From Foreign Policy Magazine:

In his classic essay Shooting an Elephant, George Orwell describes an experience he had as a colonial police officer in Burma. Under public pressure from a crowd of townspeople, he puts down an out-of-control elephant against his own wishes, describing it as the moment he “first grasped the hollowness, the futility of the white man’s dominion in the East.” As the people of the town debate the merits and legality of his actions, he wonders “whether any of the others grasped that I had done it solely to avoid looking a fool.”

It’s tempting to wonder if any similarly penetrating insights or self-reflections have come to Spanish King Juan Carlos as he lies in the hospital, having injured his hip on an elephant shooting trip in Botswana that has ignited a firestorm of controversy.

In addition to being about the least politically correct way to spend your vacation (was the baby seal-clubbing junket all booked up?) the optics of this were pretty terrible at a time when more than half of young Spaniards are out of work and Spanish banks are facing yet another downgrade. Plus, it turns out that the king — who is Spain’s official head of state — didn’t inform the government that he was leaving the country and might have used public funds in the process.

Some leftist parties are calling for the king to abdicate or hold a referendum on returning to a republic. That doesn’t seem to likely at the moment, but the king may still want to stick to the beach next time if he doesnt want to join his country’s surging ranks of unemployed.

Zimbabweans text in their thoughts

Following a PlusNews story about discussions to introduce door-to-door HIV testing in Zimbabwe, Kubatana asked our SMS subscribers what they thought of the door-to-door testing idea.

We received over 600 replies, and have mapped the 250 or so that we could associate with locations using Ushahidi’s Crowdmap here.

This gives an interesting visual of responses from around the country. About 60% of replies came from Harare and its immediate surrounding areas, with the rest coming from around the country, including Bulawayo, Masvingo, Mutare and more.

Responses were mixed, with 46.6% respondents thinking it was a good idea, particularly because of Zimbabwe’s high HIV prevalence and the fact that many Zimbabweans still do not know their HIV status. However, many Zimbabweans (38.2% of responses) expressed concerns about the idea, particularly because of issues of privacy and human rights. Others questioned whether the idea was the best use of government funds and public resources. Some worried that, without greater availability of HIV treatments and ARVs, the testing would not make the desired difference to peoples’ lives. A healthy portion (15%) of replies expressed mixed opinions of the idea, or believing that it would only work with certain preconditions.

Some of the responses included:

• Door to door HIV testing is a gross violation of one’s fundamental right, why not door to door distribution of food basics as this a drought year?
• The idea is good. It should good go a step further by making it mandatory not just voluntary for partners to disclose their HIV status to each other
• I think the rights of people must respected the cant force people the money to do the exercise should be used buy medicines 4 the sick
• Its not fair to test HIV door-to-door because suicide rate will increase
• The issue of door to door HIV testing is not bad but the problem is, does our government have enough funds to supply the drugs to the millions if not billion HIV victims.
• Door to door HIV testing, I wonder what they would have done with our legislation without room for compulsory testing & the confidentiality clause incorporated in it. They must think before embarking on this endeavour.
• People must not be forced to get tested, they must do that voluntarily
• Government plan of testing people door-to-door is unfair, it’s just like sleeping with woman who does not love you. They must go to well-wishers.
• This is a very noble idea. This idea has more privacy. And may cover those who were to go and get tested at centres.
• That’s bulls–t!! If they do then what? Government must concentrate on bread & butter issues only.
• There will be no more human rights at all
• The idea is good, but people should not be forced to undergo the H.I.V tests.
• This is a good initiative which will go a long way a long way in trying to mitigate the pandemic
• HIV/AIDS is a pandemic, it is reasonable to take measure in a bid to eradicate the disease. A door-to-door VTC is best for our nation.
• It is very positive for people to know their H.I.V. status but more importantly their attitude after knowing their status.
• Door to door HIV testing is good if proper counseling is done also if resources permit.
• I well come door-to-door HIV testing. Some people are denied and some avoided and again some in remote areas such that they lack chances of being informed accurately. Thus they will be rescued from dying due to ignorance. Please try to speed it up if chan
• I would suggest testing be done to all patients who seek health treatment in hospitals.
• It is a noble idea on the side of the government, but on the other side it’s an abuse to those unwilling.
• HIV testing should be voluntary not by coercion. Door to door testing is tantamount to testing by coercion. Instead of embarking on such a campaign, government. Should channel the money to educating the nation on the advantages of getting tested voluntarily
• Good idea but can only succeed with cooperation
• The government + NGOs must make some rigorous campaigns to educate people about the +tive aspects of being tested & its benefits otherwise no one would be found at home.
• If testing is by choice it is a good move. It is a good strategy to bring the programme to the people rather than people going to the programme. It is a violation of rights if it is mandatory.
• Yes its costly but good. We must know our status. Why should HIV be a secret? Diabetics wear a wrist plaque. It should apply so we live positively.
• Door-to-door testing is a good thing but it should start with ministers.
• Door-to-door HIV testing will cause havoc in our country because some of these government officials are not elected by the people I am saying this because the government is failing to feed its people, for example Masvingo governor banned NGOs from feeding
• I think they can go ahead since AIDS is a disease, which is just like malaria. So everyone should know his or her status.

