Visiting this year’s Processed Products Fair at the Harare show grounds rekindled some experiences I had in my late grandmother’s hut (kitchen). A small hut located in Chivi, warm and filled with love. The last time I was there was when I was still in primary school just before she passed on. The meals were not my favourite at that time. I always wanted to have some rice rather than any of those dried vegetables.

Back then I used to think that eating traditional foods like ‘sadza nemfushwa’ (sadza with dried vegetables) was a sign of poverty and that the food coffers were running dry. Only now do I understand the nutritional richness of these foods I once despised. Traditional meals contain the nutrients that we need whether one is living with the HIV virus or not. Many families in Zimbabwe are operating on shoestring budgets, opting to process their own traditional foods and eating these in the home, helping to cushion strained financial budgets.

The Processed Products Fair organised by a network of nine NGOs comes in handy in this day and age where most of the people of our generation do not know how to cook delicious traditional recipes. At the fair you can see the raw agricultural products, the processed product together with the recipe and, you’re allowed to taste! And if the food tickles your taste buds you can buy the raw products on sale and try cooking for the rest of the family at home.

Where is a more complex narrative on Africa asks Saratu Abiola writing for Pambazuka News. According to Saratu, this years Caine Prize short list leaves a lot to be desired.

Here’s an excerpt:

Writers write. Readers have opinions. It’s really that simple. One has a right to put pen to paper or fingers to keyboard and churn out just whatever (s)he pleases. I certainly did not like Hitting Budapest, a plotless story that does not seem to have a point beyond “these kids are poor and live squalidly and you should pity them”, but I do not really care about Bulawayo; she can write whatever she wants. I’m madder at the Caine Prize for seeming to favor stories of a particular strain, the ones that are less about characters and the network of trip-wires that make up their humanity and more about flattening characters to render them tools to make a political point, and absolving them from the basic responsibilities that come with writing a good story. I’m madder at them for not asking for complexity, and buying into an oversimplified narrative of Africa – poverty, war, disease, starving/fighting children — just like most Western media does. I’m madder at the Caine for saying that this collection of stories is the best they could get out of Africa. I’m mad because I and so many people out there know that that is not true. More

We need more writers like Chris Kabwato. Every week he shares a refreshing and provocative take on Something. This week it’s leadership. Seen any in Zimbabwe lately? Thought not.

In search of a leader

AN ANCIENT text tells me the following:

A man will seize one of his brothers at his father’s house and say “You have a cloak, you be our leader; take charge of this heap of ruins.” But in that day he will cry out, “I have no remedy…do not make me the leader of the people.”

Now I am hoping as Zimbabweans we shall not end up having to choose a leader of the basis of what English writer Thomas Hardy’s observation that “aspects are within us, and who seems most kingly is the king”. I mean could we choose someone walking down Samora Machel Avenue to lead us just because we liked that person’s beige suit, purple shirt and matching tie.  Surely we demand much more of those that would lead us?

In all the current heat around who is and is not a leader we should confront the frightening reality that we face a dearth of leadership in all spheres – politics, business, religion, civil society and the unions. We remain underwhelmed by a leadership that is divisive, uninspiring, confusing, contradictory and unstrategic. Where then is the leadership that will understand that Africa is on the brink of a fundamental economic and social transformation and thus will make those earth-shattering vision statements that will galvanise us towards a common cause? Where is the leadership that will make us re-imagine Zimbabwe? Who will rise above the bigotry of patriarchy, tribalism and racism?

Those that wish to lead should put their houses in order and those homes are the political parties, government, the private sector, the universities and colleges, the unions, the civil society organisations, the churches and the student movement.

In our political parties there is no culture of robust debate – that necessary contestation of ideas that moves a nation forward. You read through manifestos and congress resolutions and you are amazed at the hotchpotch of uncritical statements strung together in the language of overzealous college students. You listen to their message and you wonder at the lack of coherence. In the case on one party how are they able to issue four different statements on a single issue? Does anyone there understand Communication 101? Or just the basic principle of disciplining the message? But is there a coherent message in the first place?

Civil society’s debacles at the SADC summit last month should have provided an occasion for a frank re-assessment of our supposed collective vision. There we were in Sandton chasing one whisky after the other – waiting for the superheroes to come from Harare and give direction. Those sent ahead had no clue where to begin. Needless to say the end-result was a Tower of Babel – a symphony of cacophony that exposed the faultlines in our supposed single goal of creating a democratic Zimbabwe.

For now it is back to what we know best – self-aggrandisement, grandstanding, competition for resources, duplication of efforts and the usual 3-year strategies tied to donor strategies. Still there is a slight possibility that those activists that still have any principles will ask how we it will be possible to give birth to a new reality when we are locked into constantly shifting external funding strategies. How can we change the political, economic and social edifice of Zimbabwe when we have no sustainable frameworks that inform our vision beyond parroting the usual refrains of good governance outside of the wider context?

On the other hand, I do not know how many young people in civil society today would say they are being mentored or groomed for leadership. Many wallow under the tyranny of the founder-director – of people who are so insecure they see conspirators in every nook. We have chairpersons of organisations who assume executive powers and destroy the potential of people. We have appointed directors of organisations who could never be able to organize a birthday party for a three year old that wishes to invite six friends.

In business we confront the usual same old clique – brilliant at managing businesses they inherited and not great at fostering creativity and innovation. They shout from the rooftop on how the state should protect their shoddy products and services from foreign competition. They don’t invest in the ideas of a younger generation – there is, after all, golf, whisky and “small houses” to take care of. To add salt to injury, those that we thought represented a new generation of entrepreneurs have turned out to be merely a little bit more sophisticated in their thieving than your regular pickpocket at Mbare Musika.

