The generals in Zimbabwe are holding President Mugabe upright because they are afraid of the retribution that will come for what they’ve done under his regime. The same thing happens in other countries. And therefore you need to find a formula. In South Africa we settled on a formula of massive amnesty that actually went further than I wanted to go.

From: A Recipe for Freedom – Five lessons from South Africa’s transition to democracy. Excerpts from a recent speech by the country’s ex-president, F W De Klerk.

Read the article, learn the five lessons, on Foreign Policy Magazine

As a matter of record the following pleasing developments have been recorded.

- Carjacking and armed robbery of vehicles has virtually gone.
- The looting of goods, transiting our country from neighbouring countries, for example, copper from Zambia, is now a thing of the past.
- Fatalities in the roads have been reduced to the barest minimum.
- Chaos on the roads and the creation of unnecessary traffic jams has been minimized.
- Illegal operators have been flashed out.
- Though there are more cars on the roads and roads are narrower through lack of dualisation, the Zimbabwe Republic Police has managed to bring sanity to traffic movement.

An excerpt from: The State of Policing in Zimbabwe
An address made by the Commissioner General of Police Cde. A Chihuri at a Pass out Parade at Morris Depot, 23 February 2012

Mr Chihuri also said:

Let me state categorically that the reckless and misguided call to remove the traffic police from the roads is a non-starter. By nature of their job, Police operate from out there and not in offices. The Police must be vigilant and must continue to be out there to ensure total peace, security and safety of all, all the time. As Commissioner General of Police I will be grossly irresponsible to take the officers from the roads and accommodate them in offices just to lazy around. Their work is out there and they will remain out there. The Zimbabwe Republic Police will never tolerate any act of corruption, not only on the roads, but also in all areas of operation and within its rank and file.

Call for Conference Papers: Coping with Drought and Climate Change Project
Deadline: 30 June 2012

National Climate Change Adaptation Symposium
Theme: Building Climate Resilient Rural Communities / Past, Present, Future

The Environmental Management Agency with support from the UNDP is pleased to announce the call for papers for a national climate change adaptation symposium being organised under the EMA-UNDP/GEF Coping with Drought and Climate Change project. The symposium will be held in Harare from 6 to 7 June 2012. The symposium seeks to encourage dissemination and sharing of knowledge on climate change adaptation in Zimbabwe, and on ways in which the country can build resilience to impacts of environmental change on agriculture and food security.

Those with case studies on interventions that promise to build the resilience of agriculture to impacts of drought and climate change including variability, land degradation and desertification are invited t submit an abstract (250) words on any of the themes below by 16th March, 2012. Please include a paper title, author(s) names and affiliations, and a maximum of 50 words statement of how the paper fits into the conference theme. If the abstract is accepted, then the author(s) will be invited to submit a full paper (not exceeding 3000 words) by 30 June 2012. Please email your submission in either MS Word or PDF format to cwd [at] ecoweb [dot] co [dot] zw

Case studies may cover the following themes and related issues:

Theme 1: Evidence and impacts of climate change, drought, land degradation and
desertification in Zimbabwe
Theme 2: Roles of local and indigenous knowledge systems in addressing drought,
climate change, land degradation and desertification
Theme 3: Climate early warning systems and adaptation
Theme 4: Building climate resilience in agriculture (case studies from pilot projects
and research)
Theme 5: Adaptation costs, target, metrics, policy and financing

Got to confess to more confusion now. Short-term gain vs. long-term disaster is dumb, but makes a wee bit of sense. But this!

Last week someone from the accommodations at Avondale Police station drove into our Durawall. It was about 0300 in the morning but he woke someone up. It was a Toyota Prada, and the driver parked, got out, and walked into the accommodation area with a beer bottle in his hand. One section of our wall panels is destroyed. An initial report was made at Avondale Traffic – RRB 1331739, to a Sergeant, and next morning a couple of us went across to get the full story – TAB 228/12.

The full story we got was that we were making allegations that he was a policeman, or known to the police, and allegations that he was drunk. And why did we not get the licence plate number?

All well and good, these were allegations. We did not KNOW anything (except the wall was destroyed)!

So, we are back again the next day to see the right person, and the day after that, and finally we discover that an admission of guilt has been signed and a fine paid. “But, we want our wall fixed.” Come back and we will give you the papers on the alleged culprit, and your insurance company can sue his insurance company and and, and, …

Immediately I have to make a correction. “If he has signed an admission of guilt, it is no longer an allegation.” He has committed a crime.

Ah yes, well, come back …

And in the meantime, while watching the hole in our wall, we discover that a load of Durawall panels has been dropped off and it looks like the wall will be fixed. Which is fine. We have what we want. Our short-term gain is fulfilled.

But the criminal who broke our wall? (Allegedly a drunken policeman). There was definitely a conspiracy on the part of the police to cover up for him. First, they were not sure they could locate, or even identify whoever it might be. Then, we were making allegations against the police! Then, he was found, but even after signing an admission of guilt, he was still an ‘alleged’ criminal. And to date, no name has ever been given to us. However, he has a criminal record. He paid a fine. He is fixing the wall. What short-term gain did he get?

As for long-term disaster?

The police have serious mud on their faces. Smeared all over. They stink. And for what gain? First, they have not managed to harbour any fugitive, he was still caught and he has still paid for breaking the law. And now they, the whole Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP), are seen as an organisation that attempts to cover for criminals. The whole block of flats now believes the police are not to be trusted. Not to be given information. Not to be drawn into any activity. So even the good ones (and there are many) are seen as being less than ‘real men’. Less than decent humans.

After all, what would be the decent, human, ‘real man’, thing to do? It is an accident, a mistake, an error. And what does a decent human do when they make a mistake? They confess to it, and apologise. Go next door and say, “Sorry I broke your wall. I was drunk, it was a mistake, so sorry. I will fix it.” You have nothing to gain by not doing that. You still have your criminal record, you still have paid your fine, and you still have to fix the wall. So why not do it nicely?

Why drag the entire police force into it, and make them complicit, in your drunken mistake? You have gained nothing by doing it all underhand. You have only lost your credibility. And lost a good deal of credibility for the entire ZRP.

So, destroying your long-term future for short-term gain (like shooting all the rhinos to make money now, and making them extinct) may be more than just a little bit silly. But there is at least a short-term gain. It does make some, immediate, sense. But pissing away your long-term future for no immediate gain is just, well … not a course of action I would recommend.

It is sheer stupidity.

Cartoon: The Herald, 6 March 2012

The announcement recently that ‘litter bugs face arrest’ has been met with understandably mixed reactions. The requirement that shops and combi ranks have rubbish bins is welcome – but what good are rubbish bins if, as Bev Clark pointed out last week, refuse isn’t collected from bins, or elsewhere? Without regular, reliable rubbish collection, bins just over flow and become health hazards in their own right. Rubbish dumping is free at Pomona Dump on weekends – for those with the wherewithal to take their rubbish there. But the city needs to uphold its side of the bargain. Rubbish hasn’t been collected in my suburb for over three weeks. In desperation, residents have taken to leaving their rubbish out on the street day and night – on the off chance the city finally comes round to collect it – turning our entire road into an effective dumping site.

Months before elections, the MDC has yet to articulate its election manifesto, giving rise to speculation among observers that besides removing Mugabe from power, the party may genuinely be bankrupt of any ideas on how to move the country forward from its political and economic stalemate. In contrast, Zanu-PF has underpinned indigenisation and empowerment as its central election plank, and is going all out to boost its charm offensive among voters.

From www.timeslive.co.za