At the unveiling of its flag Mthwakazi Liberation Front Vice President Edgar Gumede told the NewsDay that:

“It is time we face reality. The naked truth is that we are under black colonial rule, masterminded by the Mugabe-led regime. It is not true that we in MLF hate Shonas. No, no, no, we don’t! We hate the colonial system of government that they imposed in Mthwakazi.”

This is a South Africa based party, which was launched to protect and safeguard the interests of Mthwakazi State.  But one wonders who are the Mthwakazi and who are they fighting against and who colonized them in the first place? If my memory serves me right MLF supporters clashed with MDC supporters during the SADC summit held in South Africa a clear sign that the party is serious in its fight against any political party and tribe Zimbabwe, especially the Shonas. During the skirmishes MLF supporters went on to burn the Zimbabwean flag and recently the same party made news headlines when they said they wanted to unveil Mthwakazi flag and currency.

In my own view even if a new government comes to power MFL will continue with its struggle for independence. Whether MLF is a genuine party or not is a question that many people would ask since this party is only heard in the newspapers and operates mainly from South Africa.

In a follow up to my disappointment with the MDC’s cancelled Minister’s feedback meeting, I was interested to get a new text message last night from them:

You are invited to attend the MDC 12th Anniversary Rally at Gwanzura Stadium on Saturday 10 September 2011, Time 10:30am – 4:30pm.

So the community feedback meeting is cancelled. But not the anniversary rally?

It’s hard not to be cynical that this is because politicians find it so much easier to talk at people, rather than speak with them.

Late yesterday morning, I got an SMS from the MDC announcing an MP feedback meeting in Harare that evening. Finance Minister Tendai Biti, co-Home Affairs Minister Theresa Makone, Minster of State in the PM’s Office Jameson Timba and Deputy Justice Minister Obert Gutu were slated to attend.

Coincidentally our newsletter headline that same morning had been “Seen your MP lately?” And when I got the SMS, I was pleased with this example of Ministers making themselves available to the public.

But I was also frustrated to have gotten the announcement at such short notice – which made it harder to share with others and encourage more people to attend. But I put it up on Twitter and Facebook in the hopes of inspiring at least a bit of participation – only to learn later that it had been cancelled, at even shorter notice.

Nine people attended, the speakers never appeared, and one of the participants finally phoned a different MP, who told them the meeting had been cancelled.

So why announce a meeting you don’t intend to have? And why announce with such little turn around time that hardly anyone hears about it and even fewer people can attend? It left me cynical and sceptical. Do the MDC Ministers actually want to be seen – and heard, and to see their constituents and hear what they might want to say? That is do they actually want to deliver or receive the feedback? Or do they just want the kudos of being seen to engage the public, without any of the hard work of actually having to organise, listen, or discuss?

Pouring your heart out at an embassy or with embassy officials is not politics, its merely a demonstration of subservience. Whether they expected the American government to solve our problems we might never know, but the fact that they indeed went out of their way to brief them betrays a simplistic understanding of state politics and power.  Proximity to the American government is not necessarily proximity to the people of Zimbabwe. All the briefings that Zanu Pf and MDC politicians gave the diplomats, in their lucidity, have never been given to the people of Zimbabwe. Instead we have had media blackouts on what is transpiring in the inclusive government or in the parties that comprise it. When we are lucky we get half baked briefings in the run up to some  SADC summit while diplomats are spoilt for choice regularly. It would therefore be expected that from now on, our political leaders will begin to explain themselves more to us, the citizens of Zimbabwe as much if not more than they generally prostrated themselves before diplomats. Read more from Takura Zhangazha

People queuing for water, and carts carrying firewood, are now an everyday sight in the town of Chitungwiza. Chitungwiza gets the bulk of its water supply from the City of Harare but with the recent erratic water supply experienced by the capital city, a negative and severe impact can now be felt by the residents of Chitungwiza. Clean water, which is a basic necessity for everyone, is now a luxury for some residents. People have had to resort to digging shallow wells after going for weeks, if not months, without running water.  Residents now fear that the cholera pandemic, which caused havoc in 2008, is set to come back if the city fathers of Chitungwiza take their time getting their act together to resolve their differences with the City of Harare. To ease the burden a bit, UNICEF in conjunction with some NGOs, managed to drill a few boreholes in the town but since the demand for water has risen sharply, only a few can access clean water from the water-points.

To make matters worse, the pathetic electricity supply from Zimbabwe Electricity Supply Authority has created a scenario, which leaves one wondering if Chitungwiza is a town or rural area. Residents now resort to using firewood. Others, who can afford it, use gas or paraffin. Customer satisfaction from ZESA is now a thing of the past as residents only get electricity supply during the night or for less than 8 hours per day. No explanation or apologies for the inconvenience caused is given and the only thank you residents get is disconnection for non-payment and tariff hikes. During the Zim dollar era Chitungwiza Town Council and ZESA used to hide behind the forex shortage to cover up for their service delivery shortcomings. However now that forex is in abundance, clear signs of incompetence and poor administration are evident.

I drove past a Herald newspaper billboard today. The headline was something like “Prisoners gobble $1.7 a month”. Well first off the majority of Zimbabwean prisoners are starving. They don’t even get to gobble fresh air. Then there’s the issue that the reason why a great many of our prisoners are incarcerated, is because our economy has been so trashed by the political hierarchy, that stealing has become the one of the most common forms of “employment”. And then there’s our failed judicial system that keeps people in prison for much longer that they need to be because of the lack of capacity to take them to trial, on time. Never mind our prison population is really large so if you actually divide the $1.7 over the number of prisoners it would come as no surprise that this amount is no where near what’s needed to keep people from becoming ill or starving. Meanwhile a few ministers get $20 million to purchase luxury vehicles. Now that’s gobbling.