If Charles Mzingeli, that gallant trade unionist of the 1930’s to 50s were to rise from the grave what would he say about the state of trade unionism in our teapot-shaped nation? Would he use the same excuses of decimation of the worker base and the ravages of the last decade to explain the retreat by the unionists from their historical role and giving up space to political and educated elites? Would Mzingeli see in the perennial schism of elites and workers the very battle he had against nationalist leaders like George Nyandoro?

In grappling with the challenge of producing leaders and ensuring there is a successor generation we have tried the route of leadership academies, of books and more books on the subject (Deepak Chopra, Rudy Giuliani, Bismarck, even Alex Ferguson) and countless one day events where you pay top dollar to be told what you already knew. Some have remained in the trenches – the unions and the student movement. But the question remains nagging: where are the fruits of that knowledge and experience?

We need kenge “superheroes” and superheroes to come of their hiding places and speak their minds without fear of being labelled by powerful elites.

Leaders should lead.

She loves not

If I were a baby,
In the comfort of your womb
In the warmth of your flesh,
Wondering if there is life after birth,
Singing when you sing
Crying when you cry
Laughing when you do
With you always
I would wish I could stay inside you
Forever,
For Africa loves not her children,
She sends them to war against their mothers.

- Dzikamai Bere

Listen to Dzikamai Bere’s interview on being young and Zimbabwean here

Last month I went to the MPOI (Mass Public Opinion Institute) panel discussion on security sector reform. Interesting, but some panelists did not speak on the security sector at all. One of the most interesting/disturbing/amusing panelists was Mr. Goodson Nguni, of Zanu PF. Wow, are some of them racists!

All his presentation – supposedly Zanu PF policy on security sector reform – was, “we will not let the whites take over”. I must assume these are all whites in general, as I know of no white involved in security, and there were only two whites in the room, myself and the panelist Mr. Matyszak. The implication, I assume, was that the MDC was a white party. Which was something I did not know. When I was a member, I was of a very small minority.

And secondly, two months ago, while painting MacDonald Park pool, I was asked by the local area (Zanu PF) Chairman if I would consider being the local area Zanu PF Treasurer. So I am left to wonder some more. On the one hand, I am being asked to join them in a senior position (take over their money), on the other hand, their stated aim is not to let the whites (and I am quite sure I am one) take over. So I am forced to consider – amongst all the multiple political parties, and splits, and mergers, etc. are there now two Zanu PFs? The Zanu PF (Rational) Party, and Zanu PF (I am completely out of my tiny little mind) Party? Not that I joined either.

The audience also found some humour in his presentation. There was a lot of sniggering going on. A couple of people stood up and walked out, and from their asides as they were leaving, and the sniggers in response, they found something amusing!

A woman a couple of seats down asked me why I did not respond. I just shrugged. First, it did not need any response. Second, while I may be a racist, I do my best to avoid racial discrimination. And I was there to hear about security sector reform, not engage in a racist debate with a rabid racist. I thought the RF was gone? As a racist (which I think we all are), I notice what colour skin you have. Just as, as a sexist, I notice if you are male of female (I love females!) and as an ageist, I notice how old you are. Discrimination involves taking some action for or against someone depending on their predisposition (skin colour, sex, age). So the Zanu PF policy, as pronounced by Mr. Nguni, is racial discrimination. It involves taking action (keeping them out) based on a skin colour (white). This is a bit disturbing. As a Zimbabwean, I am to be kept out of my national security! However, I console myself by believing that he is only one of the Zanu PFs out there. And the Zanu PF in my area, judging by my area chairman, considers me a Zimbabwean.

Kind of curious really that Zanu PF says civil servants can’t get a pay rise because of Western Sanctions. Meanwhile MPs salaries and associated benefits aren’t affected by Western Sanctions. The real impact of sanctions is being minimised by Zanu PF’s most pathetic stance that absolutely everything wrong with Zimbabwe is because of Western Sanctions, and nothing else. Get real guys, you’re looking stupid.

Here is an excerpt from the latest bulletin from the Southern African Parliamentary Support Trust:

Motion on the Plight of Civil Servants

Hon. Moses Mare (MDC-T Chiredzi West) seconded by Hon. Greenbate Dongo (MDC-T Goromonzi South) introduced a motion in the House regarding the “low levels of remuneration for civil servants and everyone paid through the Treasury”. The motion noted that the country’s resources were not being utilized in the best interest of the nation, in particular the lack of transparency in the distribution of the proceeds raised from the sale of the diamonds at Chiadzwa. The motion further bemoaned the existence of “ghost workers” who were drawing salaries from the fiscus.

The motion called upon the House to;

- Ensure that all proceeds from previous sales of diamonds from Chiadzwa are properly accounted for and remitted to Treasury;

- Put in place the necessary legislation and mechanism to enable Treasury to take full control of all diamonds mined in the country;

- Ensure that all minerals are sold to the best advantage of the country;

- Remove all ghost workers from the Government payroll and;

Members across the political divide were generally agreed on the dire plight of civil servants in the country, they differed on the causes of the situation. MDC-T Members blamed what they called mismanagement of resources, especially proceeds from the mining sector, in particular proceeds from the Chiadzwa diamond fields, corruption and “ghost workers”.

On the other hand, some ZANU PF Members argued that government was not able to pay civil servants decent salaries because of the “economic sanctions imposed by the West” on Zimbabwe. There was also unanimity by backbenchers that the issue of civil servants’ salaries should be depoliticized and focus more attention on ways of improving the economic situation and broadening the revenue base so that government can be able to pay its workers decent salaries.