Recently Kubatana offered Brian Chikwava’s new book, Harare North, as a prize for the best bit of writing on the Diaspora. Here’s something from Martha in Bulawayo . . .

For me the Diaspora is any place outside Zimbabwe. This is in contrast with the main belief that the Diaspora is over the seas. I grew up in Tsholotsho and most men over the age of eighteen are in Egoli, as Joburg in South Africa, is commonly known. For me they are in the Diaspora. For the past thirty years or so this has been an increasing trend and it has led to an appalling lack of ambition. Boys dream of going to Egoli and girls dream of getting married to Injiva (a man working in South Africa). To me the Diaspora means a  total disregard for education, a break down of the family system (men working in South Africa only visit their families once or twice a year) and lack of achievement – although it might be argued that being able to  feed one’s family is achievement. But I believe if a person who could have been a doctor, an engineer et cetera ends up being a mere gardener in South Africa, there is a lack of achievement. The Diaspora has set an unreal sense of achievement so much that the youth, and in some cases adults, have totally lost focus. To me the Diaspora means a disturbance of a people’s value system and belief in themselves.

The Media Alliance of Zimbabwe (MAZ) has just withdrawn from the highly controversial Zimbabwe All Stakeholders Media Conference set to start tomorrow. They cite the re-detention of Zimbabwean activists as the reason for their withdrawal.

We need more of this. Much much more. Without this kind of public condemnation of the behaviour of the Government of National Unity (GNU) there will be no hope of achieving a return to the rule of law and respect for human rights.

I hope that others involved in the conference will follow the example set by MAZ and stand up for justice.

Shame on ANY of you who don’t.

05 May 2009.

Media Alliance of Zimbabwe Position Statement on the Re-Detention of Journalists and Human Rights Defenders.

The Media Alliance of Zimbabwe advises members of the Zimbabwean public, the Ministry of Media, Information and Publicity, and Members of Parliament of its decision not to attend the Zimbabwe All Stakeholders Media Conference scheduled for this week from the  6th to the 9th of May 2008 in Kariba. This decision was made following the re-arrest and detention of human rights defenders, in particular Zimbabwe Peace Project director Ms. Jestina Mukoko and freelance journalist Mr. Andrisson Manyere on charges that can only be considered political.  It is MAZ’s view that their re-detention represents an apparent abuse of the judicial process which undermines the spirit and letter of the Global Political Agreement, especially as regards the restoration of a political environment that is democratic and respectful of the rule of law, as well as cognisant of the urgency of ensuring the security and freedom of human rights defenders and citizens in general.

It is in this context that MAZ considers it impossible to participate at the government All Stakeholders Media Conference when human rights defenders and journalists such as Ms. Mukoko and Mr.Manyere, who are presumed innocent until proven guilty, continue to be targets of repression.

MAZ remains committed to engaging the government to ensure that genuine media law and policy reforms are made in a politically conducive environment, and according to the letter and spirit of the GPA.

Ends//

MAZ comprises of MISA-Zimbabwe Chapter, Media Monitoring Project Zimbabwe, Zimbabwe National Editors Forum, Voluntary Media Council of Zimbabwe, and African Community Publishing and Development Trust.

18 human rights activists including Jestina Mukoko have been re-detained on terrorism charges by the Government of National Unity in Zimbabwe. Morgan lets see some muscle; lets have some freedom. Now.

Francis Fukuyama reviews The Challenge for Africa by Wangari Maathai and Dead Aid by Dambiso Moyo.

But the truth is that these books have more in common than their authors may admit. Both women see sub-Saharan Africa’s fundamental problem not as one of resources, human or natural, or as a matter of geography, but, rather, as one of bad government. Far too many regimes in Africa have become patronage machines in which political power is sought by “big men” for the sole purpose of acquiring resources—resources that are funneled either back to the networks of supporters who helped a particular leader come to power or else into the proverbial Swiss bank account. There is no concept of public good; politics has devolved instead into a zero-sum struggle to appropriate the state and whatever assets it can control.

Huge congratulations go to the team that staged the Harare Festival of the Arts (HIFA) 2009. There’s been such a buzz in downtown Harare over the last few days lifting many people’s spirits. The opening show was evocative. Much of the feedback I’ve heard is that it was a bit on the depressing side and that the producer should have balanced the dark with more light. The HIFA producers once again didn’t shrink from telling it like it is and at one point the thousands gathered in the Harare Gardens watched a giant screen scroll the names of Zimbabweans who have died in political violence during the last year. The state-controlled Herald newspaper published a photograph of the fireworks that lit up the night sky but avoided any mention of the political content of the production.

