It is a trait peculiar to politicians that evidence of abject poverty does not prick consciences in pursuit of their own happiness. The opulence flaunted by monarchs pales into insignificance when one recalls that monarchs are born blue bloods while politicians claim their wealth to election into public office ostensibly by claimed popular vote. Thus one has to think deep and taste the mood of very ordinary folks each time Zanu PF gets down to boogie in their annual shindigs. It is that time when the party that has claimed perpetual bankruptcy – both moral and financial – has its staunch loyalists lining up to make stupendous donations towards the hosting of these conferences. I have heard folks ask the moral philosophy questions such as why it has been found apt to give so generously to the party when constituencies claimed by the donor wallow in abject poverty, where that kind of wealth comes from, yet it also known how since independence, the line between party and the state has been blurred as Zanu PF used state resources as if they were their own.  And while other Zimbabweans curse, it has been baffling that other equally ordinary folks have taken these shindigs with such gusto reminiscent of the 1980 independence euphoria.

Saw some young men and women last weekend milling outside the Zanu PF offices in Bulawayo and a friend quipped: “do these people really believe in what they are doing?” But then it was a question that has been answered before: “as long sisidla” – “as long as we are we eating” – (getting something from Zanu PF). It has become one huge farce that young people thrown into the ranks of loafing by bad governance and “voodoo” economic policies can still proudly hold their heads up and claim their place within the party machinery, when at the same time they are not at it because they believe in anything it stands for but rather like vultures wanting to pounce and reap where they did not sow.

Every amoral young person who wants to be an instant money-bag and own a small mining claim knows they simply have to extol the virtues of Savior (some name huh?) Kasukuwere and they got it made. Forget hard work, forget scruples, coz these are virtues that do not apply here! What then are these young lions being bequeathed as a legacy they will one day have to pass on to other young lions? Should we start worrying then that Zimbabwe will have an unending cycle of bad people coming and going, seeing that any hopes of an MDC-T political dispensation remain but a mirage on the horizon?

Haven’t seen so many Reserved signs on restaurant tables in awhile. The Bistro on Kingsmead in Borrowdale is obviously doing something right. Get down there for a kofi, or more.

Music is a big business and it has transformed people’s lives the world over.  In western countries by just producing one good album it can change one’s fortunes for the rest of his/her life. Media plays an important role in promoting artists music and with bad media publicity it can also destroy an artist’s career. Here in Zimbabwe our own local music artists, especially the urban grooves artists rely on the media to promote their music and some of them enjoy massive airplay on the state broadcasting stations. The rise in popularity for urban grooves was mainly spearheaded by the introduction of 75% local content on national radio stations by the then Minister of Information and Publicity Professor Jonathan Moyo a couple of years ago.  To some local artists it was a blessing to them since competition from foreign music was reduced. However to some artists after rising to stardom their names now appear in the history book for the wrong reasons.

The lyrics of the music composed by these urban grooves artists has attracted a huge following especially amongst the youth. The message in the music is usually associated with love, cash and the ghetto lifestyle. Instead of promoting their music through good publicity, recently it has become the opposite. After starting on a positive note most of these young artists have attracted bad publicity to their music by trying to live the life they sing about in their songs. Some may say the problem starts when these young artists try to merge our local culture with the western culture in their music thereby creating an identity crisis.  Zimbabwe has been blessed with many young talented musicians but most of them have gone quiet after failing to handle fame. The toll of a celebrity lifestyle has proved to be a heavy burden with many young artists falling by the wayside through drugs, prostitution, alcohol abuse and unprofessional contact.

Piracy is also taking its share of problems for these music artists resulting in many of them singing for peanuts. In trying to increase popularity in the hope of pushing music sales some local artists are now using media for the wrong reasons. A couple of a years ago a creative and promising young artist was sentenced to do community service after being found in possession of marijuana and as if this was not enough the same young man could not keep his microphone in his pants as he went around impregnating many girls. After singing so much about money and a high expensive lifestyle another local artist made headlines recently when his sex video was leaked to the press. With this kind of behavior and bad publicity it will take a very long time for our local artists to separate their private life from their public one.

To commemorate World AIDS Day, Kubatana invited subscribers to send in their positive prevention messages. Using Frontline SMS, we received over 600 messages in response, and short listed them for selection.

The word cloud above shows gives a visual of the words most used in our subscribers’ responses.

The winning SMS came from Lloyd Nyarota, who said:

To prevent HIV transmission, try various sex positions with one partner NOT one position with various partners.

The runners up responded:

• A cat has many lives but we humans got one only. Be wise and be warned. AIDS kills the one we got.
• Stick to one partner. Always use condoms. Do masturbation if you have feelings during the absence of your partner.
• One Love. Learn the facts about HIV. Be faithful. Talk openly. Use condoms consistently.
• Everyone is positive until proven negative. Get tested!

Read the rest of the prevention SMS here

Bumped into a friend and fellow comrade the other day. She’s been on the Other Side (Diaspora) for awhile. She apologised for not being in contact much. She said she’d gotten tired of being outraged.

At the MPOI event on Thursday, 24 Nov 2011. Four speakers on “2011 in Retrospect And A Prognosis For 2012”. Lots of interesting stuff, and they all droned on and on as they will do!

But what got me sitting upright was the Zanu PF speaker – Goodson Nguni. He did not speak as a Zanu PF spokesman, but as a staunch Zanu PFer. And what he said held my interest.

“We love democracy, but we love Zimbabwe more than we love democracy.”

Now what does this mean? He explained, and I understood, that democracy is all well and good but Zanu PF intends to retain a grip on Zimbabwe even if democracy – that is, the will of the people (of Zimbabwe) – tells them to let go. So democracy cannot unseat them. They will retain power … just because. They believe they know what Zimbabwe wants better than Zimbabweans. They believe they know what is better for Zimbabwe than Zimbabweans do. They believe they own Zimbabwe. They believe Zimbabwe is them.

Which basically means they are not democrats. They do not believe in democracy.

All the people who died for the right to vote were actually dying to put Zanu PF in power. Not for democracy.

He further stated “the war vets did not fight for elections, they fought for the end of Rhodesia.”

So, help me. Is my understanding of what he said correct?

And is this not what Gbagbo is being tried in The Hague for a this time? He lost the elections, and instead of stepping down (bowing to democracy), he unleashed a wave of violence, which resulted in many people being killed.

He loved Cote D’Ivoire more than he loved democracy.