In case you didn’t know, Kubatana has done some audio interviews with some great Zimbabweans over the last couple of years. Some of our audio interviews include a chat with Fadzai Muparutsa, Programme Manager for Gender with Gays and Lesbians of Zimbabwe about her experience of representing her organisation at the World Social Forum in Kenya.

Musician and trade unionist Raymond Majongwe sings it out and says: “I will continue doing what I think is right and I will continue singing what I like at what ever cost, or price that has to be paid.”

Fiery political opposition activist Kerry Kay expresses her outrage after witnessing police brutality on the streets of Harare. The strength of her resolve is illustrated in these words after her incarceration

it has made me even more committed to our beloved country, to see democratic change, and the rebuilding of so many shattered lives, hopes and dreams.

Pastor Sikiani who is doing amazing work helping to enhance the lives of orphans in Goromonzi tells us that “If everything is led by God, nothing can fail.”

In our interview with activist and spoken word poet, Comrade Fatso, he describes the Uhuru Network’s street soccer activism campaign and says that they “are using street soccer to mobilise residents and encourage them to challenge the council and demand explanations as to why we are paying such exorbitant water rates”.

For more audio interviews check out this link

After Zimbabwe’s Independence Day on April 18th, we received this email from a member of the public

I would like you to inform the whole world that people were forced to attend independence day or they risked losing their stands at Mbare and Mupedzanhamo. That is why the stadium was full.  Some were forced in the streets to go and attend, this is not an independent Zimbabwe.

So, while Kubatana might not reach the whole world as our correspondent desires, we can at least reach a few of you out there in the blogosphere, giving you some Zimbabwean street level news.

Taurai, my groovy dread-locked work mate, just asked me what I was doing 27 years ago.

It’s hard to remember all the details (I’m 42 now) but I remember that I was living with my mother and brother in a flat in a complex called Hatley House on what was then North Avenue. We’d moved into Hatley House because it was sort of like a hotel which provided meals and with my mother recovering from a heart attack it made her life easier. It was close to Girls High School (GHS) where I was enrolled and also close to State House where Ian Smith had been riding out the last of his days in power.

Being white on the eve of Independence meant being fearful. At least this was true for me, a scared and unsure fifteen year old. Whilst many whites had already “taken the gap” as the saying went, and still goes, we had stayed put. It was a case of “let’s wait and see”.

When the clock struck 12 we looked out into the street. I’m not sure what we expected to see: hordes of revenge bent black Zimbabweans, military vehicles, crowds of revelers? Perhaps we breathed a sigh of relief because the Avenues were largely quiet that night except for the sound of random hoots from the horns of a few cruising cars.

The next day Mugabe’s Independence speech promised a better future, provided solace and encouraged reconciliation. Out on the street the mood was joyous. Everything seemed the same as before even while a momentous change had taken place.

I could tumble down that worn out path of saying “look how awful its become” but I don’t want to do that. I think that it’s important sometimes to just try and remember that time when everything seemed so possible.

A week or so ago, fueled by frustration about the awful treatment of activists in Zimbabwe, I telephone the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in Harare and asked to speak to their head of mission. I was put on hold for awhile, and then the receptionist gave me a good grilling on who I was and what exactly I wanted to speak with the head of the ICRC about.

So I said something like “well there are many activists currently detained who have sustained injuries whilst being zealously arrested and I think some of them need medical attention, and I was hoping that the ICRC might help in some way”. Not that i know a lot about what the ICRC does but hey, contacting them was better than Doing Nothing.

The receptionist said that she’d call me back and I specifically said that it would be good if it was soon because the situation, in my mind, appeared urgent. Well, here I am 13 days later still waiting for their telephone call.

In the meantime I managed to find the email address of someone who works at the ICRC and wrote to him about my concerns and mentioned that I had written to the ICRC’s head of mission. He replied saying that he’d forwarded my email to the ICRC’s top dog. That was on the 11th April.

Zimbabwe Association of Doctors for Human Rights is on record as saying:

In one incident, eight victims of police assault were forcibly removed from a private health facility, where police had first taken them, without the consent of doctors there. All eight had been denied medical care in custody.

Even with information like this the ICRC clearly sees no urgency in my request for assistance. Not even to write back saying that they don’t offer help in these circumstances.

Is it fear, arrogance or just plain ineptitude on their part, I wonder?

Today is the first day of a stay away called by the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU). I’ve had a bit of a drive around Harare and things seem slower but most businesses have opened – business as usual.

One of the emails I received today includes this information

We have been made to sweep the road with bare hands by the police and soldiers.

So restaurants continue to sell their sandwiches in the suburban shopping centre where I work, while late last night the police were hard at it making sure that Zimbabweans living in high density areas knew better than to stay away.

The workers of Zimbabwe on the front line of both state brutality and economic oppression deserve a clearer demonstration of solidarity from us all, especially business leaders who won’t engage either the courage or the leadership to support the stay away.

Maybe its how journalists and the media are paraphrasing Tsvangirai but I’d like him (or them) to get rid of two words. Threaten and Warn.

How many times have we heard Tsvangirai threaten to boycott an election? Now he’s at it again. Whether he’ll follow through is anyone’s guess.

He’s also hauled out the W word and he’s “warning” South Africa that unless they help sort out Zimbabwe then the World Cup Football due to be held in South Africa in 2010 will suffer.

If pressed (and why don’t journalists do a better job of this) I wonder what Tsvangirai would ask Mbeki to do? Possibly he’s delivered his list of demands to Mbeki in person but somehow I doubt it.

A couple of letters published in this week’s Mail & Guardian give Tsvangirai some pointers.

Christopher Merrett from Pietermartizburg suggests

Financial sanctions played an important part in forcing the apartheid government of South Africa to the negotiating table. Zimbabwe owes South Africa a reputed R2,4-billion for electricity. Now is the moment to call in the debt or switch off the power; and remove other financial lifelines.

And a group of South Africans who were involved in the Apartheid struggle recommend that the South African government

explicitly condemn the violent actions being undertaken in the name of Zanu-PF and the Zimbabwean government

end all defence force, security and intelligence collaboration

cease supplies of all military hardware, spares and servicing

cease to roll over all official loans to Zimbabwe

respond sympathetically to asylum requests from genuine Zimbabwean refugees

use South Africa’s influence in multilateral forums, ranging from SADC to the African Union and the United Nations, to increase the isolation of the Zimbabwean government

freeze the assets in South Africa of Zimbabwean officials and party leaders who have been implicated in repression and violence

These might do well as measurable concrete demands. Tsvangirai then needs to set a deadline for response. In the meantime hopefully he and his team will have worked out how exactly they intend to “blight” the World Cup Football in 2010.