Here are some excerpts from an article by Xan Rice writing for The Guardian Weekly. His piece is about the Kenyan government of national unity, how the government has done well for itself, while the poor eat “air burgers”.

Sounds a lot like Zimbabwe.

Evans Akula lost his Mercedes but got the message. During a late-night carjacking in Nairobi a few weeks ago, the assailants asked the Kenyan MP: “When will you people give us the new constitution or the jobs that you have promised?” The question encapsulated the main concerns in Kenya today: the urgent need for political reform and accountability, and the growing struggle of the mwananchi, or common man, to get by.

Poor people skip meals, eating “air burgers”, as the local saying goes. Government attempts to help the poor have been half-hearted at best, reflecting not only lack of money but a skewed sense of priorities. In the recent budget, finance minister Uhuru Kenyatta revealed that the projected revenues for this year would not even cover the state’s running costs, which went up steeply when Odinga and Kibaki nearly doubled the number of ministries to reward allies with seats.

To save cash Kenyatta announced that no government official would be able to drive a vehicle over 1800cc – the local Mercedes dealer quickly advertised several models at 1796cc – but several ministers said they would ignore the directive.

In Harare there are two annoyances motorists have to constantly be on the lookout for: hungry traffic police and potholes.

I have just collected one of my tyres from Montagu service station after parting with a hefty $40 to get it fixed.  Harare is one of those cities in the world where potholes morph into sinkholes. Yesterday I drove straight into a crater I couldn’t circumvent because of oncoming traffic. In any case it was the kind of road where you can’t exactly avoid potholes because they just look like Swiss cheese.   If I had any close associations with individuals like his honour, Justice Cheda, I would also probably be able to sue and demand compensation from either the city council or government. Members of Parliament have asked for brand new 4x4s citing the bad state of roads that are prohibiting them from visiting their constituencies.  To them, 4x4s seem to be the only solution though compounded by lack of money/will/interest to repair roads. The majority of roads now just need to be repaved. I shudder to imagine the nightmare of happening upon lethal water filled sinkholes come rainy season. I wonder if any of the $950 million credit lines from our ‘all weather friend’ China could be channeled towards road repair.

This morning I was allegedly  ‘nabbed’ for running the ‘orange’ on Tongogara and Prince Edward Street.  In Harare, it is a complete waste of time to try and explain anything to traffic cops most of whom I doubt have drivers’ licenses or understand the mechanisms associated with driving. The bored looking cop came up to my window and asked me how my day was. Good, I said. How is yours? Bad, he said. Because he had no money in his pocket, he explained. But he was sure I could share what I had. A minute later and ticketless, I drove off with a clear conscience because I’d rather feed that hungry looking fellow and his family with $10 than part with $20 that supposedly goes to the ‘state’ in the form of spot fine. I reasoned to myself that some of the cops fleece us because they are underpaid and have a genuine need to clothe, educate and feed their families. The ‘state’ is not using the collected spot fines to repair roads and traffic lights. Only God knows if that money is not part of what lines the pockets of and sponsors shopping sprees in Malaysia by you-know-who.

Dictionary.com defines patriotism as devoted love, support and defense of one’s country, national loyalty. In confusing love of our country with support of bad leadership, we’ve lost our sense of Patriotism. Yet patriotism is within the reach of ordinary citizens and something that we desperately need a lot more of. It’s spreading the word when something good happens and realizing that not everything in this country has to revolve around party politics. Patriotism is refusing to bribe a police officer and insisting that he follow the letter of the law for our traffic (or other) violations. It’s paying our taxes when we have to and buying Zimbabwean products to support our manufacturing industries. Its letting our neighbours who haven’t had water for years get water from us when we have boreholes. Its letting someone else go at the dead traffic lights. Its even turning the lights off when you’re not in the room to save electricity, not just for you but for the whole country. Patriotism is standing up for the Zimbabwe we believe in. Being Zimbabwean, regardless of who or where we are is something we should all take pride in. Working toward the Zimbabwe we all want to live in is something we should all do on a daily basis. It doesn’t require grand national gestures. Oftentimes it is the littlest things that make the biggest difference, it just takes us to keep an eye out for them. What have you done for Zimbabwe lately?

