thinking back, I imagined that Morgan Tsvangirayi was persuaded to take Robert Mugabe into his political boot, wherefore the old trickster settled at some dark corner until MDC fell into a stupor of artificial comfort.  But now, Tsvangirayi has been inevitably stung while he least expected.

Instead of focusing on the business of building high yielding relations, Mugabe continues to conspire evil against our nation hiding behind questionable legalism.  According to a recent Zimbabwe Situation news online report, “…. Mugabe is entitled under the law to assign functions to ministers, [but] he still has to consult his partners in government on the allocation of the ministries, according to the GPA”.  In complete defiance of this noble proposition, Mugabe unilaterally takes it upon himself to strip MDC-held ministries of essential powers.

Apparently, the biggest challenge confronting Tsvangirayi is not the quality of Zimbabwe’s coalition government, given that most such arrangements are products of large-scale compromise.  Agreements are made on the basis of partner credibility, honesty, consistency and transparency – traits which ZANU-PF is not exactly endowed with.  Most progressive analysts will agree that Tsvangirayi knew exactly the nature of the partner he was committing himself to, that is why he needed to have a comfortable stock of antidotes to deal with Mugabe’s chicanery.   More importantly, ZANU-PF is a completely discredited partner, headed by one Robert Mugabe who comprehensively lost the March 2008 Parliamentary Election, only to be ‘salvaged’ by an equally discredited one-man masquerade in June of the same year.

According to Professor Arthur Mutambara, the Global Political Agreement [GPA] is the only source of Mugabe’s ‘presidential legitimacy’.  In fact he would have proceeded to add that had SADC taken the right decision to call for a more organised, African Unity-supervised presidential re-run, Mugabe would now be confined to overdue retirement at his Zvimba rural home.  It therefore is astonishing by what authority Mugabe cherry-picks ministerial responsibility, if it were not that he is of a tyrannical genre obsessed with power.  I have argued time and again that our Zimbabwe government is too big and expensive, hence the shifting of ministerial powers would, on any other day, have little impact on service delivery.  And yet if you really put Mugabe’s juggling under the spotlight, he is only interested in ministerial adjustments that entrench his hegemonic hold on political power.

What is left now is for both Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirayi and his deputy, Arthur Mutambara to place an inexpensive political device that should shatter once and for all, Mugabe’s life-presidency ambitions. Both MDC cadres must come out of their friendly accommodative shells and tell Mugabe to fulfill all the provisions of the GPA. This is the opportune time for both men to stop making excuses for the aging dictator and embark on three-dimensional activism. The more sensible side of government – MDC – must promulgate statutory instruments to licence all applicants for radio stations and newspapers.  The democratic parties must dispatch all ambassadors, governors and appoint deputy minister for agriculture Roy Bennet.  Morgan Tsvangirayi and Arthur Mutambara must repeal all anti-democratic laws while all pubic appointments not sanctioned by the GPA must be nullified, including that of attorney general Johannes Tomana and central bank governor Gideon Gono.

The gist of my argument is that Robert Mugabe lost the election, thus has no moral high ground to play god.  Five million Zimbabweans have given both MDCs the mandate to govern, so the one-man political dance of the discredited Robert Mugabe has no authority or legitimacy to give five million voters a single sleepless night.  If both Tsvangirayi and Mutambara are weak, they should immediately hand over their power – Nigeria style – to more capable members of their parties.  This weakling image of subservience they are portraying does not augur well with our expectations.  It could also endanger their 2012 electoral standing in their constituencies.  Mugabe’s unpopular mandate expired in 2000, so any compromise on the part of Tsvangirayi and Mutambara is blight on the noble fight against ZANU-PF fascist dictatorship.  Luckily, we now know there is a scorpion in our boot.

And then again, the wonderful Nyemudzai trumps the ugly t-shirt. We spotted her walking up the steps of the National Gallery of Zimbabwe to celebrate the International Women’s Day events. Way to go girl . . . walking the streets of Harare with funk and fabulousness.