Had an good and interesting few weeks. Good places to go (Matopos), good meetings (different people), good meals (chocolate pudding), good conversations (some senior people), good listening (very outspoken, very un-Zimbabwean), and good information (some people just ‘know’ things), and some very trustworthy (old acquaintances).

So some of the things said, and realised, bear repeating.

“Why did you leave the MDC?” “Because it used to be a movement.” And it is claimed,by the questioner, that it still is. But I really do not think so anymore. So many contrary indications.

I remember as the Caucus assistant secretary for the MDC City Councillors, when Mudzuri was Mayor (exectuive, not ceremonial). That is, I was allowed to do all the work. I took the minutes of the MDC councillors meetings (i.e not the City of Harare meetings, but the meetings of the political party at that level meetings). I realised, and we all said, “Makwavarara, she is a problem”. So I wrote letters to the party. All the levels, all the bosses. Femai, the Province Secretary. Chaibva, the shadow Local Government minister.

And I was told, “Ah Laban, you are fighting the wrong enemy”.

Then, Muduzuri was fired (as we all were in the end), and Makavarara took over as Mayor. Murambatsvina followed, and the official MDC response, “Ah, we did not know!”

So, they are a bunch of liars. That is to say, politicians (since all politicians are liars). Moreover, the aim is, as any political partie’s should be, to gain power. The enemy is not ‘corruption’, the enemy is Zanu PF (the other big political party). I was fighting the wrong enemy. But then, I thought the MDC was a movement. They will tell us, in their round about political way, Once we are in power, we can then stop corruption”. This may be true, but one must not forget, they are politicians (and therefore liars).

And then out comes the Mail and Guardian with the front page headline, “Tsvangirai At TheTrough”. So it seems I am not the only one who believes they have left their movement roots, and become a political party. Seeking power, not change. Perhaps a change in who benefits from power, but not a change in the benefits.

So, how is it a movement anymore? They are just a bunch of chefs. New chefs. The Ceremonial Mayor of Harare earns a big salary every month, someone said. Ministers all have new cars. And deputy ministers. And permanent secretaries. And nice cars at that (but even then, they cannot make them last more than a couple of years without major pay offs for repairs). So it would certainly seem the new chefs are not part of a movement for a change of the system. Just a change of the beneficiaries. And Budiriro remans with unhealthy water.

So, while the time has come to criticise them as one would any lying political party, (the joke about nappies and political parties in not a joke) I will still support them as making a change – any change, will lead to less concentration of power. And I will continue to predict, “two years”. Two years and Zanu PF (the losing party, the former ruling party) will be ‘the other’ big political party. This will be good. But certainly not the answer. Two political parties is a step towards the answer. But the answer is DEMOCRACY, not the MDC. So I will continue to work for popular involvement at the local government level. Perhaps not so far as Obote, who banned political parties, but I like his thinking. Along the right lines.

I’ve just heard a jet scream past overhead. Perhaps it’s a fly-over as part of the funeral parade for the late ret. Gen. Solomon Mujuru.

Since his death earlier this week, I’ve been carrying in my head the Shona expression, wafawanaka. It equates to the English language notion that one should not speak ill of the dead.

On Tuesday morning, Kubatana sent out a text message informing our subscribers about Mujuru’s death. At the time, details were sketchy as the full story was only just coming out. But we sent out a message with the basic details, and received the expected handful of condolence messages in response.

Perhaps, in part, this is because Mujuru was genuinely as respected as he was feared. But a blog post by Mathula Lusinga today caught my eye: Why is everyone good when they die? “Mujuru the good”?

Mathula asks Zimbabweans to reflect honestly about both the positive and negative impacts Mujuru may have had on the country. But importantly he also challenges the notion that once someone dies those who remain behind lose the right to be critical about the deceased. It’s a comment worth contemplating not solely in connection with Mujuru, but for all of us left reflecting on those who have died before us.

In life, none of us are all good or all bad. We battle our various issues and challenges, make our various decisions, and make our mark accordingly. If our friends and family are honest with us, they’ll tell us both what they love and value about us, and what we do that drives them crazy. No one is perfect when they’re alive. So why must the memories of the deceased which we share be only positive? If I cling to the notion that one can’t speak ill of the dead, surely I do so at the expense of my own critical intelligence, reflection and expression.

The fabrication of stories to bring out and portray a certain issue inclined to a political party is now common in the local newspapers, both private and state owned. I have recently been seen a trend in the media. When an event or something transpires we seem to get similar headlines in the newspapers. An example is that when Energy Minister Mangoma was acquitted. These were the various headlines carried by Zimbabwean papers on 19 July 2011, for example: The Herald carried the story as ‘Mangoma freed as AG drops charges’ and in The Daily News, the story was ‘Mangoma case crumbles’. This shows at least some validity and honesty in the story that the Energy Minister had indeed been acquitted.

But it doesn’t necessarily mean we expect to see similar headlines everyday in our newspapers. But we expect to read credible and reliable information. If a media house or newspaper publishes a story of its own, this can be attributed to the good investigative skills the journalists working for that paper have.

A recent fabricated story is that by Zimpapers in the Sunday Mail of July 24, 2011 of the government’s spending. The story read ‘The high flying Prime Minister of Zimbabwe’ where it said Prime Minister’s Office had the highest expenditure on Government travel.