Political statement was found just about everywhere. Ben Voss the star of Beauty and the B.E.E. had the jam packed Reps Theatre rolling in the aisles with a cutting satire on South African politicians. He also set his sights on Robert Mugabe who he situated in a horse race with the likes of Zuma and Zille. Mugabe was riding Genocide and Zuma was on Corruption. He ended his time on stage with a very pointed eulogy to Mugabe. The basic message was just get out of here already. It was curious to sense the discomfort in the audience as Ben moved from generally criticising South African politicians to specifically gunning for Mugabe. Have we ever experienced such direct public criticism of Mugabe, where we Zimbabweans have been encouraged to laugh at the small dictator? Bare our teeth at him in public? It showed me how far we all have to go to shrug off the effects of decades of oppression. I reckoned that Ben might be deported before his next show. I lost the bet. And I’m pleased I did.

Meanwhile an old blind woman begging on Julius Nyerere Street outside the main HIFA entrance clanked her two US coins in her small metal bowl. Most people walked around her. On Seventh Street, home to one of Mugabe’s mansion like houses, a tramp trawling the sidewalk picked up an old Coke can, gave it a shake, tilted his head back and sipped what was left.

My enjoyment of both Victoria, a Canadian production on aging, and a double bill dance show was lessened by the weirdness of some of the Zimbabwean audience. They laughed in all the wrong places. Whilst the interpretation of performance is a very personal experience there’s just too much conservatism in some folk here. The stunning Spanish dancer was ridiculed from start to finish by the people sitting behind me simply because he started his performance in a dress.

Oh wow – so radical!

Allegations, a play that looked at the troubles of a white farmer and a displaced Zimbabwean farm worker, gave us pause for thought about how similar we all are and how Mugabe has trashed our dignity no matter our colour. It was an outstanding production and deserves to be seen in all corners of Zimbabwe. I’m really hoping that it won’t go from Harare to Berlin in one swift plane ride as happens so often in this country.

Way to go HIFA for your courage and energy.

When Bill Gates suggested in his key note address at the ICTD 2009 conference in Doha that the time isn’t right to invest in Zimbabwe quite a few people took him to task. But one has to ask whether the people commenting negatively on Bill Gate’s statement on the Connect Communicate Collaborate blog would actually put their hands in their own pockets and invest in Zimbabwe especially when government entrenched corruption and fraud is par for the course in Zimbabwe.

I have maintained a Forex Currency Account (FCA) with Barclays for 5 years now with of course the usual complaints a customer has: tellers who take their time malingering etc. But this is a first and I have a feeling others could been in this mess. I have been doing regular withdrawals after getting confirmation from both the depositor and Barclays. And then this week I was told my account was OVERDRAWN. For me it was the case of the missing dollars that the legendary sleuth Sherlock Holmes would be well placed to sniff out. Why would a bank allow a client to overdraw an FCA, I wondered? Each time I walk in I ask if I have enough money to withdraw and it is only then that I make any transaction, but then this week, the money I was expecting and which was confirmed by the sender suddenly wasn’t there. The bank appears to have bit off more than it could chew as it took more than what I have! Now I’m told I actually owe the bank! How’s that for a new Zimbabwe. Something is terribly wrong here and I believe this is not an isolated case after reports that the RBZ has been dipping its fingers in the till. - Kubatana subscriber

and . . .

Recently Hivos, a Dutch development organisation, said it was demanding repayment from the Reserve Bank of a total of EUR90,000 which it said has not been accounted for from a total of EUR300,000 taken from its account by the central bank. The organisation has since opened a new bank account in Botswana. Last year, the Global Fund to Fight Aids, Tuberculosis and Malaria said EUR5.64 million was missing from its bank account in Zimbabwe. The money has since been returned. On 18 April, Reserve Bank Governor Gideon Gono, a member of Mugabe’s inner circle, admitted raiding foreign currency accounts. Gono defended the action, saying it was done to save the country from “maximum danger” due to difficulties arising from western sanctions. He also admitted in a statement to purchasing 29 vehicles for three state universities – Great Zimbabwe, Midlands State University and Chinhoyi University of Technology – using foreign currency in expenditures that were outside of the budget. - University World News (UK)

Until the Zimbabwean authorities clean up their act, Bill Gates is right to be skeptical.

As a Business Day article recently pointed out the Zimbabwean Government of National Unity figures that

obtaining international aid is based on a simple premise: after a few hiccups the country’s new unity government is running smoothly, so it’s time the world loosened its purse strings. Most governments with deep enough pockets to matter, notably the US and European Union (EU) members, have refused to buy into this rubbish.