We got this report yesterday from a subscriber in Harare. If you have witnessed similar harassment, or know others who have, please email info [at] kubatana [dot] net.

This afternoon at about 2.30pm I saw vendors scattering in all directions dropping their vegetables and running for their lives.  The scene was just off 7th Avenue in Harare next to Greenwood Park.  All but one vendor got away.  I pulled up next to the plain clothes men who called themselves “policemen” and asked them what they thought they were doing handcuffing this obviously terrified young man still holding a packet of carrots. He knows his fate. He will be taken to the Police station where they will beat the hell out of him.

We have 90% unemployment and now the police (?) militia (?) are hell bent on depriving people from earning an honest living.

The “police” told me it had nothing to do with me and that “according to the Kariba Draft constitution no one is allowed to sell anything without a licence”.  They were rude, arrogant and threatening and typical of what we in Zimbabwe have now come to expect from the so called “law makers”.

I mean, hello.  It’s okay for state agents and the so called law enforcers to overtly steal the country’s diamond wealth, loot the reserve bank, steal farms and farm equipment, but it’s illegal to attempt to make an honest living vending vegetables.  We are right back into the 2005 Operation Murambastvina.  Note the timing.

This is the beginning of what Zanu PF will no doubt dub “Operation Accept the Kariba Draft” – and it will be done in the only way that Zanu PF know how, through violence, torture and abuse.

Perhaps we need to counteract it with VOZU – Vendors of Zimbabwe Unite!  Stand up for your rights, this is your last chance!

I recently traveled to Tsholotsho, after about a two year absence. I once stayed in Tsholotsho for about four years. I was a teacher there until I decided writing poetry, drama and raising a few opinions about what Mugabe and company are doing wrong once in a while was more fun than breaking chalk.

For years now I have been getting the same warning from family and friends.

“Wazakubulala wena.” Meaning they will kill you, like they have killed countless others who dared be in opposition with them.

I recently visited Tsholotsho and as expected Mbamba sub-station is manned by police officers who all come from other provinces other than Matabeleland. They can hardly speak the Ndebele language and how the ‘government’ expects them to be effective boggles the mind. The fact that Shona police officers have been imposed on us did not surprise me really – that has been the case since Gukurahundi.

What really shocked me was that the Shona boys who are police office officers at Mbamba sub-station think it is within their rights to beat up citizens. They have even convinced the villagers that the law allows them to beat up villagers. The time I was there the boys beat up three married women old enough to be their mothers and had the audacity to summon the headman of the village and ‘punish’ him for not teaching his people the law.

And we dare say Zimbabwe is a democracy?

The First All-Stakeholders’ Conference for Zimbabwe’s new Constitution is set to begin later this week. Zanu PF has been asking that the conference be delayed, but the Parliamentary Select Committee insists it will go on as planned.

A lot of the debate about the new Constitution has revolved around the controversial Kariba Draft, and the question of how participatory the Constitution-making process will be. The National Constitutional Assembly has withdrawn from the process, insisting that the creation of a new Constitution needs to be people-driven, not Parliament-driven. They have also prepared a document highlighting the shortcomings of the Kariba Draft Constitution.

Less publicised has been the efforts of Zimbabwe’s marginalised communities to make sure their concerns are addressed and their human rights guaranteed in the country’s new Constitution. For example, a document by the Gays and Lesbians of Zimbabwe (GALZ) outlines the reasons why sexual orientation should be included among the freedoms guaranteed in Zimbabwe’s new Constitution.

This document does not only argue for greater Constitutional protection for the rights of gays and lesbians. It also makes important points about a democracy’s need to protect the inalienable and inherent rights of all minorities, including the right to privacy and equality.

Fundamental human rights, existing by virtue of the holder’s very humanity, cannot be bought or negotiated, and cannot be reduced to a mere privilege dependant on State beneficence. As they derive from attributes of the human personality they exist perpetually and universally for all people and for all nations regardless of historical, cultural, ideological, economic or other differences.

I believe the more inclusive, participatory, and people-driven Zimbabwe’s Constitution-making process is, the stronger the document which comes out of it will be. This means not only including representation of a range of minorities at the All-Stakeholders’ Conference, but also protecting their rights in the document which is developed – regardless of the majority opinion about the “worth” of a community or the “morality” of their behaviour.