This story came in two days before the Finance Minister Biti could deliver a statement on Mid-Term Fiscal Policy statement which then revealed the truth about government’s spending. In a recent public forum with Professor Welshman Ncube he did have something to say about the media in Zimbabwe particularly regarding this story. He described the state owned paper as being an agent of preempting stories before their actual event, so as to cause confusion in the public.

This is so true because imagine being an ordinary citizen who from his/her earnings cannot afford to purchase a daily newspaper and has no access to the Internet to read online news. People tend to feed themselves with headlines. I have seen quite a number of people in the morning who stand by newspaper vendors and read headlines and move on. I wonder if they will at least be able to get a copy during the day and read the rest of the story but the chances are slim. Having read a headline that the Prime Minister’s Office is on the top list of government travel spending on Sunday and reading the actual story of who tops the list surely it leaves people confused over who is telling the truth.

There are times when one truly wonders when this will come to an end. We are tired of having to read stories and then question their validity and reliability.

Petty crime in South Africa is on the rise. People are constantly being pick pocketed and mugged. The situation is getting ludicrous. A couple of months ago a Rhodes student was mugged at knife-point for a packet of chips. The situation was almost too ridiculous to take seriously and one had to question the desperation of the mugger.

Recently a close friend of mine who is currently studying at the University of Cape Town was mugged while walking home from an exam in the afternoon. She noticed two men walking towards her and told herself … “Zi walk with a purpose, walk with a purpose.” The two men cornered her and demanded she hand over her wallet. A smile slid slyly across her face as she reached into her bag and without reluctance handed her wallet over. The two men opened the wallet to find a measly five rand coin. Mystified the men handed back her wallet in disgust and disbelief.

Bewildered by the situation the two men instructed her to hand over her cell phone. Reaching once again into her bag, she now really had to practice some self-control and contain her laughter. The two stared excitedly awaiting the latest black berry or snazzy cell, but instead she whipped out a “brick Nokia, no colour screen”. “I was laughing in my heart,” she said as she pulled it out. The two muggers stared in utter disbelief and began to laugh hysterically as they chucked the brick back.

To make the situation even more hysterical they then proceeded to reprimand her for walking alone in dodgy areas. “Really can you believe the cheek to mug me and then to be too fussy to take any of my stuff?”

Clearly muggers can be choosers.

A friend of mine recently told me that she’s decided to work for the government.  She is a person I admire who has worked in the development field with nongovernmental organisations all over the world for several years. Naturally I laughed, and pointed out that faced with such a large bureaucracy her grand ideas would waste away. The system would beat her I said, and eventually she’d spend the whole day reading the newspapers and all the while she’d make less money in a month than she currently spent in a weekend. Undaunted by my cynicism, she remained optimistic. ‘How can you change government’, she asked, ‘if you don’t try?’

Both of my parents have spent their entire working careers as civil servants. They both have a background in the human sciences with multiple degrees, and undoubtedly would have found more lucrative careers outside the government. I have listened in on their long conversations about sexism, being passed over for promotions and corruption. I have seen how little they are remunerated for the great amount of time and energy they put into their work. My mother even calls her job community service; while my father is motivated by investing in the dream he watched so many die for. But even with all the frustrations, and sometimes thanklessness that comes with what they do and where they work, the one thing that has never changed is their faith in the dream that is Zimbabwe.

The trouble with your generation’, my father often says to me, ‘is that you aren’t willing to make sacrifices for anything.’ Considering my reaction to my friend’s news, I can’t say I disagree. Like so many Zimbabweans I’m quick to point out what is wrong with our government, and country, and even quicker to take sides in the ZANU-PF / MDC tug of war. Often it is without trying to understand why things are the way they are, or why the other side has picked the position it has picked. For us there is no middle ground, just good guys and bad guys, haves and have-nots. And because we are pulled in different directions we don’t create change or progress in our development, we only create divisions. Unlike, big picture people, like my parents and my friend, we have become caught up in the smaller details such as petty party politics and power struggles. Zimbabwe is a dream we all have to work towards, one life, one bad piece of legislation or bureaucratic process at a time. Just imagine if everyone went to work, not wanting self-aggrandisement, power and money, but instead worked to be the change they wanted to see. Imagine what kind of Zimbabwe that would be.

The ongoing battle for the control and ownership of church assets between the two factions of the Anglican church in Zimbabwe continue with the faction belonging to Bishop Nobert  Kunonga claiming total control of church assets after a High Court ruling. The battles, which led to the arrest of church members belonging to Anglican Church of the Province of Central Africa (ACPCA) faction led by Rt Revd Chad Nicholas Gandiyah began when Bishop Nobert Kunonga was sacked by the Anglican Church of the Province of Central Africa (ACPCA) in 2008.

The recent court ruling gave custodianship of Anglican Church properties to excommunicated bishop Dr Nobert Kunonga, a move that will result in many Anglican parishioners continuing to worship in the open. Despite the fact that the excommunicated Bishop formed a rival church he still occupies many Anglican churches in the country while enjoying the backing of the police. A recent crackdown by Bishop Kunonga has resulted in churchgoers getting injured, arrested and priests getting evicted from their homes in Harare.

After getting tired of praying with one eye open and always on the run from the police, members of ACPCA in Chitungwiza have decided to put their funds together and have purchased a stand from the council. Only time will tell whether Bishop Kunonga will pay an unwelcome visit to this new site and kick these brave worshippers out of their tent.