Yesterday, in pursuit of a morning cup of coffee (at Freshly Ground – the best), and while negotiating Harare’s rush hour, at least three drivers let me get onto very congested roads making my journey so much easier. Something to think about … give and take is what it’s all about.

It’s always crazy the stuff your ears pick when you are out minding your own business. I watched a guy spend his money on a group of women the other day where the conversation became as explicit as it gets. Consenting adults so what, I mused. Then I heard one of the “ladies” say, “Some of us have been picked up by strangers and we ended up spending the night as far as Gwanda. But why do you men always insist on using condoms? You should go get tested if you are so concerned about Aids. We have had enough of these condoms. We want it raw.” “It” of course being sex.

I was given a jolt, wondering of course if there is any woman who claims prostitution as her way of life who actually has the luxury to make such demands, if there is any man who actually “sees reason” and literally throws caution to the wind.

I wondered if the ladies had themselves bothered to get tested, but because there is never any logic involved in these matters, this is an area where one can afford to impose their demands on others and still afford not to subscribe to the same! I suppose from the age old crap informed by the hypocrisy contained in the aphorism “do as I say and not as I do.”

I pondered how the female legislators who have brought sex to the public domain with such radicalism you would think this was the ultimate elixir for Zimbabwe multi-pronged woes would respond to such chutzpah, which by the way would be same kind the honourable MPs have exhibited.

I pondered on the connect between the government stats we get concerning HIV/Aids prevalence, whether indeed the country is winning the fight with such sex workers mocking clients who insist on condom use.

Of course these musings must not be read as claims that men do not make such demands themselves to forego “safe sex” as sex itself remains a site of struggle, of power and control which researchers note has been complicated by the patriarchy that continues to dominate the dynamics of such things as who decides the use of prophylactics.

I remembered a e-chat I had with a researcher working on HIV/Aids in Zimbabwe who intimated that the stats may indeed dwindle nationally yes, but still find new infections on the up within a given demographic. And the conversation I was listening to seemed to put these issues into perspective.

I asked myself if these ladies could actually make such demands in obvious pursuit of ultimate happiness, why the pleasure principle always has that mysterious proclivity to absent commonsense.

I recalled the words of Mark Twain: “Of all delights of this world man (and woman) cares most for sexual intercourse. He (she) will go any length for it – risk fortune, character, reputation, life itself.” (c.1906)

Zimbabwe ISO leader Munyaradzi Gwisai and five other activists have been found guilty by the Zimbabwean government of “inciting public disorder”, after they organised a film showing and discussion at the Labour Centre in Harare about the Egyptian uprising in February last year. The conviction gives the Zimbabwe government a green light to persecute and prosecute ordinary people for watching a film, conversing about current affairs, or discussing events as they unfold in another country.

The ISO activists will be sentenced today and face up to 10 years’ imprisonment.

You may well ask what any of us can do in the face of this authoritarianism. Whilst it may be difficult to show your outrage publicly for fear of reprisal – which is very real – we urge you to continue to inform yourselves about the human rights situation in Zimbabwe and other countries, like Egypt and Syria.

The fact is thousands of Zimbabweans were watching footage of the Egyptian uprising last year. And thousands of Zimbabweans were discussing those events at the office, in their homes and over cold ones in pubs. The majority of people discussing the Arab uprising probably all agreed on one thing: that similar events were unlikely to happen in Zimbabwe. But still we all carried on discussing and arguing. Debate and discourse is a central part of all our lives.

We have a fundamental right to freedom of expression.

Kubatana urges you to use exercise it whenever and wherever you can.

We are all Munyaradzi Gwisai.

Harare magistrate Kudakwashe Jarabini yesterday delivered a ruling in the Munyaradzi Gwisai and five others’ case in which they are accused of inciting public violence. Mr. Jarabini found the accused guilty on charges of inciting public violence. Before he found the accused guilty, Mr. Jarabini addressed the court and he said, “It is not an offence to view video footage, the motive behind viewing of the footage of events which took place in Egypt and Tunisia on that particular day was not for a good cause and was meant to instill feelings of hostility against the government.”

Gwisai is jointly charged with fellow activists Welcome Zimuto, Hopewell Gumbo, Antonater Choto, Tatenda Mombeyarara, and Edson Chakuma. The charges arose from a meeting, which was convened at the offices of the International Socialist Organisation – Zimbabwe Chapter in Harare in February 2011. Forty-five people were arrested during the meeting and later charged with treason. Treason charges were later dropped and 39 people were released in March after spending close three weeks in prison.  The state later preferred a lesser charged of inciting public violence after High Court Judge Samuel Nyakudya ruled that the case against Gwisai and his colleagues was weak.

” I see no iota of evidence that any Zimbabwean ever contemplated a Tunisian and Egyptian revolution,” Nyakudya said in his ruling.

The case was referred back to the magistrates Courts for trial after the accused had been granted $2000.00 bail each by the High Court. Defence led by prominent human rights lawyer Alec Muchadehama successfully sought for an adjournment to today to prepare for mitigation. Under section 36 of the Criminal Law Codification and Reform Act, public violence attracts a prison sentence of up to ten years, a fine or both.

A couple of days later my boss sent me back to the shop with the hope that I would find the problem (no water and water leakage) rectified. So I call the shop first and the lady sang a slightly different tune, “the water problem is much better but please do bring the torch”. I got a torch, which I held onto with my dear life, we (my boss and I) both knew why. I then went to the shop and offered to go down to the basement. I couldn’t risk them dropping the torch, which they were not obviously going to pay for if damaged. What I saw down there was an eyesore! The walls were rotting; water on floor was more like floods if you ask me. The other products were soaked in water and the smell was really bad. I should have just carried one of the Fix this.Please campaign stickers and stuck it there. With the number of clientele that comes in on a daily basis one would expect that some of the money would be channeled towards fixing the building. But hey I got my products and was happy to leave the building and their problems behind me!

Taking photographs on Friday at the House of Smiles showcase I was reminded of Dr Watch Ruparanganda whom I interviewed last year about his book Genitals Are Assets. In our pre-interview conversation he spoke about how there was little space for the girls who live on the street. As the streets were a means of making money these, and other public spaces were largely dominated by boys.

During the event dance trainer Rahim Solomon mentioned how hard it was to get girls who lived on the street to participate in their workshops. They had been lucky and had found three, as compared to over 28 boys. It was easy to see why the girls would be reluctant to participate; their only performance was dominated by boys, who stormed onto the stage to dance. And during ciphers they didn’t have a chance to dance at all.

Our discourse about feminism and the girl child largely centres on those who live somewhere, with family, or their parents, even in orphanages, but we never speak about creating a space for young women who live on the street. It does seem as though they have become invisible, even to those us who are supposed to be defending them. It is very difficult to speak of someone’s rights when the greater imperative is survival, but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t try.