Here’s some feedback from some Kubatana members about what’s happening on the ground. Maybe we need election observers Now!

I stay in Warren Park, about a week ago we had people at our doorstep who said they were checking whether we were registered to vote or not. They practically had a voters roll and they checked our names and all our names were there. I asked them whether they were from the Registrar Office, Statistics Office or any office but they said no. Finally after questioning their whereabouts they said they were sent by the Unity Government and they were people from our constituency! They said they were from the 3 political parties and their ‘Seniors’ will make a follow up after them. Do we have such people? Can anyone (or any political party) get the voters roll from the Registrar’s Office?
- from a subscriber in Warren Park, Harare

Thanks for keeping us updated. I have something that is worthy of public knowledge or public consumption. Can anything be done to improve service delivery on the ongoing voter registration exercise especialy in Chitungwiza. The staff there at Makoni seem to have been trained to frustrate people into not registering. The delays, the daily changes in their demands and the reception has done more harm than good to would be registrants. Its sad and the whole of Chitungwiza has one registration centre yet the population is big. Is there anything that can be done.
- from Obey in Chitungwiza

We heard this from a subscriber today. What are you hearing about cotton farmers?

The Zimbabwe Gvt said it will be the sole buyer for cotton this year and the farmers are still holding on to their crop. All is silent. A friend of mine told me people are turning into stealing livestock especially goats to get the dollar. Worse things may happen if the silence continues. Is there anything that is being done to resolve this issue.

The Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on State Enterprises and Parastatal Management public hearings revealed how frustrated Zimbabweans are with the Zimbabwe Electricity Supply Authority (ZESA), reports The Herald today.

This will come as no surprise to the many Zimbabweans who phoned into our Freedom Fone test (thank you!) and left their voice mails about ZESA meter reading, load shedding, high bills and poor service.

Listen to some of this feedback here

Lucid dreaming paraphernalia

In spite of my mound of work and my workaholic temperament, I took this past weekend off to do a Lucid Dreaming workshop at the Buddhist centre, Kagyu Samye Dzong in Harare. Out of curiosity, earlier in the week I went to listen to the introductory talk by the teacher – a young, enthusiastic guy called Charlie Morley. He’d come highly recommended by two people for whom I have high regard: Lama Yeshe Rinpoche and Rob Nairn, so it seemed foolhardy not to at the very least go and listen to him for a few hours.

Charlie’s talk was really interesting and spoke to my desire to incorporate into my life practices that build self acceptance, awareness and kindness. Many others in the large audience fell under Charlies spell and by the end of the talk a number of us signed up for the workshop.

The training ran from Saturday morning through to Sunday afternoon and included a sleep over to practice the techniques on Saturday night! About 3/4 of the group stayed for the night, and that evening the Buddhist shrine room was transformed into what looked like a refugee centre with mattresses and sleeping bags and blankets laid out around the large room. What a beautiful setting for this new learning experience. Come morning, sunlight poured through the many windows and glass panes, warming our sleepy gathering as we slowly got up and tidied our books, pens, ear plugs and other paraphernalia away.

It’s going to take some practice, but I’m looking forward to unlocking the secrets of the night!

Lucid dreamers the morning after

Private colleges now seem to dominate in most urban areas with many students preferring to enroll at these institutions. The growing number of private colleges offering primary and secondary education leaves one wondering whether its a sign of the shortage of public schools or the demand for better education. The wide selection of school uniforms used by most of these colleges will make Italian fashion designers go green with envy as some of them are now like fashion statements. Either the uniform is too short, tight, baggy, flashy or revealing. Anyway … who the hell cares as long as the college has a Ministry of Education accreditation symbol?

As beautiful as the colors of the rainbow may be, I wish that the beauty of the uniforms could be translated into the infrastructure found at these institutions of learning.  Most of these colleges don’t have proper learning structures. Some are situated in the middle of the town sharing space with nite clubs, food courts and conveniently located close movie houses. I saw one in town, which is just opposite to a movie house, and after school students in uniforms from that college, could be seen queuing to catch an afternoon flick. Shortage of textbooks is not only associated with Government schools but also with private colleges. Some may argue that due to the economic situation in the country private colleges are affordable. I believe when government introduced uniforms in schools it was a move to ensure that discipline is adhered to amongst students and I guess that’s the reason why the designs were so ugly and the colors dull so that it won’t be like a “Giorgio Armani show” at school. Do requiring students to wear uniforms directly affect the school environment and the student achievement or is it a matter of setting a standard for the uniforms?

Sophia from Harare has this to say about the Zimbabwe Republic Police.

I am sick and tired of getting late to work almost every morning. The hide and seek game between the police and kombi drivers is just getting too much. Imagine the fare into town from Budiriro is now a dollar, double the normal fare and the conductors argue they have to offset the police fines with the money from us commuters. Getting into trouble with your bosses after forking out an inflated transport fare is just a painful reality.