View more and check out the map here

And add your two cents about the door-to-door testing idea in the comments section below!

Does anyone honestly think a deputy minister can be bribed with 6,000 euros to write a  damning report about a fellow African diamond-producing country? Well, we know the alleged USD10 million bribe another African minister is accused of demanding from a diamond-producing company. Go figure.

I watch local news on the telly all day every day, and there is a worrying trend that misfits the GNU that makes a mockery of the role being played by other coalition colleagues. We have known for a very long time from Zanu PF that deputy ministers are not allowed on the Round Table when cabinet meets. Thus some people asked why we get an acting minister, a chap who already superintends another portfolio when there already exists a deputy minister who would by some people’s interpretation logically be expected to watch the gate when Mudenge for example is attacked by a bull. Yet this is given its improper perspective when you watch the news on national television.

From the ministries “led” by the MDC-T you get their deputies waxing lyrical about policy issues when in another place and time it is the minister as the top dog who would be grilled by the journos. But then we get these Zanu PF deputy ministers appearing on TV with alarming frequency you wonder if there is some kind of conspiracy to silence the other coalition voices and present very biased picture that it is these Zanu PF apparatchiks who are steering the troubled nation to placid waters. Thus it is that you get Udenge the deputy minister of economic planning gracing the television screen, Dokora the deputy of education oozing policy machismo, Bimha the deputy of industry and commerce going on and on about what I would rather hear from his boss. Why then not have other deputies like Gift Chimanikire and others if there is nothing wrong with the trend adopted by the news hacks? Good question that! Perhaps the Zanu PF officials are considered more telegenic, but then that’s highly debatable!

But then it is obviously about politics as usual – why show viewers the faces of ministers from parties that want to return the country to white-rule where blacks will once again be banned from walking on CBD sidewalks? Makes sense doesn’t it? We saw it even when there was this major launch of the schools IT project where the only story that emerged from IT Minister Chamisa was him apparently extolling the old president for initiating the schools computerisation programme. But I do feel like that guy who in a very dark night is busy winking at a girl he saw before the lights went out!

Is it not damn baffling that Home Affairs co-Minister Kembo Mohadi has told parliament that spot fines demanded by traffic cops is illegal? This according to a report carried by ZBC-TV in the 8 o’clock bulletin of 15 March 2012. Surely this has been happening long before the MDCs tagged along into this dysfunctional union, meaning Mohadi has superintended over this portfolio long enough to know the Acts like the back of his hand. Talk about ignorance of the law! Talk about  presiding over lawlessness! It does not get more abhorrent than that. No wonder then many here still view Zimbabwe as a lawless country, what with the ever rising public outcry about police corruption (and we read the other day the country’s top cop actually suggesting and with all seriousness that on-the-spot lie detector tests would do well in catching morally depraved cops who live-off motorists’ misery demanding bribes). But still, Zanu PF wackos imagine lawlessness as wanton violence, therefore the absence of that violence becomes a pointer that there is indeed rule of law in Zimbabwe! The syllogisms would be laughable if they were not a pointer to the dire repercussions they have on the lives of millions here. Such an admission from a cabinet minister elsewhere where democracy works, motorists and members of the public would be demanding this guy’s resignation. Better yet, he would be tendering his resignation in admission that he is an incompetent nincompoop. But what do you know, he continues head held up high, never mind the other court cases that have been splashed in the private media that would have long been cause enough for him to quit his post. With the court cases, how can his own cops serve and protect the poor villagers who dragged the Mohadi, the cops’ principal, to court? Then this. So many things wrong here.